What you are hearing about is OTA (over the air), or terrestrial broadcast television, which is what people have watched since the 1950's.

However, it now looks much better than before, and offers more channel options.

Whether you require an indoor or outdoor antenna is based upon your location from the television transmitter sites and the surrounding terrain.

No, a cable company will not hook you up - that's their competition.

As long as you have a television with a DTV (digital television) ATSC tuner, or a DTV ATSC converter box, you will receive all the local and locally available network programming over the air at no charge.

Here is a link to one set of The Digital TV Transition: Reception Maps.