A couple of articles from the Economist were linked this morning and they related to television viewing habits. One of them went the route of looking at internet network speeds, what should be offered, what is offered and who is hurting and helping the process.
The second article goes into viewing habits and DVR usage.
The two of them together note what a lot of people already know. Most people watch no more than 15 channels even when having hundreds of them available. The second part is that they mostly use DVR's to do a bit of timeshifting or store their favorite shows and not much else. Even skipping of commercials doesn't happen as often as might be imagined.
It shows that in most markets, FREETV or over the air television with sub-channels could really win back some viewer and mind-share. All the other solutions have not altered habits but have begun to cost much more. It might not have been noticed due to the incremental nature, but as the articles note it is several hundred dollars a year.
The fact is that since the cost is so high and ongoing almost any amount of money can be justified avoiding it. However the reality is that even very expensive solution can often be recouped within a year. One of the converter boxes I own is the DTVPal+ available at DTVPal.com. is box is one of two available for purchase using converter box coupons that has timers built into it. The others are made by Zinwell and I purchased the Zinwell ZAT-970A for $40.00 from Albertons Market.
The point of the boxes with tuners is that they can be programmed to move to certain channels and show the programming there on a daily, weekly or one time schedule. This makes older VCR's usable again or even older DVD-recorders of which I happen to own one. There are also some DVR's available that have hard drives that work for OTA/FREETV. They are a bit expensive (often $250-300) but it is a one time cost and you have no monthly programming or subscription fee.
You don't have to change your habits. Just stop paying for them. Look into some solutions like the DTVPAL DVR or this Magnavox DVR and cut the cord on monthly television bills.
