# Not getting TV over the air anymore? Fuck you. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677 "2009-02-06T06:18:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/81 "2009-02-07T06:43:43Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I wonder how many people who are pooh-poohing the expense of getting a digital box would feel if the FCC made the following announcement next year: > > “Starting in 2012 all internet is going to be available only through special designated lines. You can only get these lines right now through specific modem boxes, which are more expensive than regular boxes, and you’ll have to pay your internet provider many extra dollars a month to get them. But don’t worry, in 2010 we’ll force all modem manufacturers to use these special boxes, which will of course raise the price of a new computer. And if you have an old modem in 2012 we’ll sell you a new modem box, and maybe have a coupon for it. Oh, but the speed will suck donkey dick. But don’t worry, if you don’t like that you can still shell out many dollars a month to your internet provider for a designated line.” Change internet for Satellite tv and you have Canada. Declan ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/82 "2009-02-07T06:53:36Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > What’s so difficult about learning, even from sitcoms? Just watch and listen. Gleaned from shows on my Tivo: > > **Curb Your Enthusiasm:** Single Orthodox Jewish women can’t be alone with a man after sunset. You also are supposed to bury plates that were used for non-kosher food or practices; you can’t mix meat and dairy foods. > **Seinfeld:** There’s a plastic surgery procedure called an “eye job” > Poppy seeds can supposedly make you fail a drug test. > Kenny Rogers has a chain of restaurants. > David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) was a postal worker. > Even **Married With Children:** Ken Hubbs and Ernie Banks were Chicago Cubs baseball players, regarded by some as two of the best nine of all time. All of which is wholly vital information that obviously everyone learning it from a sitcom needs to know, and they would have no way of finding out such tidbits if not for TV. Personally, I’m just kind of pissed that my taxes are being spent to enable people to watch TV, because I don’t buy that it has irreplaceable value. It’s not the government’s responsibility to ensure you have pretty moving pictures to stare at when you get home from work, and I personally don’t give a fuck if someone can afford it or not. Not my problem if you can’t, buddy, and if you can’t afford forty bucks to buy the converter on your own, maybe you should pick up a second job or try learn some skills so you can get a better job. If the point is to ensure that people can access emergency information - which is stupid to begin with, because emergency information on TV tends to be “some pro athlete was accused of a crime!” - put the money into free wifi and a coupon good towards a netbook. If the point is to ensure the accessibility of entertainment and knowledge, put the money into libraries. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/83 "2009-02-07T07:44:35Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > If the point is to ensure that people can access emergency information - which is stupid to begin with, because emergency information on TV tends to be “some pro athlete was accused of a crime!” Except in the cases where it is “Huge storm heading your way right now, here are the roads that are closed and here are the roads that are insanely dangerous.” > [@](#): > > - put the money into free wifi and a coupon good towards a netbook. This will never work in most of the country. Near-universal Municipal WiFi is so far from reality in most of America it can’t even be contemplated in this presidential administration. > [@](#): > > If the point is to ensure the accessibility of entertainment and knowledge, put the money into libraries. This I can get on board with, except it doesn’t solve the “Huge storm heading right for you” problem TV does. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/84 "2009-02-07T07:47:44Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Personally, I’m just kind of pissed that my taxes are being spent to enable people to watch TV To paraphrase some previous posters, would it make you feel any better to rephrase this as “taxes being spent to enable people to continue to watch a TV they bought and paid for that would otherwise be a rather large paperweight solely due to legislative fiat”? Or not? ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/85 "2009-02-07T08:27:35Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > This I can get on board with, except it doesn’t solve the “Huge storm heading right for you” problem TV does. And again, TV is not the only place to get this information. There is a huge overlap between “people who get broadcast TV and can’t afford a converter box” and “people who have access to the internet” and “people who have a radio” and “people who have access to a telephone.” We need to stop pretending like TV is _the_ source for emergency information, and that millions of people will die without it. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/86 "2009-02-07T08:30:20Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > To paraphrase some previous posters, would it make you feel any better to rephrase this as “taxes being spent to enable people to continue to watch a TV they bought and paid for that would otherwise be a rather large paperweight solely due to legislative fiat”? Or not? No. [QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] The cost of getting my car’s emissions tested effectively doubled a couple of years ago, with hardly any warning. And the goddamned State refused to pay the difference! [/QUOTE] Legislative fiats sometimes make perfectly good equipment unusable without spending money to upgrade that equipment. And usually, people don’t bitch about it. Except when it’s _their TV_! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/87 "2009-02-07T18:21:43Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Personally, I’m just kind of pissed that my taxes are being spent to enable people to watch TV, because I don’t buy that it has irreplaceable value. It’s not the government’s responsibility to ensure you have pretty moving pictures to stare at when you get home from work, and I personally don’t give a fuck if someone can afford it or not. Not my problem if you can’t, buddy, and if you can’t afford forty bucks to buy the converter on your own, maybe you should pick up a second job or try learn some skills so you can get a better job. I think the point is that the government ought to help pay for it because it’s the government that is taking away their analog TV. Presumably, it was written into the original bill. I imagine a bunch of lawmakers in districts with lots of low-income households or seniors refused to vote for it otherwise. > [@](#): > > Legislative fiats sometimes make perfectly good equipment unusable without spending money to upgrade that equipment. And usually, people don’t bitch about it. Except when it’s their TV! Such as? ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/88 "2009-02-07T18:23:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Such as? Well, one such example is right there in a quote from **Vinyl Turnip** , right above where I said that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/89 "2009-02-07T18:25:21Z")
> [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > Well, one such example is right there in a quote from **Vinyl Turnip** , right above where I said that. That’s not an example of perfectly good equipment becoming useless through legislative fiat. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/90 "2009-02-07T18:28:52Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > To paraphrase some previous posters, would it make you feel any better to rephrase this as “taxes being spent to enable people to continue to watch a TV they bought and paid for that would otherwise be a rather large paperweight solely due to legislative fiat”? Or not? Not at all, because television is a luxury. Yes, it might on rare occasions have some utility, but only if A) you happen to have it on at the right moment and B) you have no other form of communication with the outside world. Personally I have never received any truly critical information from the TV; the closest I’ve come has been a banner warning of a thunderstorm, which I could also tell by, you know, looking outside at the clouds piling up. If the weather is bad, you shouldn’t need a TV to tell you so. Does it suck that you will have to pay a one-time fee to continue being able to use your TV? Sure. Is it in any way anyone else’s problem, and does the government have some sort of moral obligation to ensure you can continue to stare at your idiot box every night? No, because it’s a luxury and it’s not anyone else’s problem. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/91 "2009-02-07T18:30:16Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Not at all, because television is a luxury. Yes, it might on rare occasions have some utility, but only if A) you happen to have it on at the right moment and B) you have no other form of communication with the outside world. Personally I have never received any truly critical information from the TV; the closest I’ve come has been a banner warning of a thunderstorm, which I could also tell by, you know, looking outside at the clouds piling up. If the weather is bad, you shouldn’t need a TV to tell you so. IIRC, you live in New Mexico, where presumably severe weather warnings aren’t exactly a life-or-death issue. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/92 "2009-02-07T20:39:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s not an example of perfectly good equipment becoming useless through legislative fiat. Uhh… yeah, effectively, it is. That car has to sit in your driveway and not be driven on public roads until it gets an inspection or renewed registration. In some states, a caveat of getting that (and thus, not have it be a two ton brick in the driveway) is an emissions test. > [@](#): > > IIRC, you live in New Mexico, where presumably severe weather warnings aren’t exactly a life-or-death issue. IIRC, television is not the only place one can receive severe weather warnings. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/93 "2009-02-08T02:18:49Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Why is it our responsibility to pay for people to watch? The government wants the populace to watch HDTV because of the subliminal messages the government broadcasts on the subcarrrier. With the recent change in the administration from republican to democrat, it will take a few months to change all the pending subliminal messages. That is the reason for the delay in implementation. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/94 "2009-02-08T02:57:22Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The government wants the populace to watch HDTV because of the subliminal messages the government broadcasts on the subcarrrier. With the recent change in the administration from republican to democrat, it will take a few months to change all the pending subliminal messages. That is the reason for the delay in implementation. I’m in the middle of upgrading my sarcasm detector…was that sarcasm? ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/95 "2009-02-08T05:03:12Z")
Do you really have to ask? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/96 "2009-02-08T05:10:17Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > I’m in the middle of upgrading my sarcasm detector…was that sarcasm? Beware the cultural vacuum cleaner. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/97 "2009-02-08T10:18:47Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Now we’re apparently going to wait until June to make the switch. Who the fuck thinks the lazy assholes that waited this long are going to get off their asses off the couch by then? Is it really that simple? To get digital TV here in the U.K., I had to have a new aerial. Which had to be paid for. And I had to get someone to install it for me. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/98 "2009-02-08T12:46:50Z")
This may be completely off topic, if so I apologize. I live in rural Alberta, 2 hours from any major center that broadcasts. I don’t watch a lot of TV, so I just have an old outside antenna that picks up 2 channels, CBC and CTV. I haven’t really been paying attention to the digital changeover, I know it’s going to happen here soon enough too. It’s my understanding that you can pick up digital broadcasts if you are close to where they broadcast, I’m not. I may be completely off base too. So short of having to buy satellite TV, is there any point in me buying an amplified antenna? Or am I going to eventually lose my 2 channels? ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/99 "2009-02-08T13:58:04Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > hah, ha ha, that’s a good one!! Electronics made in America? For the same price? Don’t make me laugh. There are electronics made here, just by non-American companies. They’re shutting down plants, actually, but Sony was manufacturing televisions in Washington County, PA (outside of Pittsburgh) for the last decade. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677/100 "2009-02-08T15:26:12Z")
> [@](#): > > **tumbleddown** said: > There are electronics made here, just by non-American companies. They’re shutting down plants, actually, but Sony was manufacturing televisions in Washington County, PA (outside of Pittsburgh) for the last decade. There are a couple of minor errors in your post, so I’m going to nitpick. Sony did manufacture televisions in the US near Pittsburgh. Their plant is located a few miles south of Greensburg, PA along US 119 in Westmoreland County. They manufactured large rear projection televisions beginning in 1992. When LCD became the wave of the future, Sony started manufacturing those in their New Stanton plant, and cut huge numbers of jobs because it doesn’t take as much manpower to make the LCDs as it does to make the rear projection TVs. They will cease production in that plant at the end of this month, which means 560 people will be without a job. Prior to it being a Sony plant, the space was originally built and operated by Volkswagon. Now the state is talking about a couple of other companies that are interested in locating there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-getting-tv-over-the-air-anymore-fuck-you/484677.md?page=6)