re: #4 majii

Cable companies have had monopoly control of their areas for as long as I can remember.

I live in a Charter area. Twenty miles south of me is a Comcast area. There is no competition between Charter and Comcast because each has monopoly control in its location.

So, you look to satellite tv. I don’t use Dish, but I do use Directv. As a new customer, you get all kinds of breaks the first year. After that, your prices get jacked up, you are no longer able to get “free” equipment, or even the most recent equipment, and you will never, ever be offered any kind of deal. That’s reserved solely for new subscribers.

The cheapest tier on Directv probably offers little of what you want to watch, so you have to move up to the $65-$70 per month tier. Then you may get ten channels you might watch, and 200+ you block out so you don’t have to scroll through them looking for something to watch.

Premium and sports channels are extra, of course, as are the charges for using a DVR (that you had to buy but don’t own), access to HD programming, and a few other things I don’t recall at the moment.

It’s a huge, expensive rip, and if I could just convince my wife I’d dump the whole thing.