Spare time is rare for most students who are constantly buried alive with homework, projects, and whatever other work professors decide to give. Video games and movies are a typical way for most students to get away from all the work they are constantly pounded with. For students without gaming consoles, however, cable television is an easy way to put homework aside and just relax. The nice part about it is that the cable streamed in at no extra charge for campus residents. Unfortunately, cable provider Comcast decided to pull the plug on free cable. Prior to every screen losing its cable connection, residents could easily connect to the jack in the wall and enjoy a variety of different channels such as ESPN and the Discovery channel. Now, residents require a digital box to receive the basic cable channels that were once free. Resident Director Bob Morton said that Comcast had initially left their boxes on and never shut them off, thus streaming cable television through most of campus. “We weren’t paying for it,” Morton said. Even when Comcast was contacted concerning the free cable that the dorms were getting, no employee ever came to claim the boxes. No other complaint was made and cable was a mainstay until November 2010. With the loss of free cable, Morton said that it is still available, but students have to go through Comcast. Some students have decided to go through Comcast to continue to receive cable like junior Kendra Zache. Taking up a special offer, Zache and her roommates each chip in five dollars a month for the service. “We have the box and Pay-Per-View,” Zache said. “It’s really nice.” Although it isn’t free anymore, cable can be a cheap extra if roommates decide to split up the bill each month.
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