Yahoo for Couch Potatoes

Gregg Keizer

Forget fumbling with the TV listings in the local paper. If you surf over to Yahoo, you can preplan your couch time.

Head to Yahoo TV. Enter your zip code at the top of the page and click Get TV Listings. The site will search for your local cable company's name in its database. Pick your cable company from the list under the Cable Listings heading, and click the Go button. If you don't have cable, pick the nearest metropolitan area from the Local Listings menu, and click Go.

When Yahoo displays the program grid for your area, set a Bookmark or a Favorite so you can quickly get back to the page.

If you already use My Yahoo, you can add TV listings to any page of your personal portal. Click on the Content button at the upper left corner of your My Yahoo page, check the box next to TV Listings (it's in the right column, under Entertainment), and click the Finished button. When you return to your personal page, the TV listings will appear in the large center area. Click the Edit button in the title bar for the TV Listings module to choose one of the three possible options: cable, local broadcast, or satellite (the system can give you DirecTV, Dish, or Primestar listings). My Yahoo limits you to 15 channels that you can list in the channel grid, and it only displays prime time (from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.) programming. If you want to see the complete program guide, or see programs that are on at other times of the day, click the Full Listing link.