Dang!!!! Cable company eliminates channels..

[Handbag Lady]

I hate the way our cable is set up. We just have the basic package (no movie channels that we have to pay for) but this includes about 10-20 Spanish channels. Why are we paying to have channels we can't understand?

I wish they would just let us delete them and get other basic channels instead. We'd love something like Golf Channel (so we can nap in peace!)

And, where we live, we are blocked from getting satellite.

 

[kaytieeldr]

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

As far as I know, there are no "just HD" channels. All they mean by 'adding thirty HD channels' would be that thirty channels you already get in standard digital which also broadcast in high def would now be available to you in high def as well as standard.

 

[kaytieeldr]

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.

If by "they" you mean the FCC, well, the cable - and satellite - companies really have NO say in that.

The FCC mandated the digital conversion last year and gave it plenty of publicity. Remember? Everybody had to convert to digital by FebruaryImeanJune? If you've been getting analog broadcast since then, it's because your tv provider has been taking in the digital broadcast and sending it out in three formats: high definition, digital, and analog (the latter requiring them to, I think, reformat the signal? bicker?) for the convenience of their customers without the equipment necessary to receive digital transmission. Now they're moving away from the latter to comply with the FCC and open up the lower ?bands? for emergency transmissions.

 

[ICF]

As far as I know, there are no "just HD" channels. All they mean by 'adding thirty HD channels' would be that thirty channels you already get in standard digital which also broadcast in high def would now be available to you in high def as well as standard.

There are some just HD channels out there, but for the most part what DTV is adding is the HD version of channels they already had (such as ESPNU) in SD. In some cases though, they are adding channels that they had not carried previously (mostly new HBO / Showtime channels).

 

[ICF]

And, where we live, we are blocked from getting satellite.

blocked by what? Something like trees / mountains or something like an HOA?

I believe the law states you can get normal size sat dish (i.e. not one of those huge 80s type of dishes) regardless of what your HOA or apartment complex may want you to believe.

 

[bicker]

I hate the way our cable is set up. We just have the basic package (no movie channels that we have to pay for) but this includes about 10-20 Spanish channels. Why are we paying to have channels we can't understand?

You're paying for a service level, not for specific channels. What you'd pay wouldn't be any less if those channels weren't included.

It's pretty-much just like the Magic Kingdom: Those roller coasters are there, even if you have a bad back and can't ride them, and you pay the same regardless.

I wish they would just let us delete them and get other basic channels instead.

One of the things that is most clear is that doing things that are essentially punative toward minorities isn't going to be allowed.

And, where we live, we are blocked from getting satellite.

You could always cut down the trees, or string a wire around to your neighbor's side of your building.

As far as I know, there are no "just HD" channels.

There are, actually, a few: HDNet, HDNet Movies, MHD and UHD are the ones I know off the top of my head, but generally-speaking that's not what people are having added to their systems, but rather, as you suggested, high definition instances of existing standard definition channels.

blocked by what? Something like trees / mountains or something like an HOA? I believe the law states you can get normal size sat dish (i.e. not one of those huge 80s type of dishes) regardless of what your HOA or apartment complex may want you to believe.

Pretty close. The law is referred to as OTARD, and prohibits any unreasonable limitations and prohibits outright bans on the 18" satellite dishes. HOAs and condos try to impose rules, but they're illegal, and therefore unenforceable.

Note, though, that they can require you to install your dish a certain way, so as to protect the masonry, siding and foundation.

 

[FireDancer]

blocked by what? Something like trees / mountains or something like an HOA?

I believe the law states you can get normal size sat dish (i.e. not one of those huge 80s type of dishes) regardless of what your HOA or apartment complex may want you to believe.

Yes, there can be restrictions on where you can place a dish I believe but no one can ban them. If someone is saying that they can ban their use they are wrong so fight it.

If it is trees you might have to get creative. For example, a friend of mind had the southern sky blocked from their house but they were able to mount the dish on their shed and then tunnel the line back into their house.

 

[Notatourist]

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.

Um, no. Had two tv's with dish, on the 200 channel plan and...one box.

 

[bicker]

That's not an option that they made available to me now. Maybe back a few years, perhaps.

 

[disneychrista]

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.

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

We have 4 TVs and only two boxes. Each box works for 2 TVs.

 

[ThisIsJason]

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.

You don't get TCM in U200? I get it in the U200 package, but I am in Michigan. I thought that channels were the same across the board for the whole country like Dish Network and DirecTV. Learn something new everyday.

 

[ICF]

That's not an option that they made available to me now. Maybe back a few years, perhaps.

per their website, they have multiple 2 room dvr's including the 625 & 722

http://www.dishnetwork.com/receivers/dvr/default.aspx

 

[bicker]

Okay I must have misunderstood the deal with Dish.... I'll have to look into it a bit closer. Two televisions per box. Got it.

 

[C.Ann]

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.

I'd be more than happy to make that trade..

It's not the SoapNet that I miss - it's the Oxygen (like to watch "Snapped" marathons) - Style (for the reality shows, "Ruby" and "One Big Happy Family") - and CMT, because I love country!!

Oh well.. Guess I'll surive..

 

[KristaTX]

You don't get TCM in U200? I get it in the U200 package, but I am in Michigan. I thought that channels were the same across the board for the whole country like Dish Network and DirecTV. Learn something new everyday.

Oh yeah! You're right. My mistake. It was the U300 we used to have when we first signed up. We didn't need all the extra movie channels, so we cut back to the U200. But we would have just gotten the U100 if it had TCM. I don't really watch any of the extra channels we get with the U200 vs.U100 except for TCM.

 

[cm8]

our cable company did that to us and did not even mention it in advance. We were told that the channel numbers were going to change, then they switched the good stuff to digital to make you rent a box for more $$ a month. It sucks, but that is what we do for TV

 

[bicker]

By law, changes like these must be announced in advance. It is something that the FCC is very quick to fining cable companies for. I keep a very close eye on the industry, and there has been only two instances I can recall where any major cable company (Charter, Cox, Comcast, Cablevision, TWC, Bright House) was cited for failing to inform customers about an upcoming digital transition, and the fines were later reversed by the US Court of Appeals because the companies actually did comply.

I do know, though, that a lot of folks thrown up legal notices that look like junk mail. Perhaps that's what happened in your case.