No Satelite TV here!
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
United States
March 6, 2009 4:16pm CST
So, as you all know, we just moved into this house last weekend. Before the move I was looking into getting some form of cable TV.
My cable company, Time Warner, claims they don't come out here, which we learned after moving in that's not the case because our neighbors have cable, but Time Warner still insists they don't service my area.
So, I opted for Satelite. I signed up or DirectTV and set up an appointment for installation on Thursday.
So the installers show up, and tell me there's no way I can have a satelite here, there's a few trees in the front blocking the way. They could set up a post for the satelite to sit on, but the community doesn't allow that. And the trees do not belong to me, so I can't do anything about them!
So, looks like I'm stuck with basic, free TV channels, no cable, no satelite.... nothing.
I honestly don't mind. I wasn't entirely sure we could afford all our bills anyways, and this is one less thing we'd have to worry about, and a little extra money in our pockets. Hubby and I usually watch the free channels anyways (which come in great now that they've switched to digital!). The only reason we ever had cable was for the kids so they could watch Disney. So, they're going to be a little disappointed, but oh well. They were watching too much TV anyways, and they'll still have their movies.
Do you have cable or satelite? Have you ever gone without pay TV and had just the free channels?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
7 Mar 09
The last time I had paid TV was back when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old, and the only thing that was available back then was cable. So it has been a while! LOL
Although it would be nice to have certain channels, like Disney for the kids, I don't see the point of paying for such a service when there are more than enough channels with free TV. If people need any more than this then they are likely watching too much TV anyway.
I remember being a tad jealous that a friend of mine had cable when we were teens. That is, until she complained that there was nothing on TV. I don't remember exactly how many stations she had, but it was some ridiculous amount. You'd think with all those stations she'd be able to find something good on TV. That right there kind of cinched it for me and I lost my interest in ever getting cable after that. What's the point of paying for cable or satellite if there is never anything good on? And like you pointed out with digital TV out now there are new stations, for free, that we can watch. That is good enough for me.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
8 Mar 09
Good luck with that! I wish I could get a faster Internet connection but I am stuck with dial-up. This is one disadvantage with living in the middle of nowhere. 
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
7 Mar 09
I know what you mean. The only TV I ever watched was NBC and ABC for ER and Dancing With The Stars, which are both free channels. There was a time I watched a lot of TNT which is a cable channel, and hubby watched a lot of cable channels, and we felt like we couldn't live without cable. Then I got more into the internet than TV, and he works too much to really watch TV, although he did like to watch a few shows on the internet. Unfortunatly now we're dealing with dial up as well as no TV, so that makes it a bit more difficult.
Maybe in a few months time once I see where the bills are we'll either upgrade to a paid TV service, or upgrade to another form of internet (because the cable company is lying to me and I know I can get both cable and road runner if I wanted).
1 person likes this
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
7 Mar 09
We live in the country, have lots of trees and receive only 2 local channels without help. So, about 11 years ago, we went to DirecTV and get ALL our local channels with that, too. I would hate to go back to just 2 channels,but who knows - might have to some day with things getting like they are! We do have our satellite installed on a pole in the back yard. My husband set it up and we have GREAT reception, although there are loads of trees and we are in a valley. Could they not extend a pole on your house to sit it on rather than one in the yard?
We lived in an apartment in Nashville, TN for 5 years. When we moved in, they told us we would have to get cable in order to have any reception. Well, we bought us a TV with rabbit ears and got 8 channels and NEVER had to pay for cable. 
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
7 Mar 09
I'm not sure if they could have put the pole on the house. Honestly I'm not all that concerned with it at the moment. The only ones suffering without the pay channels are the kids, because they can't watch Disney. I'm okay with the free channels, and so is hubby. But the kids seem to be managing just fine thus far.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
6 Mar 09
We used to have Satellite before we moved here. Right now all we have is the free ones too. I might break down and get cable for the kids, so they will leave me alone about being bored with all their movies. Sorry to hear that everything with that has been such a mess.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
7 Mar 09
My toddler has been watching the same movies over and over again! The other kids aren't too bad off cuz they have video games and stuff. I put a TV with a DVD player in my son's room and he's got the PS2, so they should be okay without the TV. I've been playing the radio a lot more than I used to, and we have a blockbuster.com membership too. I think we'll live for awhile.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
21 Jun 09
I don't get any paid tv channels here either. I just figured they jacked the price up here atleast $5-10 a year and it was hard to afford before we bought this house. Plus our house isn't cable ready and I'd hate to know what the install fee is nor the fact that I'd have to severely clean our house so there would be access to all the walls they may consider running the cable thru.
And honestly you can find plenty of tv shows on the net you'd pay for to watch on tv so no big loss. Plus we have 2 kids channels (pbs kids + Qubo) and that keeps them entertained and I usually like watching all the PBS Create shows anyways. Frankly there's too many choices on paid tv, if you could just pick the handful beyond local I'd be all for it but since they don't they won't get my business cause I can't afford it.
@jesssp (2712)
• Canada
7 Mar 09
I was told the exact same line a few years ago when I lived in a little rental house. The installers basically told us that we could absolutely no way have satellite at our house because there were trees in the way and since we were renting the post in the yard was a no no - just like you. They showed up late and in dress clothes, obviously not to interested in climbing around on the roof. They gave us our money back and we were pretty disappointed. A few days later we called another place that did installations and they came to the house, took a look and said that it was a little tricky but it was totally doable. They installed it and it worked fine - the signal was about 98%.
So if you really want it then you could try looking for another installer but it's probably a good idea to just stick with the freebie channels and save yourself some $$. Every little bit helps!
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
7 Mar 09
Yeah, that's the point I'm at now. I'm not sure what are bills are going to look like here because of the way things have changed, and I don't know if we'll be able to afford it all. So I'd like to wait awhile and see how we're doing. If we find we have enough extra money then we might try to sign up for a different company, otherwise we'll just deal without, or maybe eventually get more serious about the cable.
@procrusher (64)
• Canada
7 Mar 09
Free TV is fine for me because i don't watch tv much. The best thing to do is just try to grow off of your television and start doing other things that you may use some of your free time with.
@tiff_tay20 (139)
• United States
6 Mar 09
I have had both cable and sattellite. Right now where we live we have cable, but we are moving in about a month, and we will probably get sattellite because they have better and more channels.
@reflexionando (25)
• Mexico
6 Mar 09
I like a cable, its low cost and i buy the tv chanel i gree.
By satelite are a spense, and see po rno chanel, no way!!!
