Dish Network idea riles Cable, Illinois residents

Dish Network got plenty of static from residents of Cable, Ill., about possibly changing the town's name in exchange for 10 years of free satellite TV service.

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"We saw Cable, we thought, What a great idea. What a great opportunity,'" said Michael Hinton, marketing manager for Quad City Satellite of the offer made as part of a nationwide Dish Network promotion. "It's putting an offer out to the town."

However, 30 residents who attended Monday's meeting in Swedona, Ill., generally opposed scrapping "Cable" for "Dish" as the name of the town that gained its moniker from major stockholders in the Rock Island and Mercer Railroad Co., the Quad Cities (Ill.) Times reported.

"Would you do me a favor and get your dish out of my garbage can?" asked resident Jed Johnson.

While some said they would cancel their satellite TV subscriptions, resident Jennifer McMeekan said it would have saved her family $6,000 over 10 years.