The only reason I have pay-for television is I'm punished if I don't. Boston is referred to as the "hole in the fiber donut", where Mayor "Mumbles" Menino refu

The only reason I have pay-for television is I'm punished if I don't. Boston is referred to as the "hole in the fiber donut", where Mayor "Mumbles" Menino refuses to give Verizon a tax break, which is reciprocated by a complete lack of a FIOS rollout in Boston proper (but in every city around Boston... just to rub it in). This leaves DSL and few other viable options. So I have Comcast. Additionally, if I don't have a qualifying cable TV package, Comcast charges another $10/mo. So I pay $13.60 for "Basic Basic" cable, which is mostly the major networks. QAM works fine. So for $3.60/mo I don't have to deal with an ATSC antenna, nor do I have to deal with a carrier set-top box (which on top of leasing fees, will actually consume $6 to $8 of electricity a month!) However when's the last time I've watched broadcast television on the television as it aired live? A perfectly good question. Virtually none in the past 3 calendar years.