We’re in the TV business.
For clarification, when I say we’re, I’m not referring to the ‘we’ here at the newspaper office. Although, we did acquire a Newsroom television set earlier this year. That in and of itself, is a story for another time. For the purpose of this piece, the ‘we’ I’m speaking of is my family … we once again have TV.
We are a simple people, so for those finding this to be an oddity to share, I apologize. Truth is I’m not one to be wasteful in the way of money, things or time. So, two years ago, I followed the trend many of my friends had embarked on, I cut television service.
So many had found alternative routes to avoid the never ending price gouging, which seems to come in the way of ‘contract agreements’ with carriers. In all honesty, it’s become an exhausting game. In the day and age of endless best price competition, consumers seem to now be expected to spend hours of valuable time negotiating themselves back to the price they once had. A price which was under previous contract, that they can now get from company B, but first let’s call company A to give them a final shot.
Oh, dear goodness, just typing that exhausts me, but that is the evolution we are living … sadly.
So two years ago as my contract ended, I opted to keep WiFi, a land line (for emergencies) and go the way of services utilized via streaming and WiFi. Aside from sports, much of what we viewed wasn’t live, so it seemed silly to pay such a high price, with $7.99 monthly as an option.
During that time we missed a lot, most especially in the way of sports and breaking news. We also missed a lot of drama and background noise and that was a good thing. Oddly the one thing we missed, which we enjoyed watching when visiting others was … commercials.
Yes, the one thing everyone skips or fast forwards through we actually missed.
I’d like to tell you our lives increased from a cultural perspective and we became closer as a family, but that would be false reporting. We did, however, learn we didn’t watch a ‘ton’ of television and we really didn’t feel we were missing much.
So why go back? Given all that I have shared, what would prompt a person to get back in the ‘contract’ game. The answer is pretty simple, the right deal found me.
As two years crept up, so too did my WiFi/ landline bill, but the mail offers never ended.
A few things to note, for those savvy and well versed in all of this: our home does not get antennae service (we tried) and we live in an area of town with very regular dropped service from a certain carrier. Needless to say, after five years of varying services, it was time for the break up.
No longer one to be loyal to any one company, all due to the ‘game’, new service was ordered for less than the existing and the break up call was made.
Silly as it is, it’s been fun to return to something so simple, that so many take for granted. Not only do we now have TV, but a talking remote to boot and we have commercials. Yes, we are still enjoying them and are fascinated by all the ‘must have’ products we have missed.
Mostly, we’re excited for the XXXIst Olympiad beginning in early August from Rio. We’ve been busy catching up on the trials we’ve missed and cheering on our favorite athletes as they prepare for the big stage.
While I’m still not really one to watch a lot of television, I mean who are we kidding, I’m a mom. I’m asleep typically within an hour of telling my kids good night. I do love the bond it brings our family in the way of viewing programs together and discussing what we’re watching.
In 2018, I’ll review the game and how I choose to proceed, for now thank you Olympic sponsors for your touching advertisements and snack companies for keeping us entertained with your latest flavor varieties. Oddly, we missed you all.
Teresa Hammond is a staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Riverbank News and The Escalon Times. She may be reached at thammond@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.
