Just Unplug

As of April 15th I will have disconnected from my satellite server. I have blogged about my feelings on this before but without a definite resolution until just recently.

I am one of the disadvantaged rural people that cannot get the television channels like ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS with just a standard antenna. And while a lot has been touted about how great digital broadcasting will be nobody has said that it will make areas without television reception more able to receive local channels without paying a satellite or cable service for this privilege enjoyed by most citizens of this country. I cannot even get a daily local paper where I live but I can get Internet with a satellite which I also pay for.

It bothers me that I have to pay to find out what is happening in the world around me. But it brothers me even more that I do not get choices of what I pay for. The satellite and cable providers (pimps) claim they package channels to save me money but I argue with this. They want me to pay for 250 channels (235 of which I will not watch) to be able to get the 15 I will. And while single senior women are a large and growing segment of our society there is no package that does not include Disney, ESPN and an ample sprinkling of religious channels of faiths I resent supporting. I have e-mailed AARP on this issue and they are supposedly in talks with the satellite services (fear dealers) to develop a package aimed at us. Frankly, I believe as long as they can sell us 250 channels so we can get CNN, TNT and local news they will not change.

My response to this is to just say NO. NO television. NO satellite television service. I will get my news from Internet Websites. Weather that way too. I will watch DVD's for entertainment (without commercials trying to sell me something). I will read. And I will think. And one of the things I have been thinking about is where has the FCC been in all this? When did broadcast television cease to be a way to keep our population informed and start being a way of blackmailing them into compliance.

Am I being forced to support religion?

First let me say I live in an area where there is no television reception by any other means than satellite. And I basically have choice of two providers: Dish or DirecTV. So there is no such thing as free television for me. Just to get local news (local being 3 hours from here) I have to pay for television. And the way I see it I pay twice: Once with the subscription fee and once by all the commercials I am subjected to.

That bothers me to begin with but there seems to be nothing I can do about it. I don't even have good radio reception. I have been, however, more upset with the packages I am forced to pay for. In order to get Turner Classic movies which I do watch I have to get seven ESPN channels I never watch. In order to get the Discovery channels I am forced to get all the kid channels which as a senior citizen with no kids are totally not me. I think there should be a "Woman's Package" or even a "Senior Woman's Package" that has all the history and discovery channels and Lifetime and all the old movie channels like TNT and Hallmark, but no sports and no Disney channels. My complaints and pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

But the most recent turn of events has made me look seriously at subscribing to satellite television at all: Religious channels. Yes, some will say just don't watch them. The same thing I do with kids and sports channels. But I basically believe in kids and sports. I do not believe in these religions (now up to 9 on my programing package). And yet some portion of the money I send to DirecTV every month is going to these religions to support their broadcasting of their beliefs which I do not believe in. I looked at changing my package and even cut some costs but the cheaper package actually has more religious programing.

Is this a violation of my freedom of religion of my choice? Or a violation of separation of church and state? I am currently considering deleting television from my life entirely and getting all my news from the Internet.