No this is not a invite to go back and rehash fond memories of your first ice cream cone or day at the beach.----no, ---asking, do you remember back when we had the public debate about free TV versus Pay TV? Look who I am asking?----there are so few of us left. Forget I asked.
Back a number of years ago, the cable companies wanted a bigger slice of the pie and fought to have laws passed that allowed them an ever bigger slice of the TV Pie. Back then , not unlike now, those who could not get a broadcast TV signal due to mtns, being in the way of the TV Towers, or perhaps in a remote area where the signal just flat was to weak to deliver a picture, could at a price (a monthly fee) get cable and get the same tv programming as the rest of the world.---and life was good. The Cable companies wanted more---how about people in big cities where the signal was blocked by tall buildings----then it was how about those that just didn't want to attach a ugly attennae on the roof, shouldn't they be allowed to pay for cable if they wanted??---SO-O-O, the Free VS PAY TV wars broke out-----Long story short---Free TV lost.
The people in the know looking ahead saw that what was needed was a source of new material to feed the jaws of Television broadcasting. "Free TV, quickly signed up all the current actors, comedians, clowns and musicians---and we entered what is called the golden age of TV.
In the Golden age we had great shows ---drama, a whole library of great movies, and an army of young writers and technicians---and we had shows like "The Twilight Zone", "The US Steel hour", "The Ed Sullivan hour"---"I Love Lucy". How great was it?---it was so great that the TV Guide Magazine was the biggest seller, even outdoing "Reader's Digest"!!---but that was then.
Today?? Today TV Guide Magazine is not even in the top ten magazines---the big annual TV award show for best programs the Emmemys---sponsored by ??---yeah you guessed it, one of the Cable companies---if ya want good TV---you gotta pay for it---anyday now I expect the "Donks" (aka the Liberals) to start picketing for we need "free TV"---to late everybody climbed on board the cable wagon---(whose pulling the wagon----oh, ooh yeah, the monthly subscribers)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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HEAVVVVVE HOOOOOOOO....HEAVVVVVE HOOOOOOOOOO.. yep...it's a hard wagon to pull! But someone's gotta do it! I'm off to watch "Hairspray" on HBO...
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not I do not get cable where I live. I'm a satellite girl and I loves it!
ReplyDeleteCan't live without my cable....but yes I do remember free TV. Who would have thought one day we would pay for TV and water in a bottle?
ReplyDeleteWhen cable first came to town I wondered why would anyone pay to see what was already free. Then, YEARS later, they finally made it to the sticks and hooked me up. THE VERY first thing that flashed on the TV while the man was hooking it up was CLOCKWORK ORANGE with these guys made up like clowns, raping a woman. Holy crap! I had never heard the F word in my house and I nearly passed out on the spot.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm missing a lot of good shows, but the quantity of crap on the tube consistently convinces me not to have cable TV. So I don't watch any. The only things I really miss are news and sports, but I can get most of that on the 'net.
ReplyDeleteWhere I grew up there was this huge cable tower that you could see from our house. Every once in awhile you could see a man climbing up the tower to make repairs or something. As a child I always thought he was climbing up there to turn the cable on ... LOL.
ReplyDeleteWe have DirecTV and I like it. I think it's too expensive ... we do not have any of the movie channels, but we pay for extras like Outdoor Channel, etc.
hmmm...perhaps the govt should take over the satellite companies. The customer service couldn't get any worse.
ReplyDeleteIF WE have to pay to watch, there shouldn't be any commercials on it?
ReplyDeleteFirst there was free TV. Then cable followed by satellite. The next competitor will be Net TV. For all of you who were smart enough to not be part of the Borg (ie sign up for cable) my hat goes off to you. Had I rethought the whole process I would never have made the leap to cable. It's just not really worth it and every time you turn around they're raising rates and cutting channels.
ReplyDeleteOh yes I remember when the channels that were available on the TV went from 2 to 13 and we had a CHOICE each and every night of the week.
ReplyDeleteNow I have satelite TV that I pay a ridiculous amount for each month and I am lucky to find 1 hour a WEEK worth watching.
Progress--I think not!!
Bear((( )))
Something I forgot to mention earlier is the High Defintion TV that goes into effect February 19,2009. If you don't have cable or satelitte, you had better have purchased or you won't be able to watch TV. They have all kinds of commercials about it on our tv. I'm glad we have cable for that reason. However, when we had all those hurricanes in 2004, I went out and purchased a battery operated tv so that I could keep up with the storm affects and after next February I won't be able to use it. It will be useless. So much for progress.
ReplyDeleteBonnie get the decoder box to use with the portable tv-----that way you have a backup if the cable or direct tv system is off line.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly they did a pre test of the digital broadcast here so that people could tell if their sets would work. They say you're okay if you have cable or satellite, but when they ran the test my cable went to static.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe the decoder box will work if there is no electricity. The news stations around here said the battery powered TV's wouldn't work, so I just took their word for it. Maybe I should look into it further.
ReplyDeletewell they are right, if you have no electricity in which to plug your deconder box, your right---course if the regular power comes back on, but the cable and direct tv systems are off line, THEN it would work---course too, if things are THAT bad---you all are dead anyway.
ReplyDeleteThere may be a work around on that I'll check and get back to you.
ReplyDelete