I don't have cable; that's the thing. Out here if you don't want to pay for TV the options are... an antenna of some kind. That's it. No such thing as free basic cable.

And a part of me wonders what are the real consequences to downloading anyway. Not to you, but some people will try it. I'm curious.
I'm really wondering as well; I download short videos from Youtube all the time to use at work, because that way I don't have to wait for the video to buffer or risk the chance of a less-appropriate commercial. Is that going to 'count' for the purposes of spying on our internet use?