I took a few minutes today to call Time-Warner Cable of Alamance County and DirecTV. We used to be DirecTV customers and are currently Time-Warner customers. We dropped from the DirecTV standard package to the Time-Warner local-channels-only package to save money (that package is $8 per month).

But I really miss ESPN. And ESPN2. And FoxNews. And CNN. And Gretchen misses TLC and Discovery. And the kids miss Disney.

But that’s about it. We don’t need 74 channels or 130 channels. Just about 20 channels. The Time-Warner standard package has 74 channels and costs $45.60 per month. I called TWC to ask about getting the channels we want without paying for the channels we don’t want. I spoke with a customer service rep, then with her manager, then with his supervisor. Three levels up and the same response at all levels. No dice. We can pay $8 for local channels or $45 for 74 channels. Nothing in between.

So I called DirecTV. I spoke with a customer service rep with a noticeable Middle Eastern accent, and she told me the lowest package they had was Total Choice with 130 channels for $39.99 per month. I asked to speak with her supervisor, and he, another with a strong Middle Eastern accent, told me I could get “Total Choice Limited” with 90 channels for only $34.99 per month (I didn’t find this package listed anywhere on DirecTV.com). Still too much, though. I asked to speak with his supervisor, and he said yes then transferred me back to the main customer support line. This rep was a woman with a Southern drawl who sounded like she’s prefer a bullet in the head to actually being helpful; I asked her to transfer me to a supervisor, which she did. I spoke with Caroline, who was ruthlessly polite and perky. She said “we would be very ecstatic” (not just ecstatic, but very ecstatic) to have me back as a customer. She offered $31.99 per month for the Total Choice package for six months, but that’s still too much and would only last for six months. I asked to speak with her supervisor, but she was busy helping another customer so she’s going to call me back later. Caroline expressed her sympathy with me and was sorry she couldn’t “welcome (me) back to the DirecTV family.”

While I was making these calls, I watched the Michael Moore-Bill O’Reilly interview and Cam Cameron’s summary of Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention on FoxNews.com and watched yesterday’s sports highlights on ESPNMotion. For free.

And even if I eventually have to pay for that content, I can do so directly to ESPN and FoxNews (and hopefully CNN, Discovery, TLC, etc.) and send the Internet signal to my TV rather than my computer monitor. The cable company middle man and the satellite company middle man can get cut out completely.