If you have network tv on demand it costs a pretty penny so how come they disable the fast forward controls?

Answer 1

This is a source of frustration for many viewers, but there is a business reason for it (and a reason you may not agree with). TV networks make their money from selling commercial advertising, so they have an agreement with various of the providers (including On Demand) to make it difficult or impossible to fast-forward past the commercials. Some networks, sensing that viewers are upset by this, have begun to offer programs with "limited commercial interruptions," but you still can't avoid the commercials.

Some of us still remember when the broadcast TV channels (2-13 usually) were free: you bought a TV, and then you watched those channels. By the late 1970s, cable channels became more widely available, but you had to pay for access to those channels (like CNN or HBO). But these days, things are very different and you need to pay for the use of the cable box, in order to see the programs on any of the channels, whether on the broadcast band or the cable band. There are some services that are trying to provide free access via the internet, but at this point, such options are limited.

ANSWER:

Actually you can still get the broadcast channels free with a digital antenna. It is still the law that to broadcast on the airwaves for free, networks must provide two things - informational programming (the news) free of charge, and to transmit their channels openly. Cable uses satellites and doesn't transmit using public frequencies so they don't have those restrictions. If you cannot get your local stations using a digital antenna on your roof or just on your TV due to trees or mountains in the way, that is not considered the fault of the broadcasting station and therefore you may have to get cable after all.