I think they should just go a-la-carte on broadcast channels.
My mother-in-law lives in a small city where she can pick up the big networks + PBS and some minor networks (CW, ion) with just rabbit ears.
With an $80 antenna, I get 11 channels from a city that is 50 miles away. All I had to do is nail a bracket onto the edge of my roof.
I am missing CBS and ABC, but I am planning to fill those in with a VHF antenna that points to another city.
The difference in picture quality between the HD broadcast vs the compressed "HD" offered by TWC is night and day.
It seems to me there is no value in getting a degraded copy of local broadcast TV on cable, so you should be able to opt out of it, or maybe just get broadcast stations that don't come in with your antenna.
> With an $80 antenna, I get 11 channels from a city that is 50 miles away. All I had to do is nail a bracket onto the edge of my roof.
> I am missing CBS and ABC, but I am planning to fill those in with a VHF antenna that points to another city.
> It seems to me there is no value in getting a degraded copy of local broadcast TV on cable
So, you spent $80 and had to climb onto the roof to install it. You have existing knowledge about what antenna to purchase. You know you need a VHF antenna to get other channels. You know where to purchase this stuff.
All of that isn't existing knowledge to the general public and climbing onto a room isn't a general skill-set. There is definite value in a cable guy coming in and setting everything up for you.
Actually, we're only a generation away from when people did exactly that. My father bought his TV antenna, as did everyone else I knew. Installed it an the roof (a big, unwieldy thing), stood there and turned it's direction while I called up when the picture was best.
> I think they should just go a-la-carte on broadcast channels.
My understanding is that the cable companies want to do this, but a tangled web of long-term agreements to carry channels have painted them into a corner.
Well, if the broadcasters get $ for cable subscriptions, broadcasters have a reason to want you to subscribe to cable. Also, the cable companies really don't want you to get into the OTA habit, since OTA has many of the things you want linear TV for and goes together with OTT like peanut butter and jelly.
Do people think there is something ritually unclean about getting OTA television? I know that a lot of people that I talk to about my OTA setup seem to think I am doing something illegal.
They probally would like to go a-la-carte, and charge a fortune for each channel?
I sometimes think it was a mistake to let cable companies put their cables up, with these long term agreements? Agreements that always seem to favor cable companies?
I've never understood these franchise agreements. I always thought if you allow one company put up their wires, you should allow multiple companies the right to use the same utility pole to put up their equipment. If said company goes bankrupt--the municipality/county would own those wires/fibers, and could sell, or lease to the next company? Or, just rip them off the poles?
I'm kinda at the point where if I chief; I would rip out all the cable companies wires? I would let any company come in and put up new cables, but the service would need to be completely free. They would make money on advertising? The advertising couldn't get much worse?
(The only good thing I heard about cable companies is in CA; there is a bill up for consideration requiring all monthly fees for cable boxes, and modems be eliminated. Or, something along those lines?)
You can stop paying for freely broadcast networks, and only pay for cable channels with a service like Sling TV. They've managed to work out the right deals to get basic cable, including ESPN, into a $20/mo package. The more people who start doing this, the less power broadcasters will have over distributors (cable, IPTV, etc.).
My mother-in-law lives in a small city where she can pick up the big networks + PBS and some minor networks (CW, ion) with just rabbit ears.
With an $80 antenna, I get 11 channels from a city that is 50 miles away. All I had to do is nail a bracket onto the edge of my roof.
I am missing CBS and ABC, but I am planning to fill those in with a VHF antenna that points to another city.
The difference in picture quality between the HD broadcast vs the compressed "HD" offered by TWC is night and day.
It seems to me there is no value in getting a degraded copy of local broadcast TV on cable, so you should be able to opt out of it, or maybe just get broadcast stations that don't come in with your antenna.