So upon leaving our lovely deluxe cable TV, we moved to a new non-cabled area and were forced to face a reality with inferior television.

We quickly discovered that there was zero Freeview reception in our area, and besides paying out the nose for Sky satellite, our only other option was to install Freesat.

I was very excited about getting Freesat - had heard wonderful things about it and was very optimistic that it might be a decent replacement for our deluxe cable TV package.

Boy, was I wrong.

It was installed quickly enough - £80 and 15 minutes later, the box was working and our channels were installed. However, once you take away the digital radio and the multiple regional duplicates, you're left with a paltry 30 or so channels of watchable television - and some of that is debatable. There's just so much missing from the Freesat lineup! Channels we would take for granted on Freeview like Dave and FiveUSA are nowhere to be seen. Instead we get the hilariously bad TrueMovies and Itv27+2 or whatever channels they have these days.

The quality is great, I cannot deny that. Our satellite dish has yet to see a major storm, so maybe I should reserve judgement until the first time we have to climb on a later and readjust the signal.

Would you like to see the paltry channel offerings? Here's exactly what you get with your fancy satellite dish and heft installation charge:
101 BBC One Entertainment
102 BBC Two Entertainment
103 ITV1 Entertainment (HD via red button)
104 Channel 4 Entertainment
105 Channel 5 Entertainment
106 BBC Three Entertainment
107 BBC Four Entertainment
108 BBC HD Entertainment - High Definition
110 BBC Alba Scotland - Gaelic Language
113 ITV2 Entertainment
114 ITV2 +1 Entertainment
115 ITV3 Entertainment
116 ITV3 +1 Entertainment
117 ITV4 Entertainment
118 ITV4 +1 Entertainment
119 ITV1 HD Entertainment - HD (England/Wales only)
120 S4C Digidol (Wales) Entertainment
121 Channel 4 + 1 Entertainment
122 E4 Entertainment
123 E4 +1 Entertainment
124 More4 Entertainment
125 More4 +1 Entertainment
135 CBS Drama Entertainment
136 CBS Reality Entertainment
137 CBS Action Entertainment
138 Horror Channel Entertainment
139 Horror Channel + 1 Entertainment
140 BET Black Entertainment TV Entertainment
141 BET + 1 Entertainment
142 True Entertainment Entertainment
200 BBC News News
201 BBC Parliament News
202 S4C2 (Wales) News
203 Al Jazeera English News
204 Euronews News
205 France 24 News
206 RT Russia Today News
207 CNN International News
208 Bloomberg TV Finance News
209 NHK World TV News
210 CNBC Finance News
300 Film4 Movies
301 Film4 +1 Movies
302 True Movies Movies
303 True Movies 2 Movies
304 Movies4Men Movies
306 Movies4Men 2 Movies
400 Wedding TV Lifestyle
401 Wedding TV Asia Lifestyle
402 Information TV Lifestyle
403 Showcase Lifestyle
405 Food Network Lifestyle
406 Food Network +1 Lifestyle
500 Chart Show TV Music
501 The Vault Music
502 Flava Music
503 NME TV Music
504 B4U Music Music
509 Zing Music
514 Clubland TV Music
515 Vintage TV Over 50's
600 CBBC Kids
601 CBeebies Kids
602 CITV Kids
603 POP Kids
604 POP Girl Kids
605 Tiny POP Kids
606 Kix! Kids
690 Inspiration TV Religious
691 Daystar TV Religious
692 Revelation TV Religious
693 Islam Channel Religious
694 GOD Channel Religious
800 QVC. Shopping
801 price-drop tv Shopping
802 bid tv Shopping
803 Pitch TV Shopping
804 Pitch World Shopping
805 Gems TV1 Shopping
806 TV Shop Shopping
808 JML Direct Shopping
809 JML Cookshop Shopping
811 Thane Direct Shopping
812 Ideal World Shopping
813 Create and Craft Shopping
814 Speed Auction TV Shopping
815 Jewellery Channel Shopping
861 Gala TV Gaming channel
870 Babestation Adult / Phone Girls
874 Filth Adult
950 - 971 - Other BBC Regions
974 Channel 4 London Channel 4 with Audio Description
975 Channel 4 London +1 Channel 4 with Audio Description
977 ITV London ITV Regional Service
986 Teletext Text Service
999 Freesat Info Freesat Information service

Not very inspirational. However, some of us didn't have a choice. Sky is monopolising the satellite airwaves at the moment, leaving the free offerings at mere scraps. Good luck and perhaps pick up a book or two, because you certainly won't be watching much TV in the future.