Minimum service, essentially just locals can be gotten on just the locals on a tv that supports Qam . If your Tv's don support it there are some boxes (not from verizon) , that would support this. However for most channels you would need to rent something. Cheapest thing you could rent is a cablecard (I think 3.99) but those only if you have a TV or non-verizon STB that supports it.