Day of the Groundhog

I was a bit surprised to see that this is a ruling that has just been handed down. Locally, Comcast began encrypting its basic cable signal last August. It caused a hassle at the clubhouse where we have a number of TVs in the fitness room. Personally, I don’t understand why people want to watch TV while they’re working out, but it seems many do.

In any event, that was the ugly black box Comcast sent to me a while ago, with yet another wall-wart to parasitically draw power from the grid. It’s still sitting in my spare bedroom. I seldom watch TV, and now I go to the clubhouse or a bar to watch football.

If I could get rid of Comcast and still get decent bandwidth, I would. In fact, with LTE, it seems like I’m getting better bandwidth than with Comcast cable. I may have to sit down and do the math, I may be able to use LTE on my iPad 3, streaming to my Apple TV for Netflix or iTunes movies (which I don’t watch that often.) It may be approaching the point where it’s cost effective for me to dump cable.

It’s unfortunate that a monopolistic industry, like cable television, can abuse its customers for so many years that the reservoir of ill-feeling toward them is as deep and vast as mine is toward Comcast. It’s negative energy I really need to let go of, and perhaps now I can.

P.S. It’s sadly affirming to click on the #Comcast tag. Deep and vast, indeed.