Dishing it Out
J. Kevin Tumlinson

I love TV. I freely admit that I'm a junkie. I can't do without it. The gentle glow of the screen in a darkened room, the comfortable and familiar background noise as I move about the house, it's a necessary part of my life. And so, anything that makes TV better gets my instant and undivided attention.

I still remember when I first got cable. I was home from work because I'd had my wisdom teeth out, and the nice cable installer was kind enough to hook everything up for me. I smiled a bloody, painful smile as, for the first time, a whopping 50-plus channels flooded my television set, threatening to overflow onto the carpet. It wasn't until hours later that I figured out that I had 50 channels of nothing to watch.

My 50-plus channels consisted of maybe 20 or so that had content in English that I would actually watch. The rest were Spanish speaking channels, home shopping channels and sports networks. So, for my $40 per month, I was getting 10 more channels that I MIGHT be interested in.

Then came the outages. A storm blows through, a car hits a pole somewhere, or an errant tree limb falls on a wire miles distant and my cable is out for three days. My phone calls go unheeded (I'm usually on hold for 45 minutes to an hour, just to receive a recorded message that says they are aware of the problem). And when it finally comes back on, the picture is worse than it was before. All that, and I'm still paying the same forty bucks each month. Why not pro-rate me for the days I didn't have the service? If I can expect it from the telephone and electric companies, why can't I expect it from cable television?

After years of this kind of abuse, I was finally given an option – the satellite dish! Oh, what a wonder, what a joy! For less money each month, I could have pure digital signals beamed into my home! And, to make the deal all the sweeter, I get MORE! More English speaking channels, more channels of interest (my cable company never had the Scifi channel, can you believe it?), and most important, more customer service! If I made a phone call, I might be on hold, but I spoke to a real person by the time it was all over. And if I added something to my service, I was told to tune to a channel so I could watch it come on right in front of me! Now that, my friends, is the dream.

Outages? I've had a few. In the five or six years I've had the dish, I think my service was out for a total of one week. That's seven days of no service over a six year period. I remember waiting seven days for ONE OUTAGE to be repaired when I was still on cable.

Cable companies like Time Warner, however, would have you believe that every time a cloud passes by you lose your satellite signal. Maybe this will help – when hurricane Claudette came through in June 2003, I had a satellite signal right up until I lost power. When the weather had calmed a little, my power still wasn't on, but I rigged a battery and inverter and I was able to watch TV from my satellite dish. My power came on six hours later, but as far as I know I might have had a satellite signal the whole time (probably not, but hey, I never actually SAW it go off!).

Time Warner's big advertising push right now includes claims that satellite providers force you into contracts, build in hidden charges and bill you for costly equipment. When I got my dish, I did have to sign a contract for one year. This was a condition of getting my two receivers, all necessary equipment and installation for free. Gee, wasn't I ripped off? I had to pay $20 less per month for four times as many channels as I had on cable and I was forced to do it for a full year!

Cable companies are getting desperate, and who can blame them? They can't compete. Even with new services like “TV on Demand,” they really aren't offering anything that can draw the crowd. The two receivers I have allow me to record, play back, pause and fast forward my television programming – a service very similar to what cable is now offering only I've had it for years. And when my signal is out, I just wait a while and it's soon back on, no phone calls, not excuses from the company, no effort on my part. For those two advantages alone, I'd switch from cable to the dish.

If you're a TV junkie or just want a better deal, take a close look at your cable provider. I use Dish Network for my service and I've never had a complaint. Maybe you'll have the same kind of luck. But not matter what the reason, ditching cable is a wise move.