ddhr.org - TV was free

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TV was free (3)

Mar 30, 2009

I learned recently from an older person that TV programming used to be free. He was talking about how he was opposed to satellite radio because he couldn't imagine paying for something he used to get for free, but then he remembered that he once said the same thing about TV. I never realized there was a time when cable companies didn't exist and when anyone with a television received free programming over the air. Sure, there were significantly fewer channels, less variety, and TV stations only broadcast during certain hours of the day, but it was all free for the taking. Sort of like radio is today. I wonder when that will change? And I wonder what other currently free things will later be un-free? #entertainment

Comments

#1	Rus	Mar 30, 2009
	Yes, young whippersnapper, it used to be free. It was rough back then too! If you were sick from school you were stuck with soaps, daytime talk shows, or a variety of Game shows. After school, it was either the Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island. It was dreadful...we resorted to drastic measures such as getting our hiney off the couch and going outside where that mean old sun would shine down on us and some would even suggest exerting energy doing what those professionals do on ESPN these days. Thankfully ESPN was soon invented and then we sit back down and watch them do it.

#2	$$	Apr 2, 2009
	I heard that when cable first came out, there were no commercials, since you paid to have the service. However, according to this article that would actually make television viewing less pleasurable.

#3	Emily	Apr 2, 2009
	As my dad was opposed to paying for TV and cable wasn't available at our house, I lived with free TV and no cable until I was in middle school. He finally made the switch with the advent of the YES Network because he couldn't fathom no Yankee baseball. However, he had to dig the trench for the cable in order to get in run underground to the house and to avoid installing a utility pole half way down the driveway.