The majority of cable news channels show live coverage of the election results, but perusing the Internet returns gives you more flexibility and allows for more localized coverage.

For up-to-date information leading up to the election, Electoral-Vote.com offers national and state-by-state breakdowns of the latest polls, along with commentary about the forerunners and competitors. Nate Silver’s blog, FiveThirtyEight.com, offer comprehensive political data on the current races. Additionally, FiveThirtyEight.com accurately predicted the presidential winner in 49 states and every Senate race in the 2008 election cycle — so keep it in mind for the 2011 and 2012 election results.

Local news stations and their associated websites typically offer live coverage for local issues and elections. Use the Internet to help locate your local news channel’s website to get the latest election results throughout the day and night.

If you just moved and aren’t sure where your polling location is, most states offer poll locater websites – simply do an Internet search to find yours. Also, if you don’t know what’s on your ballot, check out Ballotpedia to see the latest news on ballot measures in your area.

Once the local and state elections pass, continue to stay up-to-date on nation election news by visiting Gallup’s Politics and CNN’s PoliticalTicker.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, phone, cable TV, satellite TV, and home security systems.

You could channel surf to see what’s on, but satellite television, like DIRECTV or DISH network, offer easy to find on-demand movie rentals through programs like DIRECTV Cinema, direct-to-DVR rentals, pay-per-view movies and movie channels, including HBO, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax.

Many satellite television providers have deals with companies in the film industry, so the satellite television subscribers can view movies via their rental/pay-per-view services often before the movies are available for rental.

To get into the football spirit, check out a few of the greatest football movies of all time.

• “Brian’s Song”: The original movie, which was made in 1971, is based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. The movie highlights the bond they established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying. The film stars James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Warden, Bernie Casey and Shelley Fabares. “Brian’s Song” was remade in 2001, starring Mekhi Phifer, Sean Maher and Paula Cale.
• “Remember the Titans”: Starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton and Wood Harris, this 2000 film is based on the true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school football team on their first season as a racially integrated team.
• “Rudy”: The story about Rudy overcoming personal and physical odds to fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame is an inspirational classic. The 1993 film stars Sean Astin, Jon Favreau and Ned Beatty.
• “The Program”: This 1993 movie showcases the pressures of playing football for a major university and how several players from different backgrounds deal with the pressure. The film stars James Caan, Halle Berry and Omar Epps.
• “Any Given Sunday”: Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid and Cameron Diaz star in this 1999 movie that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the struggles of modern-day football players and those who lead them.
• “We Are Marshall”: The 2006 movie is based on the tragic true story of a plane crash that took the lives of members of Marshall University’s football program and its fans, and how the program’s new coach and surviving players try to keep Marshall’s football program alive. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox and Anthony Mackie.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, cable TV, home utilities, phone, satellite TV, and home security systems.

Selection Tips:

• Consider your options: Some areas have more cable television providers while other cities or towns may only offer a few. Make sure you know your providers and their subscription offers so you can make an informed decision.
• Quality and service: Check with your neighbors and read reviews — see what others are saying about the different companies in your area. Oftentimes, quality and service are overlooked in the selection process and you don’t find out about bad quality until you’re already under contract.
• Compare prices, services and options: Cable television channel line-ups can widely vary between companies, so check to make sure you’re getting the channels you and your family want. Also, services and prices can vary, too. If money is tight or you only want certain channels, check around to see what company offers the channel line-up at a price that agrees with you. Allconnect.com allows you to select your preferences and then the site provides recommendations.
• Bundling: Many cable providers offer bundled packages of services, including cable, Internet and phone services, for discounted prices. If you’re in the market for those additional services, a bundled services package, which offers one-stop shopping, may save you time and money.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including cable TV, home utilities, high speed Internet, phone, satellite TV, and home security systems.

Transmitting television signals through cable wires gained popularity throughout the 50s and 60s as modern architecture brought more reflective surfaces and tall buildings into cities. Airwaves were easily blocked and reflected by the tall buildings and surfaces so transmitting signals via cables became one of the preferred methods for receiving television service — whether network or cable stations.

While the method was originally used to help distribute the basic network channels in remotes areas, the process was ultimately utilized to widely distribute modern-day cable channels to subscribers in both urban and rural cities. Now, the use of transmitting television signals via cables has become the norm, with cable television being used in a majority of households and businesses across the country.

It might seem that transmitting multiple television channels would require a lot of space, but in reality each television signal is given a 6-megahertz channel on the coaxial cable. These cables can carry hundreds of megahertz of signals, making cable transmission relatively inexpensive considering the number of channels that can be received.

Now cable television service is widely available across the country, although service options, prices and channels vary by companies and locations. The development of transmitting television signals via cable has allowed what was once a rare luxury in homes to become a mainstay in many American homes.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including cable TV, home utilities, high speed Internet, phone, satellite TV, and home security systems.

For watching live television or Internet streaming, you’ll also need reliable cable and Internet services. So before you buy that new television, use Allconnect to compare cable and Internet services in your area to see what works for you and your needs. Once you know you can stream the big game, you’re ready to put that theater together.

The first step for either an indoor or outdoor theater is deciding upon where to put it. Mapping out where your television or projection screen, DVD or Blu-ray player, video projector and speakers will be placed is one of the most important steps to quickly set-up your theater. Once you have the arrangement planned out, determine how much wiring you’ll need to connect all the components — another important step.

Beyond a television, arranging surround-sound speakers, a DVD/Blu-ray player and a receiver is essential for a home theater. The receiver allows a central station for controlling all your components, including a television, speakers and a Blu-ray player. The one tricky part of setting up a home theater is getting the wiring arranged correctly and balancing the speaker outputs. If you purchase a surround sound speaker system, follow the instructions included with the system for balancing and arranging the speakers. The instructions for each component outline which wires, whether HDMI, audio/video or others, you’ll need to successfully set up the theater.

For an outdoor theater, there are a couple options. First, simply move your indoor theater components to a spot that allows outdoor viewing, such as a patio or porch. The full outdoor theater effect requires a video projector, a viewing screen, speakers and a Blu-ray/DVD player. To watch live television, you’ll need a DTV converter box or a network media player, like an Internet-enabled Blu-ray player or gaming system that allows a cable connection or Internet streaming. Also, determine what wires, and the length you’ll need. If you plan to use your outdoor theater often, invest in wireless components, especially if you already use wireless Internet and connections in your home. Make sure your indoor wireless range reaches the outdoor theater. As for viewing screens, purchase premade screens or simply use white bed sheets, white blackout curtains or another blank white surface.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, cable TV, home utilities, phone, satellite TV, and home security systems.

Before you leave for vacation, take care of these energy-saving and safety items:

•  Unless you’re leaving pets or fish at home, bump your thermostat up to 85 degrees. Make sure you set the thermostat to “hold” so that your pre-programmed settings don’t kick in and turn it back to 75 degrees.

• Turn the temperature down on the water heater — many water heaters have a “vacation” setting.

• Turn off ceiling fans and lights. If you want it to look like someone is at home in the evenings, use a timer to have a lamp turn on. (Make sure there is a CFL bulb in the lamp.)

• Unplug all the phantom power culprits: microwave, computers, printers, modems, routers, televisions, stereos, cable boxes, DVD players, alarm clocks, coffee pot, etc.

• Close the blinds and curtains to minimize temperature fluctuations and for security.

• If you have a hot tub or water bed, turn those thermostats down.

• Turn off the main water line to the house. It isn’t likely that you’d have a leak, but a week-long leak could cause a lot of damage.

• You might also want to have the Post Office hold your mail and stop newspaper deliveries while you’re out of town.

• Let your alarm company know you’ll be out of town and if there are alternative numbers to reach you in an emergency.

Another smart way to not spend more than you need to on electric and natural gas bills: compare utility rates at Allconnect.com.

Before you leave for vacation, take care of these energy-saving and safety items:

•  Unless you’re leaving pets or fish at home, bump your thermostat up to 85 degrees. Make sure you set the thermostat to “hold” so that your pre-programmed settings don’t kick in and turn it back to 75 degrees.

• Turn the temperature down on the water heater — many water heaters have a “vacation” setting.

• Turn off ceiling fans and lights. If you want it to look like someone is at home in the evenings, use a timer to have a lamp turn on. (Make sure there is a CFL bulb in the lamp.)

• Unplug all the phantom power culprits: microwave, computers, printers, modems, routers, televisions, stereos, cable boxes, DVD players, alarm clocks, coffee pot, etc.

• Close the blinds and curtains to minimize temperature fluctuations and for security.

• If you have a hot tub or water bed, turn those thermostats down.

• Turn off the main water line to the house. It isn’t likely that you’d have a leak, but a week-long leak could cause a lot of damage.

• You might also want to have the Post Office hold your mail and stop newspaper deliveries while you’re out of town.

• Let your alarm company know you’ll be out of town and if there are alternative numbers to reach you in an emergency.

Another smart way to not spend more than you need to on electric and natural gas bills: compare utility rates at Allconnect.com.

There are many choices when it comes to watching TV on mobile devices.   One option is your laptop, with services like Hulu which streams TV shows to your computer, or Netflix live streaming of your favorite shows or movies.  If you’re looking for a mobile device with TV on the go that fits into your hand, there are even more options.  When it comes to MP3 players, the iPod touch is still the leader with the iTunes store for easy downloading of shows and movies.  There’s also the Zoon HD, and the Sony Walkman, which has over nine hours of battery life! Tablets are also an option. They offer the same connectivity of a laptop and portability of a smaller mobile device. The screen is larger for viewing and devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab have up to seven hours of battery life.

Mobile phones like the iPhone or Android also have video options and all the major carriers have TV packages.  Just like adding text or data, live TV is now an option you can add to your cell phone’s package.

For more information about the numerous ways you can get TV on the go for summer travel, check out Best Buy’s great video on TV to GO.