I Still Want My MTV, and My Other Viacom Channels

One morning last week, I decided to watch something besides the regular news and weather.  That is when I found out that my cable provider had dropped a bunch of channels.  In fact, they had dropped those channels a few days earlier, and I only realized it that morning.  In all fairness, I had been overly tired those last few mornings, and I had been in no shape to watch much else until that morning.  Also, I usually only watch the dropped channels on weekends and occasionally at night, so I hadn't known before that morning about the drop.  I double-checked the last cable bill, but if there had been a notice, it had been thrown out without any regard.  I only knew for sure about the dropping when I checked the provider website.  How could I have missed out on such important news?  In one fell swoop, I had lost at least six channels.  Okay, I hadn't been watching all of them that often.  With almost one hundred regular channels as well as their HD equivalents, plus a few HD only selections, there is no way I could watch all of them.  I barely go through two dozen or so of them on any sort of regular basis.  I never watched the country music video channel from Viacom, except on some very rare occasions.  I still have another one, so I am not sure which was which.  The same goes for most of the channels that got dropped.  I stopped watching VH1 when it stopped playing music videos.  The same holds true for MTV.  The last time I truly watched it was during the VMAs, and I didn't even watch all of it then.  I kept trying to watch Comedy Central, but I kept forgetting to.  Too late now.  In fact, the only Viacom channel that I watching frequently was Nickelodeon.  What can I say; I'm immature for my age.  I actually liked many of the shows, even if they are targeted towards children, and I am not, nor do I have, one.  Sure, I could theoretically stream them, if I was exactly sure how that goes.  And, if I didn't have to pay for that privilege.  Seriously, I will not pay for something that used to be part of my regular package.  I am still learning about online services over a year after getting my computer.  Yes, my cable bill will go down slightly, at least for on month.  Now, I have a bunch of new channels, none of which look all that interesting.  The worst thing is that not all of the dropped channels have yet to be replaced.  There are gaps in the listings that go beyond the ones that were already there.  This weekend was so dull at times without my regular viewings. I would much prefer having to pay the higher rates my provider would have passed on than the current conditions.  Weird, but true.  But what can I do?  It seems like I lose another one of my favorite things every few months, usually without any fanfare. If I had just a little bit of notice, but I had been too distracted to do anything until it was too late.