Making The Switch From Satellite To Cable TV

I had been a satellite service subscriber for several years and the service was not too bad, especially once I got used to the occassional service interruptions during heavy rains.

In all honesty the service interruptions were few and far apart, it was the customer service that I found really annoying. However I had been renting a house at the time and when it came time to move into my apartment I had to let it go. It really was not a big deal to me at the time, I figured cable would provide the same level of service for a comparible price.

So I made the arrangements to have cable television installed in my new apartment and the adventure began.

I was sure excited the day the cable was installed. I am one of those men who always loves to get a new toy to play with, especially if it is an electronic toy. So I had a lot of new channels and features to keep me occupied for days.

The first task was to locate all my favorite channels. This is a very important step because I can not afford to waste valuable time searching for where I want to be. Like a school boy I memorize the channel numbers for all my favorites.

Then I made the horrible discovery that my cable did not have individual user favorites lists. The satellite had seperate lists for for each user. Since my significant other and I have quite different definitions of what quality television consists of, this was an important feature. It saved me from having to scroll through a bunch of reality television channels in order to arrive at ESPN.

This would take a little getting used to, lucky I am an adaptable man who is quite capable of learning new things. I knew that I would not only survive in this environment, I would conquer it.

It must have been about a week after getting cable television, as I was just getting used to the locations of my favorite channels, when it happened. I was right in the middle of a program when the screen went blank and all the lights on the cable box began blinking. Then a message appeared on the screen indicating that the cable box was beginning a reboot.

The weather outside was calm and the electricity never went off, there was no reason I could think of for why this was happening. Yet there it was, right before my eyes. It was as though the cable company had decided that I watch boring television shows and needed some excitement in my viewing habits.

This was the last thing that I needed, I already have a girlfriend telling me that my television viewing habits leave a lot to be desired. I certainly do not need a little black box to start on me as well.

Another source of amusement for me is when I am in the middle of a television program when a message appears telling me that I am not authorized to view the channel I am watching. I have paid for these channels, but apparently there is some anonymous person or committee in charge of approving what I am watching.

I am waiting to receive notification informing me that my viewing choices are so poor that I am no longer allowed to make my own decisions. Perhaps the television will simply begin tuning to the channel I am supposed to watch, removing me entirely from the equation.

At least I can rest assured that my television will still be on when the next rain storm comes my way.