We can select between five ESPN channels, MTV, several versions of the networks, and other basic channels like Disney, TNN, and Discovery. There's even about fifteen channels of plain music, like normal radio stations. I haven't listened to any of them long enough to tell if there's any advertising.

One of the reasons that my parents had been previously unwilling to get cable or a satellite, is that, with three sons, there would be constant arguing over who gets to watch what, and when. This is less of a problem now, because two of us are at college, but in the few days we had together with the new technology, there were several disagreements over what was going to be watched. We're at least more civil about agruements now, than in the past. No more fist-fights. We hope...

Programming...
In the amount of time I spent in front of the T.V. over break, which wasn't influenced much by having a new satellite, I realized that even though there's so much on, there's really not a whole lot worth watching. And the commercial breaks are really long. The first channel I went for in years past, when I had access to cable or satellites, was MTV. But this doesn't have the value for me that it used to. Unfortunately, MTV now has commercials, and also has a lot of non-music-related programming(Singled Out, The Real World, constant Rock N' Jock sports reruns). This has gotten so bad, that it's difficult to find videos anymore. I'd be surprised if the time allotted for videos made up more than 40-50% of total programming. I think a great deal of this is a result of MTV trying to make money and gain ratings, and advertisers. But like I said, it really sucks that with so much on, there's so little worth watching.

From a more technical point of view...
This grey box on top of my television set is, in some ways, like a computer. It has a GUIDE screen which looks just like the listings you'd find in T.V. Guide. You can use the arrow pads on the remote control (which by the way, eliminates the need for other remotes, it controls the box, the T.V., and the VCR) to scroll through the listings, and if you find something you want to watch, you just hit SELECT. Then, while you're watching one thing, you can scroll through listings of what's on at the moment at the bottom of your screen. And, if there are channels you never watch, or ones that you watch all the time, you can create your own custom listing of your favorite channels, sort of like your list of bookmarks in your web browser. Speaking of the web, the tech people informed us that by sometime early next year, we should be able to surf the net on our T.V., and send e-mail using the box's connection to the phone line! And I'm sure that there are tons of other fabulous features contained within this box, that once I use them, I'll wonder how I ever lived without them. Before you know it, we'll be able to do video conferencing through the thing. What remains to be seen is whether or not we will subscribe after the free year ends...