It's the simple tasks you can achieve that make watching television on your PC a desirable option. You would accomplish all of the above multi-tasking by minimizing the TV content in a smaller window on your computer, while freeing up the rest of space for your other tasks. Of course, an adept multi-tasker may choose to watch one (or several) TV channels on multiple windows, while surfing the net, cooking dinner, and playing harmonica all at the same time.

Other benefits to watching TV on your computer arise from the ability to receive television shows that would be otherwise un-accessible for various reasons.

For example, with a high speed Internet connection and a media player (freely available software such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player), you can access some television content that may not otherwise be available to you in your location. The ability to watch remote content is then another benefit of watching TV on your PC. Such content might be foreign language programming that actually originates in a different country.

In addition, the television shows you enjoy and decide to watch online are not necessarily remote in a spatial sense; they can be "temporally" remote. For instance, you may be able to access a sports event that you would ordinarily receive much later in time through digital feeds that you can stream via the Internet.

Another common issue that watching TV on the computer solves is the ability to access shows that appeal to a smaller viewing market. Your computer opens up channels for content that falls outside what would be deemed mainstream or designed for the mass market. In this sense, it is a simple task to download TV that is said to be "narrowcast" - as opposed to broadcast - and designed to reach a multiplicity of smaller targeted audiences, rather than one massive homogenized one. Staunch advocates of narrowcasting believe that there is really no such thing as a mass audience anyway. Examples of niche marketing would include anything from religious sermons delivered in non-mainstream religions to cooking shows for, say, gluten-free vegans.

Before throwing out your old television set and coming over to the PC side, make sure you are actually going to use your PC TV technology, research your options, and find the most suitable satellite tv software for your needs.