[Porsche-O-Phile]

There's nothing you can get on the "rabbit ears" broadcast stations worth watching anyway - unless you speak Spanish.

We went through this dilemma a couple years ago. Up to that point I'd been ardently against the idea of paying for television. I viewed it as a waste of time, brain-rotting activity that yielded a very low return on one's investment (time spent watching it and $$$ cost if you're paying for it). I still believe this to a point.

HOWEVER, when we moved into our place it had a coax. cable running to the box in the wall. I plugged it into the television and whaddya' know?!?! We got free cable. Cool. I didn't ask if this was "included" in our rent and didn't care. It's not like I spliced into the lines to steal it - they were just giving it to us. Fine. Whatever. I still didn't watch all that much but did enjoy a few programs on Discovery, Science Channel, National Geographic, etc. as well as some sports events occasionally.

Then someone got wise and pulled the plug. Dilemma ensued.

I talked to the wife about it and we decided that as much as I had a moral objection to having to pay for television, we actually did get an amount of enjoyment out of watching the stuff we'd been watching for free to the point we'd be willing to pay a reasonable rate for it. Plus the World Series was approaching and I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan. So I decided to look at the options. Option #1 was cable. They'd need to send out a technician (why I have no idea) and it would take 1-2 weeks. Option #2 was to get satellite.

We went down to Best Buy, found a decent satellite setup with Tivo and bought it for about $200. Within two hours of having it unpacked at home we were up and running. That easy. I rigged up a bracket in an existing window so we didn't have to be crawling around on a rooftop or anything or have a tech. come out (in 1-2 weeks) which would have required all sorts of B.S. approval from our landlord, etc. I simply removed one screen from an existing window, replaced it with a same-sized piece of plywood with the bracket for the dish already attached to it (took about 15 minutes with a drill, saw and some bolts). I then placed the plywood into the particular window panel, aimed the dish and voila! It actually looks halfway decent too. The window in question doesn't really face anything other than an alley and it's surruptitious and not subject to getting knocked out of whack by maintenance dudes messing around on the roof or whatever. Obviously this may or may not be required in your case depending on whether you own or not and what the orientation of your place is.

Long story short we pay about $50 a month for pretty much everything I have any interest in - gives the local channels (can't think of when the last time I watched one is though), the "basic" stuff like ESPN, Discovery, etc. and the Tivo service. It ain't bad. Tivo is a godsend. You simply tell it what you want to watch and it'll record it and you watch it whenever you have the time or inclination.

I still have a bit of a problem paying for television that has commercial advertising, but there really isn't any way around it until "on demand" stuff becomes available. For now it's fine. If they ever raised the rates any I'd probably cancel it.

If you get it, be VERY careful of not getting suckered by "add-on" crap like the "premium packages". Stick with the basic unless you actually have a need for it. I'm more than happy with what I get for my 5-hours-a-week worth of watching or whatever it is. At least I get to do it on my own time and it's stuff that I actually enjoy.

So +1 for satellite. Works for me anyway.