Published: October 15, 2008 12:30 am            

LUCINSKI: It is time to adjust your (mind)set

By the time this makes it into print, the Time Warner/Channels 4 and 23 dispute could be settled. Then again, few expected it to drag out this long.

For those not into the whole television thing, here’s a recap: LIN TV, the owners of the CBS and CW affiliates in Buffalo wants the Time Warner cable company to pay for the right to carry their stations on the area cable system.

Time Warner says they shouldn’t have to pay for something that consumers could otherwise get for free. The previous agreement between the two expired Oct. 2. Since then, both stations have been off the system: LIN is saying Time Warner won’t carry them. Time Warner is saying LIN won’t let them. Got that?

The squabble is not confined to Western New York. LIN stations in 10 other television markets (in the world of TV, we’re a market, not a community) across the country are affected.

We’re not going to pass judgment in this space about who’s right and who’s wrong. There’s probably enough responsibility to spread around to affect both parties. It is unusual that it’s gone on for this amount of time. Other station owners have come to an agreement with Time Warner both here and across the country, either before their old agreements ran out or just a short time after they expired.

What is striking in this case is how some people have become slaves to technology. What brought this to mind was a recent announcement about a spaghetti dinner being held for a good cause. I won’t get more specific that that because a) the organizers’ hearts are in the right place and b) they’re not the only folks who think this way.

The announcement gave the time, date, place and the reason for the charity event. Since it was on a Sunday afternoon during the football season, the organizers wanted everyone to know they wouldn’t miss that week’s Bills game if they choose to attend: A television carrying the game would be set up for all to see. But that’s where the Time Warner/Channel 4 controversy came into play.

If the dispute between the cable company and the station owners was not resolved by then, the organizers stated the television would not be provided. No Channel 4 on cable, no game.

Wait just a minute. I have a solution. Why not unhook the cable, buy or borrow a set of rabbit ears and switch on Channel 4? It might not be as crystal clear as the cable picture, but you’ll get to see the game.

I have four rabbit-ear antennas at home. I’ll lend you one. Heck, I’ll even come over and help you set it up. No big deal.

As you might gather, there’s a bigger issue involved here. The fate of not seeing one Bills game while attending a charitable event is not a life-changing experience. What is significant is the ability to take one’s fate into one’s own hands.

Television signals are broadcast over the air. For decades, that’s how everyone received them. As hard as it might be to believe, once upon a time there was no such thing as cable television. In fact, the appearance of a television antenna on one’s roof was a sign that all was well: You could afford a TV and you were able to let everyone know it.

The point is, we often give up too easily. In this case, thinking out of the box might mean thinking out of the cable box, at least until this squabble is settled. It’s symptomatic of our surrender to advanced technology. Once we become accustomed to something, we often become slaves to it. Something that had been a convenience becomes a necessity, or at least we think we can’t live without it.

So dust off those rabbit ears and fire up that old-time TV. Who knows? It could be, at least for a while, time to go back to the future.

Dick Lucinski is the managing editor of the Niagara Gazette.

        

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