Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye!!

Growing up in the 1970’s in the boonies of Posey County (Indiana, for those who don’t know), there were exactly four (4) television networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.  At the time, cable didn’t exist, but even after it did, it didn’t for us because the cable didn’t run out to where we lived.  However, Dad worked for RCA doing television repair, so we always had tv’s and we had a good antenna.  It was this tall tower thing which Dad would have to climb up, to get to the roof, whenever he needed to fiddle with the antenna.  In the later years, it held a birdhouse.

TV has always been an important part of my life.  Mr. Rogers started shortly around the time I was born, and there was Sesame Street and the Electric Company.  Then I “advanced” to reruns of the Brady Bunch and Batman afterschool.  Some might argue this was not good for young Rose, but meh..  

Before the day of VCR’s and their progeny, we could watch one thing, and being the youngest in a house of five, I’m pretty sure my vote counted less.  So I was exposed to what everyone else watched.  I’m not talking bad stuff – in the 70’s, I’m not even sure bad stuff existed.  But for example, Saturday nights, my sisters watched Doctor Who (not bad) and Monty Python (questionable, considering my age) on PBS.

Then along came cable and Rose was devastated that we couldn’t get cable where we lived even if I were successful in talking the ‘Rents into getting it.  Somewhere along in there came Fox with the Simpsons and Married With Children, and the CW and UPN (R.I.P.)   I survived.

In the mid-90’s I moved away from home…. Three miles away from home!  But those three miles were important because they put Rose in the range of cable.  Since then, some 23 years, Rose has had cable.  I’ll go without food, but I’ve had cable, or satellite.  In fact, after Dad passed away, and I moved back home with Mom, it was based upon the conditions that A) my cats came with me; and 2) we would have Dish.  (Cable wasn’t and still isn’t an option for the occupants of that house.)

When Mom and I moved to the ‘Do in Evansville, we learned that when the buildings were built, they were wired for Sigecom (now WOW!) and the other cable providers in town couldn’t use their wires.  I don’t know if that’s true, I would think not – wire is wire, but I honestly never investigated.  I’d had WOW! before and had no problem with them.   The cable bill included internet too, and since they were bundled, I had no idea of how the cost broke down, but the cost wasn’t too bad.  I think it was like $90 a month.

Over the years, I’ve read about all the ways and options people had to “cut the cord” and not have to have cable.  I was very interested and would read the articles putting the info away for the future (hopefully far off) after Mom was gone.  What did Mom’s presence have to do with it?   Well, being at home all day, she probably watches more TV (timewise) than I do; and as she’s gotten older, electronic stuff has become a little, er.. shall we say, daunting?  She can handle it all, but it can be confusing, so I didn’t want to make her have to go through learning something new.

Some years later, I received my cable bill one day - it was $201.  Also around that same time, I had lunch with my friend Amy (hey, you've been mentioned in the blog for a second time!!) and she was telling me all about how she uses Sling.  Now, TV is not as important to Amy, so I figured if she was doing it, it meant she’d investigated and confirmed it was a good way to go.  My brain started percolating… Mom can learn something new… and we had to get a new air conditioner (which I’m doing my best to pay for – i.e., not Mom), and a good portion of the money spent on cable could go to that.  (AC is another very important thing to Rose, maybe another blog sometime.)

So I signed up for Sling.  Bonus:  They have BBC America!!!!!  Several years ago, my cable company provided BBC America, although I had to pay extra for it.  I was okay with that - BBC America was my access to Doctor Who.  Then one day, I came home from a rough day at work, where I earned the cash to pay for cable, I turned on my television only to discover that I no longer had that channel.  Of course, I called – now, Rose does NOT like using the telephone, so the fact that I immediately picked up the phone and called should demonstrate the importance here.  I was told that BBC America had upped what they charged the cable company to broadcast and it was so much more that the cable company decided to no longer offer it.  Needless to say, I was bummed.

All totaled, I now pay a grand total of $85 for "cable" and internet.   When I received my first reduced bill from the cable company (because I had to stay with them for internet), it was the grand total of $38!!!  I did have to buy some antennas for the network channels, and a Roku for each TV, but those are one time investments.  Rose is now very happy - especially since BBC America has been showing "13 Days of Who" running up to the premiere of the new season!