Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Giving in to peer pressure.

Every fall, I face this temptation, and for the last several years, I've hung tough. I've stayed strong. I've resisted temptation.

Today, I gave in.

I am now a cable TV subscriber.

I feel dirty admitting that.

You may be saying, "Dave, it's about time you quit being stubborn about this. I can't believe you haven't had cable for so long!" But the fact is, I've been doing just fine without cable TV for the past two or three years. You may not be aware of this, but they broadcast television shows right now--for free--over the AIR!

I was content in the past, setting my VCR to record 8 television programs (or blocks of programs) each week. I had my six-hour tape ready, and had to watch my shows pretty regularly so I didn't miss anything. It was fine. It was cool. And it was FREE.

However, the "digital conversion" has now thrown a monkey wrench into my plans. Turns out I have to change channels on Uncle Sam's magic black box, so I can't program the VCR. I made do this past spring, by preparing the night before and selecting which channel to record the next day. But now that the digital switchover is complete, it seems like I'm getting less consistent service. And I still can't get CBS. I'm gonna miss Big Bang Theory if i don't address this.

Cable isn't cheap, but it is easy. And having a DVR to record things and watch them at my convenience is really an inviting proposition.

So, out of curiosity, I went over to the cable company's website, and saw that they were also giving away free money for signing up. Free money's pretty inviting too.

So I did it. It's done. And on Thursday night, I'll have glorious, crystal-clear cable television.

My parents will be thrilled--I can stop clogging up their DVR with my shows.

3 comments:

Jaimie Teekell said...

We'll be there to install it from 9 to 12. OR we'll be there from 2 to 6!

Kelly Couri said...

We don't have cable anymore. We had DISH, which was awesome. We cancelled when we moved into this apartment to cut back on some bills. We now just do Netflix with the 3 discs at a time. And we have the Netflix Roku player, so we can stream the live movies and tv from the Netflix website to our TV. Besides that, we watch some shows online as well. We have actually been doing fine without it for the last year. I talk to my wife more and listen to more music without the satellite. And I am happy with both of those things.

Trav said...

Hmm...I am looking for a cheaper alternative to the Comcast. Sure, it started out cheap enough, but now that the introductory rate has expired, I am getting squeezed for nearly $150 a month. It has to stop.

I am interested in this Roku that you speak of, Kelly. What's that again?