Frustration; A "chip" on my shoulder

I feel a disjointed geezer rant coming on. Do you have cable TV? Remember sometime back all the old TV's that weren't "cable ready" had to have a set top box to make the cable work. Then not too long ago the cable went digital and was still partially analog. Now the cable company is telling us they are going "all digital". We now have to go back to a "set top box" on our "cable ready" TV. Kind of like the old boxes we had when cable first came out. We got via UPS: one set top box, and two adapter boxes, so we can have three TV's set up. The hardware is free and the monthly bill will not change. And we will get more channels and better picture. Here's the problem. I'm a 61 yr. old cynic. Nothing is free. I don't want anything that is free. I don't want to change my GD TV set up. I don't want it to be better. I pay a lot every month now. Leave my service alone. I'm very wary of these "improvements". But I have no choice. I'm betting after a few months they will start raising rates to pay for these "free" upgrades. Then their customers will be embedded in the new system and just keep paying the newer, bigger bill. The cable company, like City Hall, will always win. If I want a "fourth" TV adapter, it is $1.99 per month. I have a little 13 in. TV in the kitchen. I have it on while I do the dishes. Or watch the weather channel while I have breakfast. I love the little TV. But I don't know if I want to pay two bucks a month for it. And I have a fifth TV in my son's room which will be a guest room. So it will die too when the new "better" service starts, unless I pay another $2/ month. We have installed the set top and the adapters and the remotes. My wife has spent most of the day on the web and on the phone with Comcast trying to get our new digital service initiated/activated. Now we have been told that we must take it all down and pack it up and take it to their service center as it it not initializing. We will be issued another set of equipment. And they are going to do this with millions of households! And we lose two TV's! I'd like to share my secret scenario now: In a few months, the cable bill will go up quite a bit. When it does, I will take reactionary irrational action. I will calmly disconnect the new set top box, and the two adapter boxes, along with the three Comcast remotes and take them out to the back yard. I will set them on a cinder block or two and smash them with a sledge hammer until they are in small pieces. I will put the pieces in the original box and ship them back to Comcast. And I will of course, terminate my relationship with comcast. Including my computer cable contract. I will then go 60 days with no TV at all, just for principle. Then go satellite. This is just a fantasy. So I'm just kidding, I guess. But I suppose it could happen. A clearer head will prevail. My wife will get the new equipment and I'm sure the new "sort of free", or "free with a lot of strings and catches" digital cable service will be fine. There will likely be an after market gadget that I will be able to buy to hook up to the little kitchen TV to make it work too. And if we ever go HD with our sets, we'll be all ready. But somehow, someday, there is a sledgehammer/electronic device episode in my future. It will probably involve a computer and/or a cell phone. :::::+::::: LLITTY