 Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA
edit:
May 25th, @12:47PM
| who's in charge of news here?! :D Where's the story about the USF tax being removed today? Come one. This is big news! Who cares if TWC is going to digital. Everyone is going to digial.
Edit: Actually reading the story, I guess it's interesting; but still not as cool. :P | |
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 | Vonage User
join:2004-05-15
Hillsborough, NC | Re: who's in charge of news here?! :D where did you hear about the usf tax being removed? | |
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| | Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA
 ·Verizon FIOS
edit:
May 25th, @01:14PM
| Re: who's in charge of news here?! :D Bloomberg.
Only for Long-Distance, but they said it should carry over to local charges as well.
There's a video clip, owned by ABC, with Snow announcing it. Here's a link..
Yeah, my link sucked..
I thought the USF WAS a tax left over from the Spanish-American war? | |
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| | | dick white
Premium
join:2000-03-24
Annandale, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: who's in charge of news here?! :D said by Ahrenl  :I thought the USF WAS a tax left over from the Spanish-American war? The USF "tax" is a fee imposed by the FCC for the Universal Service Fund, which is supposed to encourage/assist in extending phone and internet service into under-served (principally rural) areas. The 3% long distance federal excise tax is the relic of the Spanish American War. Different animals, but they both are eating a hole in the bottom of your pocket for your money to leak out. | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by Ahrenl :I thought the USF WAS a tax left over from the Spanish-American war? no, thats that 3% "FCC Fee"
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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| | dick white
Premium
join:2000-03-24
Annandale, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| said by Vonage User :where did you hear about the usf tax being removed? here: »www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co···720.html
though it is not the USF and the Spanish American War did not just end. What happened is that the telecos, etc. stopped billing for long distance by the mile. Since the legal language of the Spanish American War tax law was applicable only to phone services billed by time AND distance, it is not applicable to long distance calls billed under today's flat rates per minute anywhere. The telecos stared down the IRS on it and the IRS blinked. | |
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idjk
@embarqhsd.net | Time Warner Embraces Switched Digital Video Sounds like more to go wrong. | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Since they know who and how many are watching which channels, and for how long, I wonder how much they'll be making from selling that information? Probably far more than the $16 per home. Maybe they'll pass that income to the subscribers in the form of lower rates. Naaahh. What was I thinking... 
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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Iceblink
By your command
Premium
join:2002-03-21
San Diego, CA | What markets have deployed? Does anyone know what markets are using SDV? | |
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| jay_bob
join:2004-03-12
Columbia, SC
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: What markets have deployed? TWC in Columbia, SC. I did notice a *slight* lag when changing channels, but not enough to be annoying. The SA 8300 channel surfs slower than this new network system so you can't tell any difference. We also have a regular converter on another TV, and you do get a slight hesitation between channels if you surf really fast (Toy Story 2 style).
For now, they are still supporting channels 2 thru the upper 70s on straight analog. I have a couple of infrequently watched TVs and they still get all their channels. I hope they keep analog support going. I cannot justify placing boxes on my secondary TVs.
Start Over is nice but you cannot fast forward through the commercials, even with a DVR.
TWC does put forth propaganda on their website and on the inserted promotional ads, downplaying the cable card and encouraging the HDTV folks to get a (ka-ching) $14.95/mo DVR. | |
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jojodancer
join:2003-07-22
Burlington, VT | Change Channel time Does this mean that it will take even longer for the channel to change with digital cable? I can't stand the 1-2 second delay when channel surfing. | |
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| emptywig
Huh? What?
Premium
join:2002-08-05
Pasadena, TX | Re: Change Channel time I agree! Its incredibly annoying. How hard can it be to make the channel switch quickly, like it did for 50 years?
wig | |
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cypherstream
Build Fios, and I will come.
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
 ·Cingular Wireless
| Great Technology This is a great technology, I only wish Comcast would get off their butt and roll this out. This will allow more bandwidth for HD and other channels we have been requesting for so long. The only downside is lack of cable card support. Since cable cards are one way devices they cannot talk back to 'request' a channel that is not currently switched into the node. Maybe more MSO's will adopt this once Cable-card 2.0 is finalized. | |
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| LeeWL
join:2002-11-10
Morrisville, NC
| Re: Great Technology said by cypherstream : The only downside is lack of cable card support. Since cable cards are one way devices they cannot talk back to 'request' a channel that is not currently switched into the node. Maybe more MSO's will adopt this once Cable-card 2.0 is finalized. This is mighty convenient for the cable companies since the FCC mandated them to allow cable cards and now they will no longer work. Pretty much kills off a series # HD TiVo and makes you need to use the crappy cableco DVR. | |
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| | wanderance
join:2002-07-09
USA
| Re: Great Technology Who is going to step up the plate and start suing the pants off of these cable companies. This has nothing to do with saving bandwidth, it has everything to do with forcing the consumer to use a set top box.
"Want ALL the digital cable channels? Have to use our box, no way around that! Oh that pesky FCC and their requirements for cable card, who cares if you dropped the extra cash so you didn't have to deal with a box! We are so big now no one can touch us! Thanks for letting use merge away FCC! | |
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cypherstream
Build Fios, and I will come.
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
·Cingular Wireless
| Re: Great Technology Well you could always switch to satellite, eh wait... then you would be forced to use their set top box. Hmm... How about Verizon Fios? Oh yeah for more than 20 some channels you'll need a box also. Its the way things are going. You will have to wait until Cable Card 2.0 is finalized and TV Sets come out supporting the new standard. I pay a lot of money for cable tv, of course I want every channel imaginable. I feel it provides more value, maybe there's something out there to watch when I have time to watch it. | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL | Re: Great Technology I've got a much more elegant, money-saving solution: Turn off the TV.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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johnsp
join:2001-02-07
Syosset, NY | It should be obvious that the cable companies realized no one is watching the 12 home shopping networks they're wasting bandwidth on but charging us for. | |
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| jojodancer
join:2003-07-22
Burlington, VT
| Re: It should be obvious said by johnsp :that the cable companies realized no one is watching the 12 home shopping networks they're wasting bandwidth on but charging us for. Add to that all the basic cable channels like Discovery and History that switch to all infomercials overnight. | |
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crazediamond
That's Dr. Craze to you
Premium
join:2002-01-19
Germantown, MD
| said by johnsp :that the cable companies realized no one is watching the 12 home shopping networks they're wasting bandwidth on but charging us for. Seems like if someone could get the data for channel usage it could be presented so as to provide a compelling argument for a la carte.
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And if I show you my dark side, will you still hold me tonight? And if I open my heart to you, and show you my weak side, what would you do? | |
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| silica
join:2004-05-20
Duluth, GA | I had heard that the shopping networks pay the cable companies to carry the shopping channels. | |
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| | mw3051
join:2001-04-01
Tulsa, OK | Re: It should be obvious yes they do of course.
but then we also pay for it too when we pay for cable television.
we pay to watch paid programming.
nice eh ? | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| Re: It should be obvious said by mw3051 :yes they do of course. but then we also pay for it too when we pay for cable television. we pay to watch paid programming. nice eh ? And i bet 85% of the channels from 10pm to 7am are just pages of "paid programming". thats like having your HSI out for 8 hours everyday.
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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jslik
That just happened
Premium
join:2006-03-17
clubs:
| said by silica :I had heard that the shopping networks pay the cable companies to carry the shopping channels. I thought it was due in part to the 'must-carry' rule...all broadcast channels have to be shown on the 'basic tier' or something like that. So these shopping channels get a license and transmitter, and then have to be carried on the cable system(s) in a particular area. | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: It should be obvious Very few shopping channels can "get a license and transmitter". What you see OTA is via purchased airtime and these days that's been mostly relegated to the LPTV wasteland. These cable channels are owned by the MSOs and/or pay to play, so you're getting them whether you want 'em or not. They'll be the last ones off analog, too. Notice that none are ever only in a digital tier?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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jslik
That just happened
Premium
join:2006-03-17
clubs:
| Re: It should be obvious said by RadioDoc :Very few shopping channels can "get a license and transmitter". What you see OTA is via purchased airtime and these days that's been mostly relegated to the LPTV wasteland. I stand corrected, thanks! | |
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nightdesigns
Gone missing, back soon
Premium
join:2002-05-31
AZ
 ·Cox HSI
| What happens when... usually the point to save bandwidth is to free it up for other applications.
So what happens when one day people are watching all 170 channels. They'd lose the 50% that they freeded up. Something has to give.
BTW, if they freeded up 50% of the bandwidth, wouldn't that equate to about 50% of the channels which means that about 100% people don't watch 50% of the channels?
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[[Your signature here]] | |
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| robscullion
Premium
join:2001-12-07
Philadelphia, PA
| Re: What happens when... I had wondered about this myself.
I admit the chances are slim of it ever happening, but I'm guessing they'll just tell you "Tough luck!". If they merely reuse this bandwidth for HSI, then they could steal it back and degrade the HSI connections. If they used it to carry more channels, I'm guessing it's just a majority rule situation. If you're the only person trying to watch ESPN Sumo Channel #3 at that time, you'd just have to lump it. | |
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popanot
join:2001-10-17
Houston, TX
| Hell, just give me what I want!!! It would be nice if TW stopped force feeding my house with crap channels and just gave me what I really want - THE NFL NETWORK!!!!
When are these a-holes going to get off their collective arses and get it on the air!
Sorry for the rant...  | |
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Time Warner Embraces Switched Digital Video