Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnN
I'm so old, I remember when television was free and I couldn't understand why anyone would pay. I thought that was was the advertiser's did!
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That's when all the available channels were broadcast over the air. Now 95% of the channels are what we refer to as Cable Channels, but you receive them via satellite, streaming, cable, etc. Locally Orlando has about 60 broadcast channels, half are Spanish speaking or religious. You have basically the 4 major networks and a few decent independent channels. Much of the sports, news, weather, crime, so many specialized channels cannot be received with just an antenna. Thus, we have the need to pay to receive more channels that appeal to most of us. I have 3 TV's and 2 are on Directv satellite and 1 is on an antenna in the attic. If I could only watch what was on the antenna TV, I would probably quit watching TV.
I remember the first time I got cable, it was 1973 and I was living in Savannah. Some guy knocked on the door and said do you want cable, it's only $5 a month. I said what do you get, at the time there was no such thing as a cable channel. He said you'll get all the Savannah channels crystal clear and all the Charleston Channels, about a dozen channels. I thought that's better than just the four I'm getting and they're not even that clear with rabbits ears.
The first time I had HBO was in '79 and it was $5 a month extra on the cable bill. It didn't come on the air until 4:30 and was on just one channel. It mostly all movies, no specials, no shows of their own, just commercial free uncut movies, and I liked better then.