Comcast - No more "IN DEMAND"?

[bicker]

My TiVo reported to me that the last bunch of IN DEMAND channels have been removed from my channel line-up. They got rid of half (?) of them last year, if I recall; now they're all gone.

To be honest, I don't read the inserts in my cable bills, and I'm sure it was mentioned there. Can someone please fill me in about what's going on?

I suspect they cleared out the channels to make more bandwidth available for ON DEMAND, but does anyone know for sure?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Bicker what is "in demand" vs "on demand"? Is that Pay per View?

 

[boomhauer]

Hadn't heard that. Then again, we have Charter (which stinks.) Still have On Demand though.

 

[denisem]

Have you personalized your channel lineup by blocking unwanted channels?

I recall when I had Comcast, they would sometimes arbitrarily move channels around and if they fell on one of my blocked channels, I wouldn't be aware.

Otherwise, you might want to check the Comcast website for info.

 

[bicker]

Nope, no unwanted channels are blocked. This isn't just one or two channels that may have been moved, but rather an elimination of about 15 channels. It was reported to me in an email from TiVo, and is reflected on all the TV Listings websites: Yahoo TV, Excite TV, Titan TV and TV Guide. For example:

http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?d=tvs&id=166032995&channels=us_IN15&lineup=us_MA20411d&.intl=us

 

[pixiemomma]

Wow that stinks. We have a dish but father was just complaining that Rome had been wiped from In Demand. He really liked having it. (For the $170 a month he and his partner pay for cable and internet, I would expect the thing to make me breakfast in the morning.)

 

[jodifla]

Hmmm. This would not be good. My DS is downstairs watching it now.

 

[bicker]

I'm really not sure it is a bad thing (which is why I am asking). What's the difference between ordering IN DEMAND and ordering ON DEMAND. It seems to me that ON DEMAND is better (no?).

Was Rome even available on IN DEMAND? I thought IN DEMAND only carried movies and special events. I thought Rome was only available on ON DEMAND.

 

[Chicago526]

I'm really not sure it is a bad thing (which is why I am asking). What's the difference between ordering IN DEMAND and ordering ON DEMAND. It seems to me that ON DEMAND is better (no?).

Was Rome even available on IN DEMAND? I thought IN DEMAND only carried movies and special events. I thought Rome was only available on ON DEMAND.

That's my understanding too. IN demand is the old fashioned pay-per-view, ON demand is the new way of doing it. As far as I can tell, IN demand just un-locks the channel so you can view the movie/event/show after paying for the privilage, and you onle get to view it once. ON demand actually downloads the movie/event/show to your cable box, allowing you to pause, fast-forward, rewind, or stop and start again. You get to view the movie/event/show as many times as you want for 24 hours, and then your cable box deletes it (if you don't delete it first). ON demand has much more to choose from and has a lot of free movies.

I also thought that the HBO and Showtime shows (like Rome) were offered for ON demand only, not IN demand. But I could be wrong!

 

[puggymom]

COmcast has been deleting a lot of channels lately. I used to have 10 HBOs now I have 7, same thing with Encore, I think I have about 6 or 7 now, when I had a dozen before. If they would just add the Travel Channel I would be much less upset with them. I am really beginning to think I need to switch to satellite.

 

[bicker]

I've got Travel Channel on Comcast Channel 96.

I know that some of the excess HBO and Showtime channels were removed to give us more bandwidth for HBO ON DEMAND and Showtime ON DEMAND. I suspect the same is the case with Starz/Encore.

 

[pixiemomma]

I'm really not sure it is a bad thing (which is why I am asking). What's the difference between ordering IN DEMAND and ordering ON DEMAND. It seems to me that ON DEMAND is better (no?).

Was Rome even available on IN DEMAND? I thought IN DEMAND only carried movies and special events. I thought Rome was only available on ON DEMAND.

Oops! I didn't realize there was a difference. I have been away from Comcast too long. I know they have the biggest package offered. I know he didn't pay extra (a la PPV) to watch Rome at his leisure. He is too cheap for that. (his partner pays the cable bill, lol.)

 

[floridafam]

Comcast can't just add channels whenever they want.

They have to follow local franchise agreements which may specify the number of channels they can offer, what types of channels, etc.

As far as I know, In Demand is just Pay Per View, we still have On Demand but I just don't care for it. It requires going into a different menu and it just takes too much time.

Channel lineups may change all the time but they will always tell you first-in a letter or in your bill. This is usually done to benefit the customer. We have a large Latino population here and they just added a bunch of channels specifically designed to meet the demand from those customers.

In our old town, East Lansing, we didn't get Food Network or Travel Channel. Now, we get both.

People often think Comcast makes all of the decisions about what they offer and pricing when that is really not the case. For example, they have to pay Disney to carry ESPN. ESPN is the most expencsive cable channel to carry. Comcast has to pay the price Disney sets because ESPN is also one of the cable channels their customers want.

Nobody should have a $170 cable bill-that just doesn't make sense unless they order a lot of pay per view. I would encourage them to call Comcast. Cable and internet packages can be had for far less than that.

 

[bicker]

As far as I know, In Demand is just Pay Per View, we still have On Demand but I just don't care for it. It requires going into a different menu and it just takes too much time.

Hmmm... I don't really feel that one is necessarily easier than the other -- they both require/required extra steps, different from just watching something on non-PPV channels. For me, the main impact is that I used to browse the listings for the IN DEMAND offerings in my TiVo, and apply Triple Thumbs Up to the movies I wanted to eventually pick-up on HBO and SHO -- TiVo Suggestions would record them for me if I didn't notice that they finally made it to the premium channels, myself. Of course, with ON DEMAND, there are no listing to feed into the TiVo, so no way I can Thumbs Up movies in advance.

Nobody should have a $170 cable bill-that just doesn't make sense unless they order a lot of pay per view. I would encourage them to call Comcast. Cable and internet packages can be had for far less than that.

Hmmm... well, ours is $150, but it includes high-speed Internet service. I think Sunday Ticket is pretty expensive as is the other "see every game in the league" services that Comcast offers, so maybe that accounts for the extra money.

 

[floridafam]

$150. Wow. Maybe it's different in different parts of the country.

I think the reason On Demand bugs me so much is because I usually hit the wrong button and then I have to start all over again. I thought we would use it frequently but we don't. Maybe I should check it out.

I'll check and see if we still have In Demand.

I don't even remember what your original question was. Have you been able to find the programs you watched through In Demand in the On Demand system?

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Don't feel bad..we don't have PPV either. Our cable service (Grande) doesn't offer it to us po'folks who only have 'extended basic'*

*basic cable (for Grande anyway)=channels you could pick up with an antenna or rabbit ears for free

*extended basic=most channels, including stuff we have chosen to block because we don't care, like the Golf Channel and Fox Sports South as well as most of the Spanish channels. Yo hables espanol muy poquito, senores y senoras.

TOV

 

[bicker]

$150. Wow. Maybe it's different in different parts of the country.

Basic Cable = $9.95
Expanded Basic = $37.75
Digital Cable PLUS
HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, TMC
(it's a special bundle) = $41.95
Digital Cable Box = $4.75

Internet = $55.85 (need to look into this... getting way too high)

I don't even remember what your original question was.

Doesn't matter.

Have you been able to find the programs you watched through In Demand in the On Demand system?

They seem to be all there.

 

[floridafam]

Not sure if this answers your question...

We still have all the In Demand PPV channels we've always had. The On Demand system still looks the same here.

Each system is different so this probably doesn't help.

 

[pixiemomma]

The $170 includes internet. So cable is is really about $120.
They do not order pay per view. They don't have time to watch movies. They have about a dozen new unopened DVDs laying around the house.

 

[djgeffers1]

I have charter and received notice a few days ago that they are doing away with some of the upper in demand channels and also raising our rates.