If you’re not a geek, you may find this entry boring. Tough.
I’m a man on a mission. It’s a totally hedonistic mission, but nevertheless, it’s a mission.
Earl and I subscribed to DirecTV in late August after becoming increasingly bored with our cable service. For those not familiar with DirecTV, it’s television programming provided via satellite rather than cable or good ol’ “rabbit ears”. Through the always questionable wisdom of our federal government, Earl and I can not receive network channels (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) via DirecTV because we can allegedly receive the signal over the air. Apparently they want us to watch local commercials. Granted, it’s ‘vo-tech television’ at its best with no high-definition nor digital signal, the production is crappy, the picture is full of snow and the newscasters are somewhat stumbling fools from time to time, but nevertheless, if we can make out their alarmingly large foreheads amongst the static on the screen, then we don’t qualify for the feed from DirecTV. One can apply for a ‘waiver’ from the local station which grants us the permission to see the network feeds from N.Y. and LA, which the local CBS (WTVH – a great station that I grew up with)affiliate promptly did. So now we have CBS in glorious high definition and we are loving every minute of it.
But then WKTV, the local NBC affiliate, denied us the same privilege, even though NBC is available in high-definition over DirecTV and NOT via the local channel. I guess they think they can force us to watch their crappy commercials. But I refuse to put up an antenna on the roof and I refuse to install rabbit ears on our television. I won’t even wrap a coat hanger in tin foil and hide it behind the entertainment center. So we’re not watching any NBC shows at all. Which is probably a good thing now that I think about it. I wrote a somewhat nasty note to the station manager regarding our dilemna and copied the NBC national office, but I doubt it will get results. What I’m really surprised about is that I’m actually putting in all this effort to watch “Will and Grace” and “The West Wing” in their very apparent declining years. Nevertheless, it’s a challenge and I enjoy hounding people that think they hold power over me. I like to see them break I guess. Maybe I just like getting my way. Wow, maybe I do need to spend some time in therapy to discuss that little nugget.
The jury is still out on the local ABC and Fox stations, which are both owned by the same company. They stopped broadcasting digitally and high-def because apparently it wasn’t catching on, what with it being the digital age and all. But I wrote them a nice letter and hope to hear a nice response. If not, they shall feel my wrath.
