I've finally decided to get a newfangled cable television set all these young people keep watching, only problem is, I've been ignoring that market so long I have no clue what to expect.

I was at my aunt's house today with my cousin and discovered two shoes I had previously never seen before, The Regular Show, and Adventure Time, I loved them, so I began to wonder, "what other amazing tv shows have I been missing out on?"

In nit quite sure what channels I want, but I only want a few, not the ridiculous 9,001 or whatever the providers brag about having.
Like:
My local channels
NBC, CBS, PBS, and Fox
Hub
Cartoon Network
Nick
Boomerang
Fox news channel
Food network
History
National Geographic
Sci Fy
BBC

Is there away I can order only those channels or those channels and other channels like that?
Also if possible I want to opt out of seeing the Pay Per View channels or HBO or On-Demand channels, because I have Netflix and don't need silly channels like those.

Pardon my ignorance.

Cable providers will list what channels come in what packages. You cannot only pay for the channels you want, but you can see what package covers the channels you want (or most of them) and get that package. The channels included in the different packages will be advertised and should be easily findable on the providers website.

Basically: you have to do the research yourself to find out what the different providers in your area offer and what their packages are.

What he said.

Most of those will probably be included in the basic package, then you'll have to look at the company's options to see what other channels you can get. Generally the movie channels are separated from the rest of the channels, so you should have no trouble staying away from those.

Pay Per View channels will always be there, just don't ever order from them.

Theres two types of cable signals:

anologue and Digital.

Without getting into the details, anologue is basically a straight coaxial cable into the television whereas digital cable has a digital cable box in between your cable source and TV.

This box is what gives you the ability to get these extra stations. On more modern TV's, digital tuners are built into the set so sometimes it's not entirely necessary.

Most cable providers use a particular digital cable box with their service, so you can't always go out and just buy a cheap one.

Like others have said, check where cable package stands and see how much it'd cost to upgrade! An on screen TV guide is more than enough of a reason to switch to digital.