It's Not On My TV. It's HBO.

The good news, I guess, is that I'll be paying less for my cable. The bad news is that I'll have to sacrifice some channels that I actually watch from time to time. Cost-benefit analysis and feeling slighted by Comcast make that an acceptable trade-off, though.

What happened is, Comcast has yanked Fox Sports World from it's "Digital Silver" package, along with either HBO or Starz! and some other channels. The HBO/Starz! thing is a result of a renegotiated contract between the cable provider and Starz! where the network wants to be a big-time premium channel instead of something packaged as an afterthought and added bonus. So if I were to keep my current package, I'd get one or the other. And no FSW, along with what I'm sure are some other channels I don't watch. For two dollars more a month.

So the logical course of action that doesn't involve a personal satellite system is to tell them exactly what they can do with their Silver package. I can scale back by about $12 a month and then get a $5 add-on that will give me all the repeats of MLS Wrap that I can handle, plus the International Channel.

I'm giving up Bill Maher for weekly installments of Italian soccer. I can live with that, at least until the next season of The Sopranos starts.