Let me start this by saying that though I live inside the city limits I am pretty isolated as far as services go. Our house is a half mile from a public road and cable simply isn't an option where our house is. If it were, it isn't any better than what we have now. We are trly lucky to live both in the country and in a city all at the same time. So, here it is...a rant from me.
I got up early this morning to do a little writing and decided to see what was on TV. We are Dish customers ...have been Direct TV customers and honestly we prefer Dish but even with that said I have some serious complaints about what we are getting for our money. Everyone knows whether you are a cable or a satellite customer you are paying dearly for your service package. I want to tell you what I discovered this morning.
Ok, I am speaking from memory but, we have what I think is the smallest package available from Dish. We are supposed to receive approximately 120 channels for our viewing pleasure and entertainment. This is what I found this morning. We receive the following types of channels:
27 Paid (selling products) channels
12 Auction Channels (selling everything from jewelry to exercise equipment to hair removal systems.)
9 News Channels (if you can call some of what they call news news channels)
8 religious channels (of some form or fashion and some of these should be considered nothing more than paid programming because they are simply fund raising with a small does of religion on the side...my editorial comment)
7 local channels ( I didn't know if they were included in our 120)
52 Entertainment Channels
This totals up to 115 channels. I am certain I missed some but it doesn't really matter I am certain that the ratio of real and not-so-real channels would remain pretty constant.
Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?
I am paying for 120 channels and getting 52 channels to watch. There probably are two dozen that actually interest me and my children but I am being gracious and saying all 52 "entertainment channels are entertaining to me. I never, ever, ever watch auction channels...the news is pretty much slanted one way or the other so I don't watch them and I wouldn't watch a paid product channel if they paid me.
Why can't we select the channels we want to pay for?
I for one would be willing to pay a little more for the channels I want to watch and not have the others cluttering up my channel selection. Is the only way the satellite and cable providers get these channels on the schedule to force customers to take them with a package of a few channels they actually want? What happened to give the customer what they want? Does it not apply here?
It is my opinion that the TV network providers are doing themselves a huge disservice, not to mention a huge disservice to us, their customers. As more and more television programming is available via internet transmission they are actually providing us with good solid reasons to leave their service for the options that are emerging through improved technology. Once the legitimate networks understand and decide they and their viewers are footing the bill for the rarely watched and pinpoint marketed channels and decide to deliver their channels to the general public via the internet, we will all be better off. They will be getting more for their money and their advertisers will be getting more for their money, too. The advertisers will not being paid for audiences they don't want , that don't matter and even worse the don't receive.
I would have already made the switch except that the only channels I routinely watch are The Travel Channel, The History Channel and Discover Channel and as of yet none of them are available (completely) on my computer or Internet WiFi delivery device yet. Understand, if they were available I would buy a digital antenna for my house for the local channels and quickly discontinue the Dish Network. They, in a word, would be HISTORY.
I have been a subscriber to NetFlix for years and I am ready to subscribe to other services like HULU, Netfllix and others. To see options click on this link http://lifehacker.com/5475091/how-can-i-ditch-cable-and-watch-my-tv-shows-and-movies-online
I have successfully vented for a Saturday morning. I just want to stop paying for things I don't want just because someone thinks I need it. I am not looking to watch TV for free, though I do think that is still possible if the networks will wake up but, that is a topic for another rant. What I want is simple. I want to pay for the channels I watch at let someone else pay for those other channels if they want to watch them. That really is not a difficult concept if you think about it.
I hope you will pass this along to your friends so more TV customers will think about the bad deal they are getting from our cable and satellite providers.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading my rant.
Until next time....John
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