Larry BerganComcast Weans The Poor Off Politics
Allegorically speaking, to a political junkie such as myself, C-Span and C-Span 2 are the uncut heroin of political news. If you’re somebody who doesn’t really need to be told what you just saw with your own eyes, C-Span provides the perfect information gathering vehicle to understand what is going on in Washington politics, but also covers other events which literally shape the lives of all Americans and others around the world.
I work very hard for my money and reject practically any monthly charge increase that doesn’t ensure my day to day survival. I even canceled HBO recently, even though Bill Maher’s “Real Time” series was one of the reasons I ordered cable to begin with, due to the fact that keeping that show would require installing a separate box with additional monthly charges.
Today I tuned in to the channel which has broadcast C-Span for as many years as I can remember. It was gone. I’ve heard warnings in the “blogosphere”, (silly term for people outside of the corporate media empire who want to be heard), that this unwelcome format change was coming to many places around the country. I called Comcast headquarters to see if another fairly routine channel shuffle was underway. I was told C-Span will be available on channel 78, but that C-Span 2 would require an additional monthly charge for an upgrade to digital. He was instructed to tell me that Comcast was trying to wean people off of the old analog signal in preparation for next years digital changeover. The Disney channel seems like a better choice to me. I get tired of watching overbearingly hyperactive children.
At least they didn’t try to say that C-Span 2 was less popular then the myriad of shopping channels I have to remove from my favorites menu whenever my power goes out. Having C-Span 3 in place of one of these channels would make me happier. The idea behind C-Span is brilliant and very cost effective. Just set up a camera and point it at our democratic republic without commercials or commentary by people who are paid to give their opinion.
I am positive I heard astronaut Jake Garn being quoted somewhere as saying that C-Span was hurting the Republican party. Last week Dick Cheney’s chief of staff had to be subpoenaed for questioning in a riveting three hour session where Democratic congressmen were compelled to ask whether George Bush had the right to order someone buried alive, or if a young child’s body parts could be crushed in front of his parents to get information about an enemy. John Yoo, one of the other men testifying under oath, had previously said the latter would depend on the circumstances. Karl Rove has also been subpoenaed for questioning involving the most serious infractions of American law imaginable.
When Comcast faced public hearings after it was discovered they had questionably blocked internet traffic, they were caught unscrupulously packing those hearings with people favorable to their cause. Many years ago, when Nixon was forced to resign during “Watergate”, anyone near a television could watch the story unfold in the congressional hearings. With all of the important things happening now, including the coming election, it seems like a bad time for one of the only cable TV providers to be restricting the peoples right to know what is happening in their government.
C-Span’s new home on channel 78, has terrible reception. Many people will no longer receive C-Span 2. “The Disney Channel” looks great. I have no plans to hide my paranoia. I think this may be either collusion or coercion.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 am
It’s bad enough that COMCAST didn’t have C-SPAN 3 on their basic service. Of course, they have room for every imaginable shopping, Spanish, religious and sports channel. I want to watch Sci-Fi Channel, but instead I buy “Battlestar Galactica” on DVD because I don’t want to pay extra for digital.
Via Jesse at Free UTOPIA!: COMCAST is up against Diebold in the semi-finals of The Consumerist “Worst Company in America” competition. The “winner” will face either Wal-Mart or Countrywide in the final matchup.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Leo,
Analog signals are on the outs - soon (in the next few years) analog television signals won’t even be broadcast anymore.
You might, as an option, want to think about a TV that takes a “Cable Card”. The monthly fee for it is almost nothing and you won’t need that big Comcast box.
Richard? Why is WalMart such a bad company?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
The FCC has mandated that cable operators provide analog signals through at least 2012, long past the over-the-air DTV cutoff in February. Comcast’s solution to this bandwidth-intensive requirement is to change the signals to digital anyway and give all of the analog subscribers a converter box to keep on their TV. Sounds like they’d rather kill off all of the useful channels to get you to upgrade to a digital box simultaneously saving them the cost of the DTA adapter and turning you into a higher-revenue subscriber. Very sneaky.
Their motivation is simple: they want more money from you despite cable increasing in cost by over 80% during the last decade. It’s their normal greed at work.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Right, Jesse - ’cause you have a Constitutional Right to cable television, don’t you?
Let’s see, that would be found right under Article…err…Amendment…?
Where would that be, exactly, Jesse?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
jd– Actually Wal-Mart is losing to Countrywide Home Loans thanks to the mortgage meltdown. But they are still one of the four worst companies. I don’t know why, maybe Wal-Mart Watch can explain.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
jdberger:
As explained in my post, Americans used to have a right to see a corrupt government held to task in hearings that were broadcast on public television FOR FREE. Nixon once said, “if the president says it, then it’s not illegal.” What if Clinton had said he was going to take your guns away and torture your children because he suspected you knew somebody who wanted to harm him? Wouldn’t you want to see hearings on the matter.
The government has made bad decisions and placed Comcast in the position of having a monopoly over what you see on television. For some of us, they are the ONLY choice. They should feel a moral responsibility to provide us with the information you need, but instead, are preventing certain people from even communicating with each other, not to mention NOT providing people with what they want for the money they spend. I thought you believed in market forces!
Then again, the president of Qwest was put under criminal charges for not going along with Bush’s illegal wiretapping. Why don’t you and Bob wake the hell up and help us, rather then pushing all this Limbaugh bullshit!
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Walmart makes sweetheart deals with government officials and forces smaller retailers out of business. I saw the movie Robert Greenwald made. Another “free market” lie.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Settle down, Larry.
The Nixon impeachment hearings were carried on broadcast tv. Hardly free (though I ‘ve noticed a tendency from you to call things that OTHER people pay for “free”).
CSPAN is, IIRC, broadcast on analog tv. It’s also broadcast on cable because the cable company decides to pay for it and bring it to you. They don’t have any OBLIGATION to let you use their cameras, production and broadcast facilities.
CSPAN doesn’t recieve funding from the government at all.
So NO LARRY, again you’ve completely bolloxed up the facts. CSPAN is NOT public television.
Perhaps, instead of thinking up witty criticisms of Bob and myself, you’ll spend 10 seconds using Google to figure out what the heck you’re talking about.
Ya…I know you spent time on a freeway onramp with an IMPEACH BUSH sign, that doesn’t make you an expert in anything. FACTS, Larry. FACTS.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
And WalMart does what business does. Don’t like it? Vote with your wallet. Nothing says that you HAVE to shop at WalMart, Larry (though they do carry pretty good hardwood charcoal).
July 4th, 2008 at 1:01 am
jdberger:
Where in the world are you reading that I said C-Span is public TV? All I would say about it is that it stands as one of the best ideas SINCE television and Brian Lamb is a genius. I’m sure he’s not happy that people without means will be able to enjoy his visionary creation now.
I’ve grown up with public television and it has, without any doubt, produced the best television programs seen anywhere. I don’t remember a single person criticizing it publicly until Newt Gingrich made a fool of himself by saying big bird was a threat to our economy. I long for the days before Reagan when public financing was used to bring us programs we could use to improve our lives and we never saw a pledge drive. Yes, it’s true, PBS didn’t used to have pledge drives and still had programs like NOVA! You are right. Technically it wasn’t free, but NOBODY CARED. NOBODY!
Nixon was brought down in full view of the American people, I was very young, but was riveted to my television. It was not a happy time for Republicans, but even they had enough integrity then to know a bad thing when they saw it. Others never got over it and believed Nixon got a raw deal.
Poor babies.
I would gladly take a tax hike to pay for PBS and C-Span until they no longer serve any purpose, like 99% of all cable programming.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I live directly next to a WalMart and never shop there. WalMart is the one that votes with it’s wallet and special inside deals. You lose.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Richard:
I called Comcast again to complain and was told I wasn’t the only one, but Comcast will have to decide if they can make more money serving us, or ignoring us. I’m sure that’s all they care about unless they’ve had other threats. It would be great if this somehow results in C-Span 3 being introduced into the lineup though.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I finally opened my COMCAST bill today. They say that HBO will disappear on July 22, because it’s going to be digital-only. In 2003, their lowest-cost service was about $40 a month. Five years later, they are charging $58 for the same service. Basically, they jacked up the price at a rate of 9 percent a year.
July 5th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
All of the most important channels become harder to get, and Comcast makes a profit. It’s a perfect world.
July 5th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Did anybody else get the message that this site has exceeded it’s limit? I’ve never seen that before.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Larry, I’ve gotten that message before.
On the other hand, TV is available for “free” (someone else pays for it). All you need is a pair of rabbit ears.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Cliff could tell you about the site limit, I think it’s “throttled” somehow. The error message usually doesn’t last long.