I just cancelled our cable TV service. We had a promotional rate from Comcast of $20/month for basic cable. They wanted to raise it to $50 or offer me a “special” deal on upgrading to digital. I asked if I could keep my promotional rate. They said no, it is only for attracting new customers. So I cancelled it. I will miss some of the channels but I don’t think it is worth the price they want to charge me.

I am just forced to wonder why the special deals are reserved for new customers. I know this is a common complaint about cell phone service too. Attracting new customers is a far more expensive proposition than keeping old ones happy, so why not work on that aspect. Instead of getting $20/month out of me, they now get nothing. It seems very silly to me. I know they think customers will not cancel their service, but when one actually does, you’d think they’d make some sort of last ditch offer.

Oh well, I guess I will look at satellite TV now or just wait until the next good offer rolls around from Comcast. Or just use this opportunity to spend more time reading and hang out outside this summer.

I swear, this is getting tiresome. Really, truly, annoyingly tiresome. And the worst part is that it doesn’t have to be this way. CNN.com is going all out on the story of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year old who’s been missing in Aruba for a week now. I feel sorry for the parents and the friends who went there with her, but all of that gets pushed aside by the crass commercialization of this poor girl’s story. News, and cable news in particular, has descended into a ratings battle to create entertainment out of news. Rarely does cable news challenge you to think. Instead, we get Crossfire and stories about missing white women.