Jul 07, 2004 -- Premium television soon to be free?
Are you paying for television? About 85 out of 100 people are these days. Its either with a cable company, satellite company or with Voom, the latest player in satellite the game. If you havent heard of Voom yet, its specifically for people who want HDTV, and its growing quickly. But with all of these players, you are paying big bucks each month in subscription rates. What if you could get your paid television for free? Doesnt make sense does it? But its a concept that is spreading in Great Britain. The first service was called Free View, which offers 30 channels and 20 satellite radio stations for nothing. You simply pay $100 up front and youre set. Already, 400 million people have signed up for Free View. To compete with this service, Rupert Murdoch, owner of DirecTV, will create Free Sat. It will offer 116 TV and 81 radio stations. It costs $225 for equipment and installation, but there is no monthly service fee. After that, its free! Why would Murdoch do this? He says if you give people the cable basics, theyll buy all kinds of sports programming and other premium paid television. But, the bottom line is that eventually this will reach the United States and we will have free premium television. You can bet Clark will sign up for this in a heartbeat. Hes paying $61 a month for satellite.