Help! Comcast is Trying to Rob Me!
This is another one of these stories that mysteriously do not appear on the front page, or any page, of the newspaper. I even made a comment on Salt Lake Tribune TV critic Vince Horiuchi’s blog. Nothing. The only place this was reported: a one-sentence notice on my monthly cable bill that said Comcast was eliminating HBO. Starting July 22, service would be available only to digital cable subscribers. Sure enough, on July 22 Channel 6 looked like this:
Now I’ll have to see the last five episodes of “Generation Kill” on DVD. I already get the DVD sets for “Battlestar Galactica” because it’s cheaper than shelling out extra for digital cable.
Two weeks after Comcast committed this atrocity, where are the peasants with pitchforks? Why aren’t we in full revolt? It’s not as if there are any good alternatives– Dish Network and Qwest charge $75 a month for a channel lineup that includes HBO. I refuse to pay more to watch TV than for any other utility. That’s where I draw the line.
It’s small comfort, but at least Comcast placed second for Worst Company in America. The winner? Countrywide Financial. Better luck next year, Comcast, you’re a contender.
UPDATE: Comcast got in the first comment to this post, and I replied in kind. Don’t be fooled, they still want to charge more money despite the “six months free” offer. Also, Comcast’s e-mail does not mention that you will need a separate converter box for each TV (we have three). This is the company that ranks at the bottom of cable and satellite TV providers for customer satisfaction.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
The channel is still available, but you would need to have a cable box. This would also give you access to HBO On Demand, so you can enjoy your favorites anytime. This is done to provide additional capacity. For each analog channel we can offer 3 HD or 10-12 digital. By making this change we can offer even more channels. We can probably obtain a free box for you for the next 6 or 12 months so you can enjoy your show. Email us at the address below.
Frank Eliason
Comcast
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
August 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Sorry, but I refuse to pay more money to Comcast. Not now, not six or twelve months from now. I want a reasonable price. My cable bill has gotten more expensive year after year, as Comcast takes away channels. Why not offer digital for the same price, and then switch channels from analog to digital?
Digital cable may be a technical improvement, it’s theoretically better to have more channels and HD– assuming there is enough good programming available. But I never asked for more channels, just to keep the few I actually watch!
Why can’t we have an “a la carte” option to purchase individual channels? I’m sick of paying for Spanish, sports, shopping and religion.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
After C-Span2 disappeared, I took the only action I could, and CANCELED COMCAST. With the money saved, I got broadband and can now enjoy C-Span, Olbermann, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Democracy Now and others in living color ON DEMAND without even setting my VCR. I’ll still be able to at least hear Bill Maher’s show form his website.
See Ya, ComcastCares! I don’t need the fake philanthropy you make your employee’s carry out either!
August 7th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Congrats Larry. You’re on the fat pipes.
I am also pissssed off about losing C-Span2.
Comcast is not living up to their obligation.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Cable is in a difficult position, because DBS (DIRECTV & DISH) and the telcos (U-Verse & FiOS) started with all-digital platforms. They require a set-top box to work. But cable’s technology has been developing over 50 years. We have analog customers and digital customers. As we roll out more channels, especially more hi-def channels, and offer services like hi-speed modem and phone, capacity becomes a real problem.
Moving channels to digital is part of the solution, which unfortunately means that some people will have to take a box if they wish to continue seeing those channels.
Getting your entertainment via broadband is one solution, but as I pointed out this week, it doesn’t work for everyone.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I’d like Draper to get UTOPIA, but it looks like that’s going to take many years– if it ever happens. I’m looking for an affordable alternative to Comcast. I have nothing against digital cable except that I refuse to pay more for it.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Thanks Cliff, it’s one of those things I wish I had done many years ago. I didn’t know I could get all my favorite programs for free, AND surf with the pros. I could kick myself. I’ve been recording Democracy Now for years on my iRiver poscaster and loving it, but now I can see it too! What a great program!
I’m sure CableTechTalk and ComcastCares could come up with a technical reason for why C-Span2 was yanked and C-Span diminished, but I don’t believe it was to improve service. I don’t blame them, or other employees of Comcast for what I think boils down to censorship, greed or anthrax threats.
August 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
In theory, technologies like CableCARD and tru2way are supposed to allow you to break free from using STBs with newer TVs that support these technologies. The reality is that they are poorly deployed, poorly supported and often lack functional program guides. In the case of tru2way, the technology is still a ways out. Cable companies hardly have any motivation beyond mandates from the FCC to deploy these in a reasonable timeframe. After all, if you can charge $13/mo for a STB that costs a mere $200-300 to purchase, you’re churning profit in as little as 16 months. It’s no wonder cable costs have climbed 80% in the last decade.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Hoo boy. I just came back from a meeting of cable engineers and it’s amazing the disconnect between some customers and the people actually delivering the technology.
You claim that CableCARDs and tru2way are “poorly deployed, poorly supported and often lack functional program guides.” CableCARDs have been out there for a couple years and for all the difficulty in some markets in getting them installed (due to a variety of factors, not all the cable operators’ fault), a lot of work goes into supporting them. The tru2way standard has been in development for over a decade (for many reasons, as outlined here) and is beginning to be deployed. You can’t make any claims yet about its deployment or support.
Neither of these technologies come with guides. CableCARDs are an authorization mechanism. A guide can be built to work in tru2way, and a number of guides have been developed.
If you understood how cable technology worked, you would understand that there is an enormous need for tru2way. Incredible efficiencies will be achieved by its use. The notion that set-top boxes are a revenue source is ridiculous. The second they go out, they start losing capital value. They have to be bought, maintained, replaced. At some point, you have to get rid of them and take a loss. Once you have a bunch of boxes out in the field, as new technologies become available, you have to deal with the fact that those old boxes are still deployed.
(And a HD/DVR digital box costs closer to $400.)
And in the end, why is it that you’re not upset about the fact that all customers of DISH, DIRECTV, FiOS, and U-Verse have to take digital set-top boxes, without exception?
(By the way, Time Warner has over a million tru2way boxes deployed today…)
August 14th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Cable tTech Talk , what are your recomendations? I’m going to be redoing my whole system from the phone, TV, internet soon. I was hoping Utopia would be further along, but…
August 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
What about C-Span 2?
August 14th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I’ve had the same digital STB in my living room for nearly three years. It has long since been paid for by the monthly fee for its use. I simply can’t imagine that there aren’t thousands of customers like me who aren’t in the same boat. Pending evidence to the contrary, I don’t believe for a moment that cablecos are taking a bath on STBs.
For the record, I don’t like STBs at all regardless of what system they are used on. Adding another device (and remote) into the mix with what amounts to a per-set cost is, at best, an inelegant solution. The well-documented foot-dragging by the cable industry to adopt and adequately support third-party devices (killing TiVo with SDV is a good example) combined with their efforts to sell more services has me wondering if their actions aren’t motivated by money.
Why not kill TiVo (or at least delay an SDV work-around) to encourage switching to their own DVR product? Why not quietly introduce SIP issues to sell their own VoIP product? Comcast’s own actions on trying to stamp out BitTorrent while pushing Fancast is a good example of trying to compell customers to use their products through force. They’re still stuck in the mode of thinking that the network must be completely controlled and integrated from content creation to delivery.
Call it conspiratorial if you will, but I don’t think that telcom companies have done anything to deserve the benefit of a doubt. Their consistently low customer service ratings only bear this out.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
“Killing TiVo with SDV”? Really? Then why has the tuning resolver solution been developed so that the one-way TiVo devices will work in the switched digital environment? Last month, CableLabs certified the adapters for both Motorola & Cisco STBs. As for their own product, cable operators don’t make boxes. They buy them from manufacturers. Comcast has made a deal with TiVo and has finally begun deploying them to customers.
And then you go off the deep end. “…quietly introduce SIP issues …” “..stamp out BitTorrent while pushing Fancast…” Hilarious.
As I said above, when you talk to people who actually have to make the network function and who have to roll out products and services, you get one point-of-view.
As for options, cav, it depends on who is servicing your area. Isn’t it ironic that Richard Warnick starts the post by complaining about Comcast, DISH and Qwest. Three choices and he’s still not happy. Have you considered giving Apple TV and Hulu a try?
August 14th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I’m presently on dial-up, have Qwest phone service (no long distance) a cluster of cel phones and a TV antenna up on the roof. I’m looking to join you all in this modern world.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:56 am
cav:
They’ve told me I’m going to be paying about $65 a month for my new setup with Qwest. I’m bundling the high speed internet with my phone service, but I don’t need long distance and don’t have a cell phone.
You are going to love broadband! I haven’t had to set my VCR to record once since I got it because all my favorite shows are available online, and now I can see C-Span 3 for the first time.
The quality of the video for Olbermann’s Countdown, Democracy Now, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report is very good. You can even save the shows onto your computer with Realplayer. If you want to get shows from a while back on Democracy Now, they are blocky looking, but not too bad. Same with C-Span, but the library of stuff you can see is endless. I once saw a four hour FCC hearing with people from California tearing Kevin Martin a new one, (not that he cared), but I was able to find it. Comcast must have really screwed up big to get that shill to crack down.
One really nice thing about going with Qwest is that they are the corporation that told Bush they wouldn’t illegally wiretap America citizens. It felt good to say NO to Comcast who has been up to some trouble lately and YES to a company that actually stood up for our rights for a change. The guy that made that decision payed a big price for us because Bush went after him.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Speaking of Democracy Now, the last two shows have been unbelievable. Ron Suskind is looking to bring justice to the Bush cabal, and was on both nights for nearly the entire show. He has laid out the case that there was a guy with with undeniable credibility, who absolutely knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. He was paid five million dollars by the Bush cabal to shut up and go away resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings and the absolute destruction of Americas moral standing.
It’s time for the hungry hordes to eat the media if they hide this story! Yum!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:38 am
By the way, if Comcast carried Free Speech TV, more people could see this grand epic unfold.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Thanks for your input, Larry. Do you even know what Apple TV or Hulu are?
My internet connection has been dropping - what used to be near 45000, now rarely tops 31000. So I’ll be saying goodbye to my ISP with the Qwest bundle, Ya suppose?
Democracy Now is the best.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I just read in one of the trade publications that Qwest is now offering broadband speeds of up to 20 Mbps in 18 markets, including Provo and Salt Lake City. I think Comcast has 6 Mbps. Depends on what speed you need and how much you want to pay.
Apple TV is a video service from Apple. Hulu offers free online TV programming.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:22 am
If I had a dozen choices and they all topped $75 a month I still would not be happy! This thread has been an education. I didn’t know about Apple TV and Hulu, but I do now.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am
cav:
Just checking out hulu and apple TV. Yeah, I’ve been listening to Democracy Now for years by recording it onto my iRiver podcaster from KRCL, but it is much better to see it now. It is great to have a television show that I just can’t wait to see every day like Bill Moyers Journal and Now on PBS. Bill Moyers wants Amy Goodman’s wonderful show on all PBS stations instead of just some, but I’m sure the local totalitarians wouldn’t want that to happen.
The naked truth is a truly beautiful thing to behold!
August 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
And that, frankly, is the bigger issue. Your perceived value, and the actual costs of providing service are out of synch. Most people who want an a la carte solution, for instance, are surprised to discover that the license fees for ‘the channels I’d watch’ may actually end up being higher than the per month fees today.
I’d like a Ferrari for $20,000, but that’s not going to happen.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I don’t want a Ferrari, I just want Free Speech TV, C-Span1,2, and 3 and the Comedy Channel.
Did somebody say something?
August 15th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I’m not buying the Ferrari, either. But there are other cars– Ferrari ain’t a monopoly.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
The problem is just that, the “let them eat cake” attitude of video programmers and video service providers. Programmers engage in channel bundling to force service providers to carry channels they ordinarily would not. Since the service providers can effectively blame the programmers while increasing their bottom line, there’s no motivation to do anything about it. It’s a total disconnect from the customer base and a major factor in the meteoric rise in cable TV prices (over 80% in the last decade).
And CableTechTalk thinks I’m off the deep end when I talk about the evil machinations of Comcast and their ilk.