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‘What the hell?’: TV screens go dark as Spectrum cuts channels, raises prices
Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky) ^ | April 28, 2017 | John Cheves

Posted on 04/30/2017 3:51:48 PM PDT by EveningStar

The television screen went dark a month ago as Daniel Fitzgerald watched “American Pickers” on the History Channel.

Perplexed, he grabbed the remote and surfed through CNN, Disney, Comedy Central and the rest of the standard cable lineup. Many of them were gone, too. In their place was a black background with a small block of text advising him that his subscription no longer provided those channels.

“I thought, ‘What the hell? I just paid the cable bill,’” Fitzgerald recalled last week in the tiny Lexington [Kentucky] apartment he shares with his disabled 16-year-old son.

Fitzgerald called Spectrum, the subsidiary created last year when Charter Communications of Stamford, Ct., acquired Time Warner Cable, which was then Lexington’s cable provider. A Spectrum representative told Fitzgerald that he hadn’t been paying Time Warner enough for the standard cable package. If he wanted those channels back, his monthly bill for cable and Internet would jump from $103 to $139, effective immediately.

(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: cable; cabletelevision; cabletv; charter; spectrum; television; timewarnercable
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1 posted on 04/30/2017 3:51:48 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

Cut the cord! Cable users of America, you have nothing to lose but your cords!


2 posted on 04/30/2017 3:53:57 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: EveningStar

Bkmk


3 posted on 04/30/2017 3:55:34 PM PDT by moovova
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To: EveningStar

Cable (and satellite) TV will be gone in a couple of years. I’m ready to leave with 500 channels of QVC and “four hour erections!” Content on TV today is simply awful.


4 posted on 04/30/2017 3:57:39 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: EveningStar

139 bucks a month to watch TV? F ‘em.

For internet I have it through Metro PCS unlimited. I have ised 40 gigs a month and they don’t throttle down the speed.


5 posted on 04/30/2017 3:58:27 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Flinging poo is not a valid argument)
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To: EveningStar

I’ve been streaming for 4 years. I only pay for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.


6 posted on 04/30/2017 4:03:08 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Man-made global liberalism is killing the planet)
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To: EveningStar

Have ready any wireless services that can be refered to.


7 posted on 04/30/2017 4:03:18 PM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism5" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: vette6387

Maybe, as people more and more cease to bother with content that is vapid.

The internet has proven to be equally entertaining today (well thanks for at least something, You Tube, Facebook et al.) and it can be had at a far cheaper rate.


8 posted on 04/30/2017 4:03:58 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I have Netflix and prime. But Mrs. Principled still wants the cable.

What is Hulu good with?


9 posted on 04/30/2017 4:07:33 PM PDT by Principled (OMG I'm so tired of all this winning....)
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To: EveningStar

>>The television screen went dark a month ago as Daniel Fitzgerald watched “American Pickers” on the History Channel.<<

How could he tell? AP is the WWE of those kinds of shows. Faker than a cnn broadcast.


10 posted on 04/30/2017 4:08:30 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (The Civil Rights movement compared content of their character to skin color and chose the latter)
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To: EveningStar

“A Spectrum representative told Fitzgerald that he hadn’t been paying Time Warner enough for the standard cable package.”

Hey pay up the damn bill if you want the services. You cut the cord.

Anything else is just the moocher class wanting things for free.


11 posted on 04/30/2017 4:08:34 PM PDT by sagar
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To: vladimir998

“Cable users of America, you have nothing to lose but your cords!”

Now, now, there may be some people that will miss the outrageous cable bills they pay every month for stale reruns.

There is so much more content not on cable!


12 posted on 04/30/2017 4:08:37 PM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement, I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: vette6387

Content may be bad, but presentation is even worse. I was trying to watch some TV this afternoon (I usually spend time on the computer, but wanted to take a break), and it was almost all commercials.

One used to be able to flip between two or three channels and keep up with the stories, but now it’s just flipping from one commercial to another. TCM is the only one that seems to be still watchable.

I think I lasted about 10 minutes.

Advertisers are idiots for buying the time, and the programmers are idiots in how they structure the programming.


13 posted on 04/30/2017 4:09:28 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: HiTech RedNeck

ESPN has had the (unwelcome) headlines this week but the real enemy is cable and satellite bundling.

Once upon a time it was (partially) a necessary evil as certain blocks of channels were tied to bandwidth and vice versa. In the purely digital era that is no longer the case, and bundling is like being forced to buy a dozen cans of spinach every time you buy a loaf of bread.

For obvious reasons the providers love bundling and, as usual, Congress and the FCC (including its GOP/conservative members) are happy to debate Net Neutrality but keep mostly quiet on bundling.

Bundling is an anachronism. It also borders on fraud when a provider claims they are delivering 100 channels but at a dozen of those are nothing but advertisements.


14 posted on 04/30/2017 4:11:24 PM PDT by relictele
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To: vette6387
I’m ready to leave with 500 channels of QVC and “four hour erections!” Content on TV today is simply awful.

I cut the cord last December and now have only about 60-70 channels of QVC and “four hour erections!” but they're all FREE. I don't miss any of it, I set up an off-the air antenna for four TVs. Netflix and Hulu fill in the gaps for about $20 a month with no commercials.

15 posted on 04/30/2017 4:11:43 PM PDT by rllngrk33 (Things have been getting better since January 20, 2017.)
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To: EveningStar

I read an article a few weeks ago that claimed that phone wireless will over the next several years completely replace cable. The claim was that the average phone subscription will include unlimited wireless anyway so why get internet from cable? And the phone companies will apparently provide the same content as cable.


16 posted on 04/30/2017 4:12:47 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I don’t even have to pay them. :)


17 posted on 04/30/2017 4:14:23 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: PAR35
One used to be able to flip between two or three channels and keep up with the stories, but now it’s just flipping from one commercial to another. TCM is the only one that seems to be still watchable.

I'm able to DVR the programs I want, and skip forward past the commercials. I have a button which I can set to skip forward 30 seconds, and I have the "skip back" button set to 10 seconds. Knowing that commercial breaks are generally 3:30, I just hit the button 7 times when the commercials start.

18 posted on 04/30/2017 4:17:48 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

I don’t pay for those three either.

.


19 posted on 04/30/2017 4:18:27 PM PDT by Mears (t)
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To: EveningStar
And then they tell us we’re getting an ‘upgrade.’

Many years ago, when I had cable TV, I would get a letter from them a couple times per year that began with "GOOD NEWS!" It would then be followed by two points:

  1. They're adding a couple of junk channels.

  2. Huge price hike.


20 posted on 04/30/2017 4:22:33 PM PDT by snarkpup ("The Democrat party's policies are like a warm blanket of asbestos." - Crystal Wright)
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