As many posters said, it’s a lot easier to bring in a TV if you feel like you miss it rather than getting rid of it once it’s a habit, so why not start out without? Additionally, it will definitely enhance your shana rishona in many ways to not have a TV to fill up your time.
As far as kids sneaking TV, that is a very common accusation, and I find it interesting. My experience is that kids from both TV and non TV homes will attempt to push limits as they reach certain ages. For kids without TV’s that may mean going to their friends to watch, and for those with TV’s it means watching shows their parents don’t approve of — either sneaking it in their own home or by a friend. I once taught 6th grade in an MO school where almost all the students had TV’s, and when we were discussing the vocabulary word “discretion” about half the class said “oh, like ‘viewer discretion advised'” before a show, right? I have a feeling most of these parents did not know what their kids were watching. . . .
I don’t see any reason to assume that shows “sneaked” at a friend’s house would be any worse than the shows they would be watching had you owned a TV. If the other parents set the same type of limits you would, then these would be shows your kids would see if you had a TV. And if the other parents were more permissive, why would you having a TV in your home prevent your kids from joining their friends watching things you don’t approve of?
Your experience in no way contradicts that. You experienced friends from homes without TV’s coming over to watch by you. But in the final analysis, did these friends watch more or less TV than kids who watched at home? Did they watch worse shows?
Bottom line is that if you live in a neighborhood where most families have TV’s, you will not have control over what your kids watch, whether you have a TV in your home or not! The best you can do it hope other parents share your values, and maybe even discuss things like what shows you prefer your kids not to watch, and then try really hard to pass those values to your kids, so that eventually they will self-monitor as well.
BTW, I remember very clearly on my 8th grade graduation trip (I went to an OOT BY, so it was a mixed group), it was the girls from homes WITH TVs who turned on the TVs in the hotel rooms, and with only a few exceptions the girls from non TV homes did not watch and actually protested.