This is a nice article on something I have always held a resentment against cable boxes about. Your not just renting the box from your provider but also paying the extra juice it costs to run it DAILY!
To me having a box is just an uneeded expense in today's age of technological advances on television but the companies STILL find ways to make you NEED one.
When companies started going digital, TV's added the function into their products. Well cable companies promptly added the need for cards. When some TV's were manufactured with card slot they all of a sudden didn't use the encryption needed and you STILL needed a set top box. I just now heard first hand that some HD set top boxes will no longer work with previously purchased HDTV's HDMI ports due to new encryption standards and you now HAVE to use component cables. There is a constant change in features added to TV's (picture in picture, online services, ETC) that get put the the side when you need to have a box. Many providers now block ALL channels wihtout the use of a box (Cablevision) and when the switch was happening we were told we could purchase our own digital boxes at stores but I have yet to see one being sold anywhere. Its all a scam.
When will it end? We need to start writing letters to our congressmen and the FCC and demanding some changes start being made to make services more affordable. Or we can follow Jamel and cut the cord completely for services such as Netflix and Hulu.
