Well, thanks to Funny about Money, My Deadbeat Television was not only included in The Carnival of Money Stories, but I may also have my solution from the comment he/she left, suggesting a digital box.
I wasn’t quite sure what was meant by a digital box, but I believe it’s easiest to explain it as the boxes the government was giving the coupons away for so that people watching television by antennae would still be able to. Unfortunately, the coupons were only available until July 31 but I took a quick look at Best Buy and Walmart and the digital converter box still only costs from $50 to $70. That’s one time, my friends. Not every month, Mr. Satellite Service.
Something I noticed with the digital converter box is that some of them even have extra features for remotes and closed captioning. There are also antennaes available that can make the picture better and may even pick up more channels. Maybe I’m behind the times, but my idea of television without cable or satellite was a snowy, mess of static with no real picture. Apparently nowadays, you can watch tv just fine with the right equipment. A quick search of “dtv channels available in ___(your state)” brings up a number of webpages of channels that are available for digital television.
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty excited about trying this. It will take a second for me to make the jump, similar to getting rid of my land line, but the idea of saving $70 a month will make it easier.
Thanks again, Funny about Money. I’ll let you all know how it goes!