Antennas-R- Us

I propose the founding of a new support group: One for those of us who have avoided cable at all cost.

You may have various reasons for abstaining:
1) The extra expense.
2) Too many channels to choose from.
3) All the good shows would mean more time spent on your rear watching them.
4) Too many shows/channels that are inappropriate for kids...or adults, actually.
5) You don't believe in watching television.
6) You don't OWN a television.
7) You believe that aliens are using the television to reprogram our brains.

Aaron and I would claim numbers 1-4. In the nine years of our married life, we've had cable for exactly one, the year we lived in a campus apartment and got it for free. That year, I watched every episode of Real World: New Orleans - the first and only time I had ever watched the show, coincidentally. I was totally addicted to MTV, and I'm not too proud of it.

My propensity to television addiction is my main hesitation in getting cable.

The need for a support group comes from the pain bestowed by this infernal switch to digital TV. Folks, I don't know about you, but the government is doing us no favors on this one.

First of all, we have gotten our two digital boxes, at a greatly reduced price thanks to the government coupons available here. Initially we got NO channels when we connected our rabbit ears to the box. Then Aaron discovered a big ol' antenna in our attic, and hooked that sucker up. Yes! There were the channels - and more- that we'd regularly been getting.

Then things started getting a little weird. For PBS especially, some days we'd get it with the rabbit ears, sometimes with the big attic antenna, and sometimes with the digital box - but you'd have to try to plug in BOTH sets of antennas.

That gives us FOUR options, folks, and that is three too many when you have 2 preschoolers begging for their morning fix of Curious George.

I have done some research into the "lifeline" cable package, the one that would get us just the local stations plus the CW, a couple CSPAN channels and a shopping network. After February 17th, to get what we have for now been getting for free, would cost us $180 the first year, and then $240 per year after that. This my friends, completely stinks.

Aaron asks, "Is it worth it?"
and I say, "No! Of course not! BUT, I still want to watch my TV! So I guess it is."

He also brought up the other day, "Are you still going to give money to PBS if we have to pay to watch it?" Hmm. Good question - I guess you could divide the cable cost by the number of channels we'd receive, and then subtract the amount for one channel from the usual donation amount to pubic television. (Whew! That was a lot of math.)

Which isn't really fair to PBS, of course, because it's not their fault all this happening. But the rest of us have budgets too, and we don't get to use a week of air time each quarter asking for financial assistance.

Anyway, our final decision has been to wait and see what happens once all the stations switch over for good, and cross our fingers that the problems with reception (NBC, in addition to PBS) are temporary glitches. If not, we may be forced to put our money where our butts are.

Won't the rest of you needing support join me here on February 18th? Maybe, as a group, we can help each other through this major transition in our lives. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.