 
Agreed
@teksavvy.com
| Cable has been doing this for years This is the very reason I dropped my cable service and went to Dish. Bresnan kept moving basic cable channels to there Digital package and then telling me I would have to upgrade my cable service to there more expensive digital package to see the channels again. This was about 5years ago. The Cable companies have been doing this for awhile. It is about time someone looks into this..... Better late then never! | |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs: 
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years Sorry..but dish just isn't a fair comparison. The cable co's are trying to contend with an analog to digital migration..unlike what satellite operators are.
Consumers are demanding more digital and particularly hd content and the cable co's have to contend with all this.
What the editorial isn't saying is that at least here in my area..comcast is giving customers a free digi box for a year if they had their channels moved. (or they were anyway the last i knew). and the second and third boxes would only be a 1.95.
Digital also gives customers more in the form of on demand and the interactive guide.
And so, all in all..I think Comcast at least has been very fair about it all. One has to recognize that these companies have to spend a fortune on digital equipment as well.
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The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
 ·Embarq
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years If they've nothing to fear, why are they complaining about what hasn't happened yet? They know they'll get a reach-around from the FCC; they always do. This is the usual Kabuki dance of feigned outrage after feigned oversight we get every go-round.
"Consumers are demanding digital" ... yeah, all those poor folks are clamoring to pay more so they don't have to zoom the pictures on the HDTVs they bought well over a year ago because the cable companies wanted THEM to absorb any costs related to "digital migration." It's not likely that cable companies were ever going to absorb anything, so please stop with that nonsense.
The entire premise that the cable companies are victims is a pantsload.
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years said by ptrowski  :There has been a slow creep of channels moving into the "digital tier" from cable providers. So what happens? The basic cable users are losing channels but yet the price remains the same. So to get access to the channels they ALREADY HAD, they now have to pay more and "rent" boxes to get the channels that were taken away. It's all about creating new revenu streams. Poor cable companies my rear. Yeah, I know two people who called to complain and were given introductory offers (one claims to never have heard the word) with a box and 6 months of a few premium channels. Then they fill their undies when that $150 a month bill pops up. One took the box back, the other still takes it up the rear for one HBO and one SHO show. Cheaper to wait and get them from netflix - that's what I do.
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| | | | | Bob61571
join:2008-08-08
Washington, IL
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years Comcast is now catching flak in Central/Northern Illinois for moving channels from analog basic service to the "digital tier" , and the natives are restless!(in the newspaper forums!)
Springfield State Journal-Register 11/12/08 »www.sj-r.com/homepage/x172064986···-service
Bloomington Pantagraph 11/7/08 »www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008···3981.txt
Peoria Journal-Star 11/11/08 »www.pjstar.com/business/x8118041···fferings
Rockford Register Star 10/30/08 »www.rrstar.com/news/x1016922025/···st-extra
Champaign News-Gazette 11/3/08 »www.news-gazette.com/business/20···ustomers
Channels moved recently in some/all these cities above: National Geographic, EWTN, ION, ShopNBC, C-SPAN2, MTV2, SOAPNet, G4, and Style | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
edit:
November 13th, @11:46AM
| said by Rick :Consumers are demanding more digital and particularly hd content and the cable co's have to contend with all this. Consumers are demanding lower prices and an end to channel deletions and shifting to higher-priced tiers too but I don't see any of the NCTA members doing anything but grinning while looking at their record profits when that is brought up.
On demand? Netflix via the excellent Roku box or now Tivo beats the snot out of Comcast's offerings for a lot less money. PPV? Amazon. No need for cable's price increases.
Cable has played the 'added feature' game for so long it is beginning to price itself out of the market. Adding "features" nobody really asked for and then raising the price because of them is the equivalent to putting a birdhouse on a Hyundai and then raising the price because the car is now "greener" due to market demand. It's marketing bullshit.
In other news, Disney is trying to move four of the five BCS football bowl games from free OTA TV to ESPN by outbidding Fox (and others) for the rights. If they succeed (and they probably will) that $120 million will be passed on through higher fees to everyone who has ESPN on their system whether they watch it or not. The price increase will be shrugged off as necessary to satisfy customer demands when it is an artificial construct from start to finish as Disney is using the anticipated higher subscriber fees to subsidize their bid beyond what the ad market will support. Cable operators play this game every day and don't really care because it doesn't cost them anything and may even make money at it. It's about time for a flag to be thrown, but unfortunately this FCC won't be the one to do it.
Let's see if we can round up those "[c]onsumers are demanding more digital and particularly hd content" and let them pay for it. The rest of us don't want to. Thanks. | |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI
 ·WOW Internet and C..
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years Apparently you didn't get the memo, AT&T has already had 2 price increases with their awesome U-Verse service in the last 6 months. 
And both sat companies have raised their rates each year for the last 3 years. | |
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Cable tv
@comcast.net
thumbs down from:
GlassRail
| Price themselves out of the market?
standard tier digital cable with a box and remote and on demand costs about 2.00 a day.
Sorry but I don't see that as being expensive when you consider you get an entire family entertainment for that kind of a price. On top of that, it's not like they're all cable company costs. Far from it. the programming costs eat up the vast majority of that amount. | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years said by Cable tv :
Price themselves out of the market?
standard tier digital cable with a box and remote and on demand costs about 2.00 a day.
Sorry but I don't see that as being expensive when you consider you get an entire family entertainment for that kind of a price. On top of that, it's not like they're all cable company costs. Far from it. the programming costs eat up the vast majority of that amount.
Hey cable boy, read my entire comment. But since you won't I'll just add that $60 a month to watch "standard tier" cable TV is absurd.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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RickNY
Premium
join:2000-11-02
New York
·Optimum Online
| said by Rick :What the editorial isn't saying is that at least here in my area..comcast is giving customers a free digi box for a year if they had their channels moved. (or they were anyway the last i knew). and the second and third boxes would only be a 1.95. Probably a good source of complaints top the FCC regarding this practice came from Cablevision customers.. Cablevision took the 5 most viewed Family Cable channels and moved them to digital only. To receive them, you need a digital box at $6.50 per month, per box - AND you need to subscribe to at least their 'digital navigation' package at a cost of $4.50.. Now, they offered the first box and the nav package free for a year, but after that, you're paying $11 a month more (minimum) for a tier that is advertised as $49.95. If youre in a house with say 4 TV's, your bill just went up almost $31 because they moved what is likely to be one or more of your favorite channels over to digital.
Its deceptive | |
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MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs: | I'm sorry but they've been doing this for years. Its not cause of the digital migration its because they want to make more profit.
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Team Discovery-Join the fight | |
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| | psomero
Premium
join:2008-11-09
San Jose, CA
| free box? this comcast you speak of clearly isn't the comcast i've dealt with.
i recently tried adding one non-HD dvr receiver to my account. we already have two other dvr receivers on the account, so the only new fee was the additional monthly lease, which turned out to be an additional $16 a month.
for 2 non-hd dvr receivers, the mid-level digital cable plan, HBO and starz, we're paying $159 a month. on top of that, it seems that number now jumps $4-$5 each month.
as they struggle to keep up with the satellite companies (companies? sorry, i meant directv) they're compressing their channels more and more so they can fit more HD channels into the pipe they have to work with. this cram as much as you can approach has caused a massive degradation in signal quality and all of the channels are getting more and more horrible looking each time they add another HD channel or two. | |
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| hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable
| most of you former analog channels were most likely coming from an all digital source anyway. TruTV is one. Cable companies usually convert it over to analog just to get more people to watch it and because its popular. Discovery Health is another digital channel and gets downgraded in some markets by providers.
The move to take them from analog to digital restores the picture quality and frees up bandwidth on the network.
and if you think Martin is really going to do anything get over that part. Especially with Comcast being on the list. They'll slap him with another lawsuit and drag that puppy out in court and win like they do over his 30% cap. | |
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| | bbenso1
join:2004-11-28
Baltimore, MD
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years said by hottboiinnc :The move to take them from analog to digital restores the picture quality and frees up bandwidth on the network. Yup, it does both of those. Incidentally, both of those things are good for the cable company - better picture quality increases customer satisfaction and more bandwidth allows them to deliver more channels. The problem, however, comes in when customers now have to upgrade to digital service (and pay more for the service, plus rent a box for each TV they have) in order to view those same channels. They used to be able to just plug the cable into the back of the TV and get those channels. Now they need to pay the cable company every month in order to rent a box to allow them to view the same channels they used to get without paying a rental fee every month. | |
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| | | hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years but in return changing from your former cable company to Dish or DirecTV does the same thing. Allows them to charge you PER SET TOP BOX per TV. But not just paying for one or two TVs out of say 4 you pay for all FOUR of those TVs at what $4 per month? Still not really any savings really when you look it at it. You have a contract, you pay for programing that still goes up in price, you pay for locals unless you use OTA or have a high enough priced package where those are "free" in some areas required more than one dish, and still pay the STB fee each month.
NO savings when you look at it. | |
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| | | | | hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years first off its Direc TV not DirectTV there is only 1 "t" in the name of the company. but they do force you to upgrade in order to get "free locals" its either pay for them separate or pay for a higher tier.
But anyways in the long run you still deal with the STB costs and also have to PAY for your DVRs and HD STBs with cable you don't--got a problem you don't have to pay for a tech to come out either.
DirecTV and Dish make you pay that. Also you don't see DirecTV and Dish giving cable away to schools, libraries and other public places such as those. | |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·Metrocast Communic..
·AT&T DSL Service
 ·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
| Re: Cable has been doing this for years said by hottboiinnc :first off its Direc TV not DirectTV there is only 1 "t" in the name of the company. but they do force you to upgrade in order to get "free locals" its either pay for them separate or pay for a higher tier. But anyways in the long run you still deal with the STB costs and also have to PAY for your DVRs and HD STBs with cable you don't--got a problem you don't have to pay for a tech to come out either. DirecTV and Dish make you pay that. Also you don't see DirecTV and Dish giving cable away to schools, libraries and other public places such as those. I have their service so I am well versed in what you have to do, not have to do.
But you are completely missing the point. They are not forcing you to move to a higher priced tier by removing the channels on your current tier.
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"So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org | |
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| cableguy619
join:2003-06-24
Chula Vista, CA | You obviously do nto understand the cost that is put on the cable comanies to carry a channel.. they do not get the channel for free..
Blame the FCC for not regulating the networks, that is where it needs to start... | |
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PToN
join:2001-10-04
Houston, TX | Congress Way to go... But he is only doing this because he wants to run for congress..
He can careless about what they charge. Once he gets the votes and get the seat he will "stop caring" | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL | Re: Congress Actually, he's doing it because Consumers Union filed a complaint with Congress.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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who cares
@comcast.net | Cable Not Happy About FCC Cable Price Investigation couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of greed buckets | |
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Jmartz
join:2000-07-20
Tenafly, NJ | Cablevision has removed channels.. made the channels digital, and they are still raising the family cable (analog package) price... even though a good 10 - 15 channels have been taken away from the package this year.
If that's not worth investigating, I don't know what is. | |
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not me 2
@comcast.net | Re: Cablevision has removed channels.. The same is happening with comcast. they haven't taken 10 channels away this year but they have taken away 4 of them and yet the price is going up. Seems a bit backwards to pay more for fewer channels. | |
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LurkerLito
join:2004-06-08
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Boxes boxes boxes BS It's about time. They should be investigating why Cable doesn't put out the standard "family" basic channels out as clear QAM instead of requiring people to rent a box per tuner. Most of my TVs have ATSC/QAM tuners built in now, but I can't use them on anything but the local stations because cable encrypts all the other stations that are suppose to come with my family basic coverage. If they ever go digital only then I'd need a box per every tuner @ $7/month each. I miss a lot of shows because they moved the dam channels off the "analog" line and into digital. But instead of moving that channel from a clear analog signal to a clear digital signal, they moved it to an encrypted digital signal so I can only watch it on my one box.
They should require the cable companies to make any former clear analog channel on their system that was available to a user without a box also available digitally without a box as a unencrypted QAM signal. | |
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Pittsburgh, PA | Cable concerned about next Chairman Kevin Martin won't be Chairman next July but the cable companies don't want him laying the groundwork for the next Chairman who might really be serious about such an investigation of cable prices. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Post-FCC Political career? ROFLAMO. Who the hell would vote for this clown?
Sorry Martin, the circus just hired the last round of clowns 2 weeks ago.
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CheckSite.us | YourIP.US | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Post-FCC Political career? He's going back to the high-profile law firm he worked for prior to joining the FCC for awhile, and once he's milked that he'll run for some office somewhere, probably back in North Carolina where he came from. He's got deep Republican party ties having been one of the dogs burying the 2000 vote in Florida. They'll make sure he's well taken care of.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: Post-FCC Political career? said by RadioDoc :He's going back to the high-profile law firm he worked for prior to joining the FCC for awhile, and once he's milked that he'll run for some office somewhere, probably back in North Carolina where he came from. He's got deep Republican party ties having been one of the dogs burying the 2000 vote in Florida. They'll make sure he's well taken care of. I thought a telco was hiring him? | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Post-FCC Political career? said by Rob :I thought a telco was hiring him? Much more lucrative to be counsel at a politically-connected law firm.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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N3OGH
Will it all be Obama's fault now?
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL
| Martin's Post FCC career is as a Sophomore at an all boy's college prep school.
Damn, that guy looks like a HS escapee. What is he, like 12 or something?
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
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TooMuchDough
| Not worth it Forced upgrades on consumers:
Digital HD TV. I don't want it, but do I have a choice? Not unless I unplug, and ditch the TV, but the wife won't allow that.
Digital tuners: More $$$, for cable co's, who restrict what we can or cannot do with the box. Gone are the days when you can tape a show while you're out (for pennies).
This is what happens when an industry pays themselves millions/year, and some jerk $1M+/episode. It's not worth it.
What do we get? Shorter seasons, more commercials, larger base costs.
Cable co's/satelite providers should thank their lucky stars that most online video streams are of poor quality, less people change their viewing habits, and lock the providers out completely. | |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI
·WOW Internet and C..
| Re: Not worth it said by TooMuchDough :
Digital HD TV. I don't want it, but do I have a choice? Not unless I unplug, and ditch the TV, but the wife won't allow that. Nobody is forcing you to go HD. Go read up on what is really happening.
Digital tuners: More $$$, for cable co's, who restrict what we can or cannot do with the box. Gone are the days when you can tape a show while you're out (for pennies). You can still record digital tv with a VCR. Again read up on how to hook it up properly.
This is what happens when an industry pays themselves millions/year, and some jerk $1M+/episode. It's not worth it.
What do we get? Shorter seasons, more commercials, larger base costs. What the cable industry does has absolutely no bearing on what actors do, how long seasons run or the amount of commercials.
You really should remove your tinfoil hat.  | |
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molsen
join:2002-04-12
Huntington, NY | Digital Conversion If you go to AT&T, Verizon or Dish or DirecTV, don't they force you to get a box for every TV? It seems to me at least with cable you can choose whether to go that route, or stay with analog directly on the back of your TV. What's the issue? | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: Digital Conversion said by molsen :If you go to AT&T, Verizon or Dish or DirecTV, don't they force you to get a box for every TV? It seems to me at least with cable you can choose whether to go that route, or stay with analog directly on the back of your TV. What's the issue? Cable is moving analog channels to digital, forcing customers to upgrade to a digital package (anywhere from $5-15 extra per month, maybe even more) as well as rent a digital box for every TV - all so the customer can receive the EXACT same service they were receiving prior. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Re: Digital Conversion In reality, the idea of "basic" cable has been gutted. In a modern system, basic cable will be a digital package and require a STB to operate on a analog TV. You'd think that Digital cable basic would work without a STB on a digital TV, but the cable companies aren't setting it up that way.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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centsofhumor
join:2007-01-20
Two Rivers, WI
·Charter Pipeline
| Just crooks We used to get these channels down below. Now they are on some weird "Exp Basic (Digital Only)" tier. How the hell can they be expanded basic? I cant get them on my tvs digital tuner. Oh and the tvguide channel disappered too, and they have it listed as basic. What a joke. Oh they are raising prices for charter in my service area for expanded basic in december.
78 Lifetime Movie Network Exp Basic (Digital Only)
79 GSN (Game Show) Exp Basic (Digital Only)
80 G4 Exp Basic (Digital Only)
82 Soap Net Exp Basic (Digital Only)
83 Toon Disney Exp Basic (Digital Only)
89 TV Guide Basic (Digital Only) | |
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aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA | The sooner analog dies the better This is the 21st century. Analog needs to die | |
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| pimpdad82
join:2004-09-12
Portsmouth, VA | Re: The sooner analog dies the better Why? | |
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majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Lindenhurst, NY | unfairly targeted What i see is cable being unfairly targetted.
Why is it that cable has to keep their tv analog while verizon doesn't? That doesnt seem fair to me. | |
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See 6 replies to this post |
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russotto
join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA | Fishing expedition It's may be a fishing expedition, but that's only fair seeing as cable companies have been stocking the lake for years. | |
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Dspairl
Premium
join:2004-06-09
Norwich, CT
·Comcast
| Don't Really Care You know, every single service has it's ups and downs......Yes certain channels have been taken away. Yes I went with DirecTV. Hell you show me where any cable company can give me almost 300 channels for 42.99 a month for the first 12 months then go to 57.99 for a fixed price....Expanded basic in my area with about 50 channels is 54.99 or something like that....my total bill is about 70 bux a month with insurance, and 3 boxes...my neighbor has the cable company and gets about half of what I get for 118 a month....it's a no brainer. | |
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| cableguy619
join:2003-06-24
Chula Vista, CA
| Re: Don't Really Care I see you on on Comcast HSI so added to your 2 seperate bills is 120.00 not sure what you pay for on telco if you have it... add your curtent budle how ever it is and compare it to someones all in 1 bundle.. see the price difference and really compare
bundled I know plenty of people who pay approximately what you are or about 5-8 dollars more for TV,HSi, Telco..
bottom line is choice, what do you really want | |
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Cable Not Happy About FCC Cable Price Investigation
FCC maintaining a high level of stupidity.
I recently purchased a HDTV and found that it can receive both unscrambled QAM as well as ATSC signals. Unfortunately the wizards at the FCC and our Government excluded ATSC to NTSC Converters with QAM capability from the $40.00 coupon program. I am sure that the cable companies can reconfigure their networks to use tier traps to block access to those channels that are not included in a subscribers program package. On the other hand the CATV Companies want to charge customers $6.95 a month for a digital outlet as well as $6.95 for a standard definition digital to NTSC or decoder. The CATV Industry needs a good dose of regulation in order to cure this B.S.