Cable TV

[zman1]

Anyone remember when cable TV didn't have product advertisement commercials? One of the selling points were you are paying, so you didn't have to watch commercials, not like FREE network TV. Commercials were the dues you had to pay for free TV. I am waiting for the other premium channels to start product advertising. CNN is one of the worst, they need to rename it to Commercial News Network....

 

[beth]

I had cable since I was a kid, which was a long time ago, and I never remember not having commercials. Yes, the premium channels did not.
I know one thing, I hate the way cable, and all the broadcast companies operate. Customers should pay for what they watch, not 100 other channels that they never tune into. Its a crime you have to pay for standard TV to get to digital TV, when you don't watch those channels.

 

[scotts]

Do you remember when all MTV played was music videos?
As far as advertising what gets me is the little logos that they have on the screen or the little advertisments that pop up for the next show. Totally takes away from what you are watching and sometimes blocks the clue on MONK.

 

[tangman99]

That is why I don't watch live TV. I TIVO everything I care to watch and skip the commercials. I can watch a two hours show in about 1.5 hours so I get a lot more TV in for the same amount of time. There is the occassional time when I don't have anything TIVO'd and then look for something live and have to deal with commercials but that is very rare. Even my 4 year old knows how to skip commercials in her shows and yells if I have the remote and a commercial comes on.

 

[zman1]

Cable TV was only 27 channels total then. We had the long cable attached to a little flat box with a slide selector. This was the remote.... Before cable my sister and I were the remote, only 5 channels though, didn't take long to find a channel.

 

[windmill]

I don't like TV much. People that sit around and watch shows like Survivor or American Idol or Who Wants to be a Millionaire.......well, i'll hold my opinion.
It's just such a waste of time, intelligence, and it makes people lazy and fat. I do still watch some TV though. If it's funny or real, I'll watch it. Real as in World's Wildest Police Videos or RealTV, and even then, the amount of extra drama the producers add in the form of un-natural sound effects and overly dramatic narration is really nauseating. MAX X is one of my all time favorites, mainly because they make fun of stupid people.
I must admit I watch MXC though. Which ranks right up there with Idol and Survivor in terms of useless, intellect-leaching programming. But it's funny.
National Geographic and Discovery channels though, those should be a requirement to watch TV. If you're going to dumb yourself with thoughtless programming, you should atleast counter it with something educational or thought provoking.

 

[scotts]

Remember even before that when you had to take the tubes out of the TV every six months and take them down to the drug store to test them? Or the tv that if you wanted to watch it in color you had to turn it on 5 minutes before the show started. Then it eventually became 30 minutes before the show for the color to come on.

 

[zman1]

I remember the tube testers your talking about. The one that I remember my Dad using a few times was in a Mom and Pop hardware store. Contact cleaner for the tuner another common item...
I heard a comedian once say "you kids are so spoiled today, I remember when I had to get up and change the channel" -LOL
Like I said ealrier my sister and I were the remote. Dad would say, go change the channel....

 

[fbm]

Yeah well...I remember....
WHEN WE DIDN'T HAVE HDTV.....can you believe that?

 

[payton 350]

i remember when we used to have a vcr's for recording movies and tv shows....now it just builds up dust thanks to DVR and dvds
poor poor vcr

 

[zman1]

Originally Posted by fbm
Yeah well...I remember....
WHEN WE DIDN'T HAVE HDTV.....can you believe that?
Some of us still don't.... But remember Nixon resigning in 74

 

[phixer]

If we have to pay for TV why do we have to be subjected to commercials?

 

[agent707]

Most of the channels you are referring to with "commercials" are just regular "broadcast" channels somewhere in the world... YOU are paying to have them pipped into your house MANY states away.
Do you think all those millions of miles of networking cable is free? And all your "cable bill" goes towards is "commercial free" television?
It's not that hard to understand.
I know one thing, I hate the way cable, and all the broadcast companies operate. Customers should pay for what they watch, not 100 other channels that they never tune into. Its a crime you have to pay for standard TV to get to digital TV, when you don't watch those channels.
My tax dollars go towards paving and maintaining millions of miles of roadway... I only drive on .001% of them! Dang it! I'm getting ripped off!

 

[ruaround]

i dont remember the claim of being "commercial free"... i hate the fact that at 1 am 90% of the channels go to "paid programing"... and if you want to see a video on MTV you have to wait until 3 am... how about the claim that MTV2 would only be music videos... now its just another reality TV channel like MTV...

 

[lovethesea]

all I know is that I was the one who had to get the foil and fix the rabbit ears