We have started to use Comcasts On Demand channels more there are some really great free movies on there to watch. And we get most of the Encore channels for free which opens up a slew of great old movies to watch.

I switched to Directv last year and we really like it. We've got HD in the living room and family room and standard in the bedroom. the HD is excellent and the Tivo works well and holds a lot more than my old cable DVR did. My only problem is the standard signal in the bedroom blacks out for a few minutes sometimes.

FIOS is not available here yet. I checked into it a few months ago.

Yea, I've heard that as well. I don't buy it though. The channels that a lot of people want (like sports, bleh) could subsidize the other ones.

What I want, is TRUE competition. As it is, cable companies have protected territories. Even if there is more than one cable company in town, you don't get to choose which one you want. You have to use whichever one services your address.

I heard something about a new technology about year ago that is supposed to be TV coming in through phone lines, where you could pick the channels you want. Anyone else hear anything about that? What is happening with that?

I work for SL, actually, and this is true. The telecoms pay to retransmit channels on a package basis. The contract price is negotiated by a number of factors, including where in the channel lineup the channels go (limited tier, expanded tier, digital tier), and how many subs you have total (nationwide) paying for those tiers.

So lets say you have 100,000 customers total. All of them have Limited Cable. Most of them have Expanded, but only 60000 have Digital (which can be Limited + Digital no Expanded, or Limited, Expanded and Digital, which is further broken up into optional tiers, structured by interest, like sports or religious). More eyes are going to be seeing the limited channels (total) than the eyes watching the Digi sports tier. The programmers are going to want to put their channels in the tier that will have the most eyes watching thier advertising, so they will make a deal with the companies: You put these 2 channels on the Expanded tier, and these on the Digi Sports tier, and we'll charge you x price. If you don't want to put these 2 channels on the Expanded tier, then not near as many eyes will see our ads, and we'll have to charge you alot more for the same 4 channels to make up for lost revenue.

So:

To offer "a la Carte" channels would remove that bundled (read: discounted) price, and the companies would have to charge ALOT more per channel to just break even from what they pay the channels themselves, because the viewership would drop like a stone, which reduces ad revenue.

On a side note,

Now there is a new FCC rule that says broadcast stations can charge a fee to companies that retransmit their signals, and they are doing that with glee. Most companies have chose to pass that on to their customers, and this has resulted in rate hikes not only for cable, but satellite too.

Good info Onyx. Thanks.

I must agree.

I got DirecTV 8 years ago, and never had a problem 'til a few months ago when the on-screen program guide frakked up.

I like Comcast. The on demand feature and the ease of navigating the menu is way better than any dish. I had a dish. I hated the dish.

<whispering> Stay away from satellite service...it makes it easier for the gov'ment to track your private moments in the bedroom...

Other thoughts...this is worth the time to read it all the way through, then delete your history...:tinfoil:

Which was fixed a few weeks ago BTW...if anyone cares.

Cable has other problems. Cable has all channels. For each channel you don't want, cable must install a filter on your line. For 100 channels, they could not install 99 fllters. Cable companies group channels in certain frequencies groups so that a consumer has maybe no more than five filters to limit their service to basic service.

Bundling is for technical reasons.

We have cable and have stuck with it, even though I hate our provider here (Charter, who will hopefully go belly up soon and get bought by Comcast). The main reason we stick with cable is because in the end, satellite costs almost as much as cable without weather fuckups and ugly dishes on the side of the house.

Once we get our own place again, we might go with FIOS.

We're eyein' yah up, boy. If you turn out to be a good guy, welcome.

If you're just biding your time to a spam fest, we'll hit you so fast you won't know what's happened.

heehee

In todays time,spammer-anticipation is the best option for entertainment.Because it is provide the best quality language with lots of grammars at affordable price

you have one agile mind