Efficiency
Also, I finally got around to canceling our "Standard" cable channels, leaving only the "Basic" ones, to save us like $35/month. This means going down to the "local" channels (in practice whatever happens to be on like 2-22) instead of getting up through 75 or something. In theory we love Food Network, Animal Planet, and to a lesser extent maybe Sci-Fi, Comedy Central, Discovery and so on, but in reality we haven't actually watched anything on them in months and months, so yeah.
But anyway here's the amusing bit: apparently "Standard" is in fact so standard that essentially everyone gets it. The only way *not* to get it is for someone to physically come out to our house and install an extra little dongle on the outside wall that intercepts and blocks channels 23-75. Whatever works.
Presumably all this silliness will eventually be supplanted when it's all digital. Really though, it seems to me like when everything's digital, you might as well just have *everything* be on-demand a-la-cart. Who needs broadcas? Fat chance the cable companies and networks will go for it, though. Not for a while anyway.
But anyway here's the amusing bit: apparently "Standard" is in fact so standard that essentially everyone gets it. The only way *not* to get it is for someone to physically come out to our house and install an extra little dongle on the outside wall that intercepts and blocks channels 23-75. Whatever works.
Presumably all this silliness will eventually be supplanted when it's all digital. Really though, it seems to me like when everything's digital, you might as well just have *everything* be on-demand a-la-cart. Who needs broadcas? Fat chance the cable companies and networks will go for it, though. Not for a while anyway.