Bob Haase Another Can Of Worms

Television…What is it Worth?

When we received our bill for our satellite TV service we noticed that it went up another ten dollars to $77 a month.  We have the second to the lowest plan available from Direct TV and no movie or special channels.  If we were not already a customer we could receive a special promotion plan and get the same package for $24.99 a month for one year.  After that we would have to pay a lot more and it would gradually increase to where we are now.  We could play the game and switch every year or two years to another provider such as Dish or ATT Uverse and get their promotional introductory plan.  If they can provide a $77 plan for $24.99 someone is getting ripped off …. like me.

Wouldn’t it be nice if they provided it for a fair price instead of playing shell games?  It would also be nice if even one fourth of the programs would be worth watching.  They give you 140 channels and 110 of them aren’t worth watching.  If I could pay $24.99 and pick out 25 channels I would be happy because I would be paying for the channels I watch rather that paying for 115 channels that I don’t.

I know a lot of people that pay $75 to $100 a month for cable or satellite TV service.  That adds up to $900 to $1200 per year and many people pay even more with movie channels and add-ons.   I can remember when we just had antenna reception and paid nothing.  Our neighbors just switched back to an antenna and are happy with the quality of the picture and the number of channels they receive. We are now looking at doing the same because we would not have to play the games you do with cable and satellite service.

Take a piece of paper and write down the different TV channels you watch during the month.  You might be surprised how few of the channels provided you really watch.  Then divide that into the bill you pay for service and see how much it is costing you per channel per month.  Now remove the channels you can get off an antenna for free and see how much it is really costing you.

Do you want some extra money every month?  I know where you can save enough to give you quite a bit of extra cash!  Now look at cell phone costs, internet service fees, and all the other things that are nice to have but not a necessity.  After we have these things we feel that we can’t live without them, but we did a pretty good job of living without them before.  Life was simpler, we had more peace and quiet, and a little more money.

Bob Haase is the host of “Outdoors Thursday” heard Thursday mornings at 9:10 a.m. on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ.