Cutting the Apron Strings!

MikeBo’s Blog!

Tuesday August 8, 2017
Soleggiato e caldo a Roma 98°F/37°C
Scattered thundershowers 92°F/33°C in Cedar Park, Texas
Buongiorno amici miei!

     A few days ago my Facebook news feed popped out an item which instantly caught my attention! (SPOILER ALERT: This has NOTHING to do with Donald Trump or politics!) It was the tale

of a cable TV customer who was amazed to learn that he could watch his local television channels for FREE if he hooked his TV set up to an ANTENNA. I realized instantly that this poor soul was not of my generation. For, I recall in the dim distant past running home from school, turning on the Emerson black and white TV set in our living room and sitting through a snowy test pattern from one of the New York stations so I could watch Howdy Doody! Since we lived almost 100 miles from New York City, our signal was, should I say, less than crisp!  But after my dad spent $450 on the TV set and another $100 for the outside antenna, at least the test pattern and Howdy Doody and Captain Video were FREE!
     But, back to the future. Now I’m looking back at decades of cable television service, back to the primeval era when cable TV was called CATV, or Community Access TV. Now, we all belong to the Online Generation!

     Back in the distant past, my first monthly bill for cable TV service was about twenty bucks. Nowadays, by the time I added up all of my electronic necessities like cell phone, house phone, cable TV and internet services I was in thrall to my carrier for an amount approaching the entire defense budget of a banana republic. Something had to give! Either I could continue eating and paying my share of the price for my retirement plan health services, or I could stay in touch with the world and keep blogging about starving to death on Twitter and Facebook. Shortly after I moved to Texas I decided to make some adjustments, but I soon found that cutting the apron strings is not any less a task than a rebellious teenager who is wriggle out of the grasp of a domineering parent.  Here’s how I did it.

      First thing to go was my landline. Nearly every call was from a telemarketer. My voicemail in-box was cluttered with charity pitches, solicitations for services or instructions to Press ONE to be connected to a live operator!  I used my home phone only rarely. My home phone was nothing more than a repository for hang-up calls, junk faxes and telemarketers. My carrier was helpless when it came to purging the robocalls. Then, I set out to systematically wean myself of my cable TV service. It turned out to be a lengthy process fraught with finding alternatives and facing constant challenges from my provider.
     My first major purchase after I moved to Texas was a big screen, Smart HD TV set. Like all state-of-the-art TVs, it possessed a built-in computer and was internet ready. It also has multiple HDMI inputs for other components, and it also carries a number of apps for news channels and selected entertainment channels for shows and movies and games. The big screen TV replaced my older 30 inch HD TV, which now sits on my desk in my office. After a few months of being tethered to the ATT U-verse, I made my first move – I shed my land line.  At the same time, after Googling indoor TV antennas, I ordered one from Amazon.com, plugged it in, tuned my television set and – Voila! After a lapse of decades, I was again watching local TV channels for FREE! After trying the new antenna out for several weeks and assuring myself that I was on to something, I hopped in my Ranger and drove to Best Buy and returned home with the next element in my grand plan: Apple TV.  I chose Apple TV because of my experience with my personal IPhone and IPad and the MACs I used at work. Now, the little Apple TV box nestles right under my HDTV.  The indoor antenna rests on a stand right alongside.
      As a dress rehearsal for my soon-to-be cable-free life, and since I was going to Rome anyway, I called my provider and had my cable TV service put on vacation hold for two months. I could still bail out of my plan if it did not work to my satisfaction.  So, after watching a combination of free and Apple TV for the next two weeks, I hopped on my flight to Rome.  By the time I returned to Texas, I was ready to take the ultimate step. I called my provider to be told that since I had purchased my internet service and my cable TV service in a bundle,  I could not delete cable TV without also cancelling my internet service. So, I chickened out. As a compromise, I reduced my cable TV service down to basic cable,  which saved about $35 a month. So, by losing my telephone and reducing my cable TV service, I was saving almost $100 a month. Not too shabby, I thought. Then the next monthly bill landed in my mail box. I was paying $85 for Basic Cable. That was fewer local channels than I was getting from my indoor antenna. I was going to have to climb the mountain and have a heart-to-heart talk with God herself. The deity of all communications: AT&T! (The reader can, at this point, substitute Verizon or Sprint etc. for my provider, AT&T).
     So, on a day of my choosing, I donned my flak jacket and shorts, grabbed a big cup of black coffee, picked up my cell phone and dialed 6-1-1. After duking it out verbally with the computerized greeter, I was over my initial hurdle and chatting with a real live customer service specialist. I started with a pitch about my lifestyle:  I have become a child of the internet, I explained. I’m retired and I travel a lot. My bank and my credit union don’t even have branches in the state where I live. All of my bills are sent to me by email are and are paid on line. All of my deposits are done via wire transfer. If I have a check to deposit, I do it through my IPhone. I have international roaming on my IPhone. Whatever you, as my provider, may lose in cable TV revenues from me will be more than made up for in roaming and data charges. I will even upgrade my internet connection to a higher speed, but I no longer need cable TV service. For what seemed like an eternity, there was silence on the line.
     Then a warm, friendly voice was heard. Of course, sir. I will be happy to assist you in revising your plan.  I was just a little taken aback. I had expected far more resistance. And so it was done. No more cable television. The following days I gathered up my cable boxes and remote control devices and took them to the UPS  store for shipment back to the provider.
     Going it alone takes a little work. Deciding which show to watch requires  more than a casual glance at the TV Guide, or surfing the directory of your cable TV package. My indoor antenna picks up four  Austin PBS channels. There’s KLRU HD, the main channel; KLRU-Q, which runs programs from the main channel at different times and is heavy on documentaries and drama series; KLRU-Create, which offers cooking, do it yourself, craft and travel features; and PBS Kids, the 24-hour children’s channel. In addition, subscribers to PBS are eligible for the KLRU Passport, which enables live streaming of all PBS shows. Since I’m a long-time PBS subscriber, this upgrade was a no-brainer.  I’m watching Amazon TV through my big screen HDTV app and have the option to view others. But, my Apple TV is the heart of my operation, and I am constantly adding new apps to my collection. (That’s the tedious part: selecting an email address so you can open accounts with an ID and password, and finding a credit card to pay for the individual applications. For music there’s ITunes and IHeart Radio. So far my television mainstays are CBSN for news, Netflix, HBO Now, Amazon TV,  You Tube, the National Geographic Channel and PBS. I must caution the sole internet streamer that some of the apps promoted in the Apple Store are linked to your cable TV service. That’s how I lost the Turner Networks and my ability to watch the SAG Awards or all those great old movies.  But, trust me, it all balances out.
    As an old retired newsguy, I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on my former profession and all the ranting about Fake News! Internet access gives the viewer a new, international  perspective on the news. I subscribe to the New York Times and the Washington Post, of course. But one of my cornerstone news sources is the PBS Newshour. PBS also carries BBC America and DW TV, the German news service based in Berlin. They also offer NHK News from Tokyo and several other news programs which I watch to stay current. DW TV and Al Jazeera are also stream-able. There are apps in the Apple Store for both of them. I even subscribe to RAI-TV from Rome. RAI covers my quest for news and enables me to practice my Italian at the same time. CBSN has replaced CNN as my regular hourly news source. So, I am finding that, if you make the effort to connect with new sources of information and entertainment you can broaden your horizons. And, as I write this blog, my IPad and IPhone have lit up with breaking news bulletins from a variety of international sources about the President of South Africa surviving a vote of confidence.
I may be living in the heart of Texas, but I’m in touch!
Onward and Upward!

Ciao,
MikeBo

© Mike Botula 2017

[Mike Botula is the author of LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target!  (Amazon Books)  MikeBo’s Blog is a wholly owned subsidiary of his web site www.mikebotula.com , and is linked to Facebook,  Twitter,   LinkedIn and Google Plus!]