Cable Television

Brownie, a photo by CaptPiper on Flickr.

When I was a little girl, my father told me that someday we would have to pay to watch TV. I envisioned us paying for each individual program. I envisioned me wanting to watch TV and my dad saying couldn’t because he wasn’t paying for Lost in Space or Gillian’s Island. But above all, I just couldn’t believe that some day we would have to pay for something that was free, but he said that pay TV wouldn’t have any commercials. But he didn’t foresee the greed of big business.

Finally, years later, cable television became a reality. As an adult, I resisted. Analog TV was fine; I refused to pay for cable, satellite, anything. I saw families, people I respected, falling, one by one, for the cable TV. Still I refused. I told the telemarketer that I wouldn’t get cable even if it was free because I already spent too much time in front of the boob tube. But they found a way.

A couple of years ago, analog TV was ended and all signals became digital. I naively believed that the $20 converter would work. But when we plugged it in, our reception narrowed to two and a half channels. We could get channel 4 and channel 7, and 11 came in – kind of. So, if we wanted to have any kind of choice at all, we had to get cable.

So now we pay about $60 a month that we weren’t paying before for many channels, most of which have commercials, just like always, and about half of which are just ONE BIG COMMERCIAL. I’ll admit that the reception is great. Also, I love the DVR that seeks out and records my favorite shows. Television is better. But if I could go back, I would.