Free From TV - a brief history

I find it interesting how much one's life can change in a very short amount of time. And how much one's opinions can change in that same period.

Consider the TV. Most of us have at least one TV set in our homes. Until about six months ago, my TV was not plugged into any kind of aerial. Despite the fact that much of my room was -and still is - centred round the telly, the only signal input that entered the large, unwieldy thing was that of my PlayStation 2.

Because I never watched TV. The availability of serialised shows to download or on DVD meant that I could watch them at my leisure, which was in my opinion A Good Thing.

I forget exactly when I started watching TV again, but I have a feeling it was round about the time when BBC2 started showing the latest series of Doctor Who. The DVDs for the show cost a small fortune, and I don't really like it enough to warrant such an expenditure. And my source of downloads was away, so I decided to plug my aerial back in.

Of course, after about three weeks, I forgot to watch the show and gave up entirely. And there was nothing else on the five terrestrial channels that I particularly wanted to watch, so I never did.

And then I got Freeview.

This was my sister's fault. She went out and bought a Sky Box, and gave me her old Freeview box. I was reluctant at first - why did I need one? - until she told me that all I had to do was tune it in and forget about it. No extra bills, no particular hassle.

Except that Freeview has taken over my life. Seriously.

There is always - always - something to watch on Freeview, mostly on E4 or Dave. Top Gear, the Simpsons, Scrubs, whatever. And, considering how little I actually think of normal terrestrial programmes, I was amazed at how bad some of new programmes were. And the advertising. Damn.

Anyway, hence the blog. Stuff that comes in and out of my TV. And probably some other content too, for when I'm bored.