I tell people I don't have television and they look at me oddly. The common consensus is that I can't afford it. But let's set the record straight, shall we?
Typically, I turned off cable for the summer. Why pay the same rate for repeats? As it is, we pay a snootfull for channels we don't even watch during the rest of the year, so why pay for those channels PLUS the channels we've already seen?
So today, I'm checking out the prices for DishNetwork. They lure you in with the specials - "$19.99 A MONTH!" it screams, followed by a whisper, "for three months."
Fine, I'm prepared to do battle with the prices. I figure with all the surcharges, I'm bound to wind up paying $50/month. But then I check out the channels, and I can feel my ire rising.
I am NEVER going to watch the golf channel, nor do I have any interest in fishing, Nascar, Court TV, Trinity Broadcasting, horse racing...blah, blah, blah - the insipid list goes on. Not only that, when they say "over 60 CHANNELS!" they fail to mention that 13 of them are shopping channels. AND they want extra $$$ for LOCAL channels.
So let's count. For the base price of $31.99 I get (WOW!) some 65 channels. Let add up how many I may, on passing fancy, watch at least once in a three month time period..... 19. 19 channels! I could see the bargain in maybe half.
I hate paying for things I'm never going to use. I mean, at least with yarn I can delude myself in thinking that it will eventually get used.
I'm not against TV, I just think there should be some kind of middle ground. Pick 50 stations for $40 - I'd pay more than the basic price if I could get the stations I'd actually enjoy. I suppose I will bite the bullet and get the thing, but I just wanted to complain about it first.