Free TV

I recently wrote about subsisting on various free forms of media around the house, one of which was what at least used to be called over-the-air television. When I had cable, I could watch just about anything my heart desired. I say just about because I did not even then have premium cable. This though was mitigated by the availability of all that programming through Netflix, which I have retained. That same thing promises to ease the pangs I will continue to feel for that old cornucopia of channels. Even so, the frustrations of free television are leavened by intrigue. It reminds me a bit of the movie Videodrome, or more likely just the way cable used to be.

Strangely, it has been my experience that the major broadcast networks are the most elusive. Bringing in NBC is perhaps the easiest. Past experiences had Fox and ABC being somewhat more difficult, with CBS being the toughest hands down. Attempting to tune in that station to watch a college football game meant getting up early and spending something like ninety minutes sweating and wrestling with the cheap antenna. The benefit, I suppose, is that at that point I felt a special kinship with the players who were exerting themselves so much for my entertainment. Really, it's easier to experience a game by listening to it on the radio if possible. The internet also now offers the possibility of enjoying a game more fully than free television. It's one of those frustrations.

Live television is the one thing where you can't wait until it's available on video. Apart from that, I'm glad to brave the gauntlet of spoilers until I can get the DVD. In the meantime, I try to find other things to do, like read. When I just can't bring myself to do that, I wander into the jungle of free TV to explore. There's really more available in foreign languages than there is in English. That suits me all right. I've watched what appeared to be 'Ultraman' in Japanese, some manner of Indian Bollywood review program, and the thrilling denouement of 'Armenian Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. It requires patience and an adventurous spirit to wade through all of that and find enjoyment. I haven't even been able to bring in Spanish language stations.

The English-language stuff that I find is boring by comparison. Sometimes there's interesting stuff. The way it works is that each network gets a certain amount of bandwidth. They can devote it to one channel or several. NBC has several, including a sports channel and a dedicated weather channel. The sports channel was airing a sailing race the last time I looked, so that gives you an idea of what they have on the shelf. One of the local unaffiliated stations has at least one supplementary channel I like. It's just called 'This', and it sometimes runs obscure but passable movies. Altogether, the channels I can get provide about as many pleasing hours of television watching as anyone ought to have, which is to say not very many.