I vividly remember the first time I watched Cable TV. It was at my friend Scott Sivertson's house in high school, and I was glued to MTV and Headbanger's Ball. We made it a ritual to catch the show every weekend, and during commercials, I'd flip through all the channels hungrily just because there were so many from which to choose. I didn't think I'd ever get that feeling again, especially since we've decided to save money and time by not buying cable or dish while in Missouri. But some smart online research and some government and broadcast industry wisdom gave me that feeling over the weekend, as I watched the last half of the Colts / Bears game in stunning and FREE high definition.

We've had an HDTV for a couple of years now. It's a floor model from Circuit City that I dropped on the way home. It's scuffed on the side and it doesn't have a HDTV tuner, so I thought the best picture we'd get from it would be movies on the DVD player we have that upconverts regular movies. It's no Blu-Ray, but they still look pretty good.

With the impending switch to digital TV in February 2009, I started looking into what a HDTV receiver would cost. I'd heard you could get 2 HDTV channels for free over the airwaves in Columbia, but I'd also seen that HDTV receivers were more than $200. So I went to eBay and did a little research. It seems you can get old DirecTV, Dish and Voom receivers that are unlocked for a fraction of the price to receive over the air-broadcasts. I settled on a HiSense receiver that I guess used to be sold in Walmart and eagerly awaited shipping.

I received it Saturday and eagerly hooked it up. It was easy, even if our video cabinet caused some cord tangling issues. Thankfully Lincoln could climb behind the cabinet to push cords through the right holes. All he had to do was hook the coaxial cable from our rabbit ear antenna to the box and then hook component video and audio cables from the the TV to the box.

He climbed out, we flipped it on, and let it go to work. Within minutes we were watching Notre Dame struggle against San Diego State in stunning color and clarity. We were also pleasantly surprised by the new extra channels we received. For the first time since we moved out of our apartment, we get PBS, and two channels - one in HD - to boot. Our children can watch Sesame Street again! Kalooo Kalaaaaay! We end up getting 11 channels total including all the networks (even the CW) and a couple of local religious channels. We get two 24-hour weather channels that I'm sure Merilee will enjoy when tornado season heats up again.

I know it seems silly, but this was exciting for our family, and I have to give credit where it's due. The digital switch may seem like a pain in the neck, but it opens up the broadcast spectrum for more and hopefully better program (not to mention the money the fed made by selling off part of the spectrum to broadcasters). In line with the theme of this blog, it ensures the airwaves remain democratic, that anyone with rabbit ears can get clear signals. While I understand the merits of cable and satellite TV, we need to ensure that people have access to broadcast signals, and not just crappy, fuzzy ones filled with ghosts. As much as broadcasting as moved away from its original public service mission, it still uses public airwaves and must ensure equal access to all.