Ah, now it’s officially a blog.
This is actually a fairly minor bitch, but still. I never got cable because I spend a lot more time (surprise) watching DVDs and doing reviews and stuff. Yes, yes, I do still do reviews, now and then, smartass.
Anyhoo, my trailer park used to provide a free line with the local channels, and that was good enough. However, then we went from Unc’l Bob’s Cable TV to Comcast, and the free line was dropped. Well, I grumbled in an old man sort of way, but wanted *some* sort of TV, so I went ahead and signed up.
Needless to say, I took the expanded six-month bargian deal, especially because it allowed me to watch the majority of Cubs game this year, which are telecast mostly now on Comcast Sports. However, I tried to resist getting their On-Demand Service, which requires a special box. However, you couldn’t get the offer without the box. So I knew trouble was ahead, to be fair.
Now the deal is over, and the standard package is $54 a month, while the very basic is $19. Obviously, given the amount of TV I watch, $35 extra bucks is fairly crazy, and that’s, sadly, fairly real money for me. So I called to drop down the service.
However, since I have the On Demand box, which I never wanted and tried to resist, I’ll have to have a guy come out to remove it–$20 charge, ching ching–and waste an afternoon of vaction time. However, since the change is worth about $400 a year, I’m going for it.
The lady obviously tried to get me to stick with it, but it was merely a brief mention towards that and their other services, so it wasn’t obnoxious.
She also said, however, that basic is just the local channels. Maybe. However, their website say for my area the basic package includes the handful of stations I actually watch (barring the Cartoon Network, and their shows come out on DVD eventually anyway). This includes the Discovery Channel, so I can still watch Mythbusters. Even if the website is wrong, and I do just get the locals, I’m again not paying $400 a year to watch Mythbusters and Iron Chef America.
We’ll see how this works in the future. I’d like to ramp up my service 6 months a year to get the baseball stuff. However, if I call in April and they’re all like “OK, but you have to have a guy come by,” then I won’t. C’mon, why isn’t that just a tossing a switch from headquarters things? And if going back up *requires* me in particular to get the On Demand box put back on (and then off, and then on, etc.), then screw that entirely.
I realize that Comcast doesn’t owe me total flexibility. But here’s the deal. If it’s as easy as it should be, I’ll pay $55 a month for cable six months of the year, and $19 the rest. If not, then I’ll pay $19 a month for cable all year long. We’ll see which works out.
