Dang!!!! Cable company eliminates channels..

[C.Ann]

DD and her family received a notice about this down at their home awhile ago, but I didn't receive anything up here so I wasn't aware that there were going to be any changes.. Just changed the channel and SURPRISE!!!!

They have now eliminated Oxygen, SoapNet, CMT, and Style.. The only way I can get them is by upgrading to digital - which I'm not about to do.. Way too much money to get 4 channels back!

Why couldn't they do away with all of these sports and shopping channels that I don't have the least bit of interest in?

Wish I could just purchase the channels that I want and do away with a whole bunch of the ones I don't..

Anyone else have channels eliminated recently?

 

[DebbieB]

DD and her family received a notice about this down at their home awhile ago, but I didn't receive anything up here so I wasn't aware that there were going to be any changes.. Just changed the channel and SURPRISE!!!!

They have now eliminated Oxygen, SoapNet, CMT, and Style.. The only way I can get them is by upgrading to digital - which I'm not about to do.. Way too much money to get 4 channels back!

Why couldn't they do away with all of these sports and shopping channels that I don't have the least bit of interest in?

Wish I could just purchase the channels that I want and do away with a whole bunch of the ones I don't..

Anyone else have channels eliminated recently?

Are you sure you have pay to upgrade? Comcast in my area gave out 2 free digital boxes per home. Without the box, we can only get the local channels, weather channel, CSPAN, QVC & HSN.

 

[C.Ann]

Are you sure you have pay to upgrade? Comcast in my area gave out 2 free digital boxes per home. Without the box, we can only get the local channels, weather channel, CSPAN, QVC & HSN.

Yes - I would need to pay.. It's the same cable company that my DD has and the fee was included in the notice..

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

Not recently, but Soapnet was moved higher up so to get it I had to get the stupid digital box. I absolutely hate having to have the stupid box. Don't need one for digital tv on our other sets but to get the higher numbers I needed it. Sheesh! I quit the premium channels to get rid of the box.

Plus, get this---if & when DH dies & we still have this company I'll need to provide a death certificate to prove it in order to cancel or change the service. Anytime I wanted to change something, unless it was to ADD, I had to have him do the asking. I've asked a number of times to add my name to the account & they say sure, we will. But it hasn't been done yet.

Needless to say I'm not fond of Charter but don't want to bother figuring the best company for either tv or the internet.

 

[ICF]

Direct TV just announced they are working on adding 30 HD channels starting next month!! Wooo Hoooo....

 

[PrincessShmoo]

That's exactly why we switched from cable to Dish Network.

After 3 different rounds of "switching to digital" removed 10 different channels from our viewing.

And, yes, we had to pay for digital converters if we wanted to continue to get those channels. Since we have 5 people living in this house ages 15 to 65 that meant we would need a box for each TV. NO THANK YOU!

We had been cable customers since we moved into our house 25 years ago, but we were highly dissatisfied with thier customer relations.

So happy with Dish Network (and it turned out much cheaper).

 

[bicker]

The only way I can get them is by upgrading to digital - which I'm not about to do.. Way too much money to get 4 channels back!

Eventually, it'll all end up the same price anyway. Here, the two prices got closer and closer every year, and then two years ago they were $4 apart, and this year they got rid of the analog cable option -- it is digital or nothing. They sent out a couple of analog to digital converter boxes to everyone and that was the end of analog cable. (They still provide ABC, NBC, CBS, etc., in analog, at least until 2012.)

You can blame all your neighbors clamoring for all these extra HD channels. Don't ask me why one cartoon channel has to take up a full 3MHz of spectrum. That just seems wasteful to me, but I guess there are people who feel there is a different watching cartoons in HD, and they have as much rights to what they want as we have to what we want -- more if they're willing to pay more, and clearly they are.

So the only way that the service providers can provide more HD channels are to get rid of analog channels. In the bandwidth that they used to use for those four grainy, static-y analog channels you mentioned, they can fit about 10 crystal-clear digital HD channels.

4 channels versus 10 -- clearly 10 wins.

Wish I could just purchase the channels that I want and do away with a whole bunch of the ones I don't..

There are ways to do that, with certain satellite services, and what we can see from those offerings it that if you watch more than six cable channels, you end up paying more that way.

 

[bicker]

Plus, get this---if & when DH dies & we still have this company I'll need to provide a death certificate to prove it in order to cancel or change the service.

That's becoming true for every service provider, in practically every mass-market service.

 

[bicker]

That's exactly why we switched from cable to Dish Network.

Of course, you need a digital box on every television with Dish Network, so it is basically the same thing as C. Ann was complaining about.

And, yes, we had to pay for digital converters if we wanted to continue to get those channels.

Note that this is either no longer true, or will soon not be true. The cable companies are making that transition much less costly for folks, now. As I indicated above, it's already a no-extra-charge upgrade, here, now. Generally, they do that when they remove the analog option entirely. If it hasn't happened in your area, yet, it'll probably happen in the next year or two.

Since we have 5 people living in this house ages 15 to 65 that meant we would need a box for each TV. NO THANK YOU!

You still need a box for each television with Dish Network.

 

[Silent1CB]

So they didn't really eliminate them? You can still get them if you switch to a different package? They are still offered, just not in the package you currently have?

 

[Pembo]

We recently lost the Style Network (one of my favs) and we've never had Soapnet. The same cable company is all over this area and yet our township has never had Soapnet when all the surrounding cities do...makes no sense.

I recently called about upgrading to Digital cable...it was $14 more a month. When my parents upgraded about a year ago, it was $5. Cable is a pain......

 

[bicker]

They are still offered, just not in the package you currently have?

Yes, that's generally what's going on. To be clearer: Each analog (old style) cable channel takes up 6 MHz of bandwidth. Most cable systems only have 750 MHz of bandwidth. Doing the math, it's about 125 channels, total, including your local broadcast channels. But a lot of people want HD channels. Each HD channel requires between 2 MHz and 3 MHz of bandwidth. I'm sure you've seen all the ads from DirecTV and FiOS making a big deal that they offer over 100 HD channels. Generally, cable companies can get away with putting those 100 HD channels into about 350 MHz of bandwidth. So that only leaves room for 66 analog channels. However, not everyone has HDTVs, so they have to simulcast those channels as ADS. That's another 35 MHz, so now they only have room for 60 analog channels. Next, remember that they also need to leave room for you to use On Demand, and for your Internet, and for your telephone calls. So as you can see, very quickly, you get to the point where they can only support about 35 analog channels, total. Most cable systems once provided 60-100 analog channels, so clearly that means that 25-65 channels have to be discontinued from analog service.

It's simple math, driven substantially by the fact that the most lucrative customers are demanding HD.

 

[jackemail]

Yep, we lost several because we wouldn't upgrade...I do miss the Style network!

 

[MickeysMommy]

Yep, we lost several because we wouldn't upgrade...I do miss the Style network!

We just lost Style this weekend and they didn't tell us. They did inform us a while back when 2 local news channels were going to be removed but nothing as of late. I hate this. I don't want a stinkin' digital box. I'm holding out till they take off Lifetime and HGTV...then I'll have to get one

 

[Octoberbride03]

We switched to digital cable last year after our analog box conveniently died right after having our new floors installed. It was just weird. My complaint is I now have about 30 music channels on our lowest priced tier. They don't play videos, just the music. Why do i need that on a tv I have radios and CDs for music. I'd much rather get rid of all the music channels and just add in a few more that I'd like to see, such as DIY, Hallmark and GAC. I honestly don't think I'd miss CMT they are currently not showing that many videos except for late night and morning.

We have talked about switching to Direct TV but then it'll be just a bunch more channels we don't watch anyway. Maybe the next house we'll make the switch.

As for HD I could give a flying leap. The analog tv works fine and doesn't appear to leaving the house any year soon.

 

[BabyTigger99]

I think Style decided on its own to move to all digital. Style is off the air here, and when it first went off, there was a blue screen when I would turn on that channel that said Style is only available in digital, so I am guessing it is not just one cable company that decided it, but the channel itself.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

We're in one of those "grandfathering" phases with our TV company right now. They re-packaged all of the tiers. As long as we don't make any changes we're fine, but as soon as we want to change something we'll be forced into one of the new tiers, where we will be forced to make the choice between paying an extra $10/month or losing some channels.

It stinks, but we just signed up for Netflix, and it came with the disc so we can stream through the Wii. It's awesome, so I think we may end up downgrading the TV anyway.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Of course, you need a digital box on every television with Dish Network, so it is basically the same thing as C. Ann was complaining about.

Note that this is either no longer true, or will soon not be true. The cable companies are making that transition much less costly for folks, now. As I indicated above, it's already a no-extra-charge upgrade, here, now. Generally, they do that when they remove the analog option entirely. If it hasn't happened in your area, yet, it'll probably happen in the next year or two.

You still need a box for each television with Dish Network.

Actually we only needed to get 2 boxes because each box supports 2 TVs, so it's still less expensive than going the cable/digital box for each TV.

We finally got fed up with the game of them randomly changing the channels to digital so that we on analog were getting fewer and fewer channels for the same price. It's going to be more than 1 or 2 years before they make the total change, I think. In the meantime, I'm not able to watch the programs I like.

I know, it's just business for them. I, as the consumer, get to pick what works best for me. And we found something we like better.

 

[bicker]

My complaint is I now have about 30 music channels on our lowest priced tier. They don't play videos, just the music. Why do i need that on a tv

Many of us have home theater systems (or all-in-one HTIBs) so that's where the best sound system in the house is now. It is our CD player/radio, and the sound quality we get from the music channels is as good as we would get from playing our own CDs.

We actually don't use the music channels though. With my TiVo, I can play my MP3s directly from my computer through to the speakers in my home theater system.

I have radios and CDs for music.

I've never watched Style network, but from what I've read in this thread, some people like it. Not every service is intended for every customer.

I'd much rather get rid of all the music channels and just add in a few more that I'd like to see, such as DIY, Hallmark and GAC.

As you can well-imagine, "a picture is worth a thousand words", and so music channels take up practically no bandwidth, compared to television networks. Figure that those 30 music channels take up just one QAM channel.

As for HD I could give a flying leap. The analog tv works fine and doesn't appear to leaving the house any year soon.

And once the analog channels go away, there are ways to feed digital channels into your old television.

 

[KristaTX]

They have now eliminated Oxygen, SoapNet, CMT, and Style..

I'd gladly let you have those channels from my AT&T U-Verse since I never watch them except for an occasional glimpse at SoapNet. But can I trade them with you for your Turner Classic Movies?? I get the U-300 (their third tier) just so I can get TCM. Otherwise I'd be fine with the U-200.