Let me ask you a question.........
Why do we pay for cable?
I know, it seems like I'm being retarded, right? "Well, Uncle Cunning. We pay for cable to subscribe to our entertainment blah blah snippity bleh bluh blah". Yeah yeah, I have the whole thing about why we pay for cable. I'm asking the underneath question though, if you will. WHY do we pay for cable television. Or even satellite television, for that matter. It's all the same to me.
Think about it.
Basic cable has commercials in it. The people advertising pay money to the stations to air those commercials. Then we pay money to the cable provider for the signal from the station. The station and the provider have an "agreement" where they lease the signal for a dollar. It's a mutual system. Without one, the other cannot exist. So who's left holding the bag? You guessed it. You and me, folks.
Now, you might be saying to yourself right now "But Uncle Cunning! There's cables and wires to maintain. There's satellite dishes to keep track of and satellites. It's all very complex and VERY expensive." You know what? I agree with you. I'm not saying don't give the devil his due. It costs something to provide the service. However.... it shouldn't cost every family 60ish dollars a month to subscribe to BASIC cable with commercials in it. Turn on your radio right now. You hear songs, right? You hear commercials, right? Did you pay anything for it? No. If you want commercial free radio, you buy a satellite radio and PAY a subscription for it! If you want the luxury of NOT paying for commercials, you pay for it. I get it. EASY concept.
Why can't television work the same way?
For that fact, why do I have to buy a package if I only want HBO? Why do I have to buy 32 sports channels and 18 Spanish channels if I don't watch or use them? Why can't you just say to me "You want HBO? That's cool. It's 4.95 a month extra". Hey, sweet. I'll take it. With the way things are currently, I have to buy basic cable at 60 a month. That gives me roughly 66 channels. Sounds like a lot, right? not really when you think about it. Half of them are useless and in Spanish or sports. Another part is home shopping QVC bullshit ( which is another gripe. WHY am I paying for a channel to sell me bullshit I don't need????). Yet another part is comprised of things I will NEVER want to see in a million years. I have no need to see who's on real world Cancun this year. Frig, for that fact.... MTV doesn't even have music on it anymore! To get the Music TeleVision with music on it....... you have to pay for it in a package!!!!!!!
Here's what I propose. We stop paying for cable tv. Just knock it off already. Give it out for free ( I can already hear cable tv execs shitting themselves, but bear with me). It's commercial signal that you get for free and we all know it. The non-commercial channels? Sell them to us. HBO costs 2.95 a month. Showtimes and cinemax? 3.95 a month. You want a sports grouping? Give us ALL sports channels for like 10 bucks a month. Right on down to Peruvian speed hair counting... give it to us. Follow on through down the line like that for everything. The smut channels? Go on and charge 10.95 a month for those each. You heard me.... EACH. Guess what.... we'll pay it.
Ya know what you're going to get in the end? TV the way it SHOULD be. TV the way it was meant to be. Hell, under that guideline above, I know my cable bill would double alone.
I'm serious, TV as we know it has to change. As it is I'm watching shows with twice the commercials in it that they used to have and paying for it. how can it get any worse?
20 comments:
I'm totally picturing that scene here...you know the one. Old guy... "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
Oops. I used an exclamation point and a couple quote marks up there. My bad.
The American public is indeed getting bent over and raped for cable. And they're even spreadin' their own cheeks to facilitate it.
Honestly though so long as I have a highspeed Internet connection, I kinda don't need cable. Yet we still have it. But I can download just about any show or movie that we want to watch. The news? Read about it online.
OH, and Folk got most of his must see TV via the Apple TV. Paid for each episode and no commercials. Watched a whole lot less TV to boot.
couldn't agree with you more! That's why Folk went without cable for four years! Just recently got back in on the sat deal from dish. all HD channels for 30 bucks. Only watch about six to eight channels on the regular.
I'm glad somebody said it. Cable television is a scam. They have convinced us we can't do without it. That and cell phones.
Why can't we go back to the good old days when all we needed was some rabbit ear antennae and a little aluminum foil?
I feel a moment of conspiracy coming on... oh yeah, it's a doosey.
At the start of this whole "gotta convert or lose your TV" scam, I figured I would talk to someone with some experience dealing with television.
So I told the old man, my dad. (Yes, my real dad; not my hubby or sugardaddy... you know who you are.)
So I tell Pop- who ironically was a technical electrician for YEARS but who hardly watches Television -that the "men" upstairs are finally switching us to all digital. Do you know what he said?
"Honey, it's been all digital for decades now. I don't understand what all the fuss is about..."
"But DAD," I say, all exasperated (because we sometimes get this way; DO even as/despite the fact that we get older),
"you don't understand. They are making people get little convertor boxes and having them go from their good-ol' rabbit ears to these, THESE THINGS! They're even telling people that if they can't afford this THING that they have to get a government grant or some such to get one."
He takes a deep sigh. "So? They'll probably get a better signal now. They have been trying to transition people from analog to digital, completely digital, since the 1980's; it's only now that it's become more feasible... honey, don't give me that look: you know who I worked for. Just trust me, I know... but, why are you so mad? Don't you have satellite anyways??"
So yeah I was suckered in by their bells and whistles, and promise of more TV than I could handle. The result? I watch it less now than I used to, and most of it is recorded. Less than 1/8 of the channels are worth a damn, and from those less than 1/12 of the programs are worth watching at all.
*Sigh* I could always just cancel it... but Burn Notice is back...
Lilly ~ Oprah's behind this. I just know she is.
Folk ~ So you're totally cool with me running a wire over to your house and borrowing a little cable action? You sir, are and awesome and attractive gentleman and I thank you.
Max ~ Not only am I saying it, I'm screaming it out on the rooftops, brother. I say we go all Tyler Durden on thier asses and blow up the cable buildings.
Tehk ~ I've been digital for years already and nobody told me? wtf. Nobody ever tells me anything!
yes. excellent.
now would you mind just arranging all of that now please?
word verification: rejece.
like 'rejoice' but for atheists.
oh...this is all so complex. I should amake decisions on stuff like this. But no...I just take the package.
I's all lies and trickery...where are the mirrors and smoke. I fell for it...I said yes...gimme it all. Sports too...what ever...so what if i don't watch lost of football...more more.
Cunning you have opened my eyes...I have all this TV but it's going to stop...I'm calling and I gonna want whaat I want...youjust watch and saee...er
yeah...I'll probably buy the new deluxe package...
save me...I'm weak. :0)
ciao sweetie...My netflix DVDs just arrived...woo.
Projectivist ~ So that means gesticular is just the christian form of testicular? :P
SZJ ~ I truly love you like a hot adopted sister.... but you spend way too much time dealing with what happens on a screen of some sort. I don't care if it is in your idiology. You'd die without 30 days of some sort of media entertainment and we both know it.
So true baby...
*sobs*
But hey...Lakers are on tonight and I'm glad for that...woo hoo!
Come over. We have food...lots of it. Drinks...what ever you want...the bar is filled.
We'll have coffee brewing and designated drivers...no one goes home uncared for.
half time...me and the girls will do little song and dance show.
It's all fun sweetie and you might even meet a few celebs...I wonder if jack will be here. Well he's invited too if he want to come.
:0)
How is that for entertainment?
ciao honey.
WE don't pay for cable. YOU do.
Dummy.
Yes, what Don't I Know You Said....
YOU might pay for cable...... ;)
I refuse to get foxtel, or ausstar, or any form of cable in my house so I have NO idea what you're talking about, honey.
xx
SZJ ~ I don't meet celebrities. Celebrities meet me :P
Seriously though... I don't care if they are in the business of show or in the business of laying bricks. People are people as far as I'm concerned. We should compare notes someday. You might be shocked to know we probably know some of the same circles.
Flat Stanley and Abi ~ oooooooooooooo, I gonna tell on uuuuuuuuuuuu!da cablez. If I turn you in it's like 100 bucks each. What say you each gimme 50 and we call it even. :P
Smacky-Doo ~ NO television? As in like.... none? Are you insane, woman!?!?!?!? No no.... I wouldn't know how to survive.
You don't watch the Muy Calente channel on cable?
Once, I came home and started watching it and didn't even know I was watching it.
My father had illegal cable for years and when I asked him why he didn't pay for it, he asked me
"WELL WHY DON'T YOU PAY FOR FREE SAMPLES?!"
..."BECAUSE THEY'RE FREE AND THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FREE!"
Now let's remember that my father is insane by my standards. But your post made me think of that moment.
Look at the bright side. If they don't ever make cable free, as they should, you can just walk around the block and watch TV through people's windows. The TVs are big these days.
ahem. FS doesn't pay for cable because FS doesn't receive cable.
something about having better things to do.
like watch the bug zapper, chase stray kids outta the back yard, shoot tin cans off the fence post.
i would lick your scrotum but i am still so very sick and need attention from uncle cunning to get better. i almost died you know. yes, it is true. i was near death. come over here and baby my scrotum and quite worrying about your own scrotum. your not the only one with a needy scrotum mr.
cunning, you're gonna get a cramp in your neck, you keep bending over like that.
maybe you should put some salt on your parts and let the dog lick them. that way you can watch cable tv at the same time.
Katie ~ I don't look through other people's windows. I peer. There's a difference.
Psycho ~ wtf? Too much cough syrup, young lady. As much as I adore mutual scrotum care, I refuse to take advantage of the drugged. Come back and comment when you are not sick.
Flat Stanley ~ You and psycho up there must be on the same cough syrup. The thing I find most disturbing...... dogs like salt? Just, wow.
cows like salt. deer like salt. kitty kats like salt.
FS is going to go scrub her mind with strong soap now.
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