Must-have TV/cable stations

[djsinco]

I have been without cable & TV for nearly 8 years now.  Only thing I pay for is Netflix-on-Demand, and am looking into HuluPlus.

With my 2 "rabbit ears" TVs, the network I watch most of is...

MeTV

Nothing can beat reruns of classic TV shows from the 50s-70s.  It's amazing how much better it is watching shows that don't try to put the words "penis" or "ass" or "fart" into every episode at least once...Although I still watch those modern shows from time to time.

Also a fan of "MeTV," also lots of free stuff for me to watch on Amazon Prime Video, tons of great documentaries, etc. - also, not sure how available it is in other markets, but another x.2 channel here in Denver is "This," tons of great older movies, and a few from this side of the year 2000 as well!

[Roadgeek Adam]

USA
TNT
News 12 New Jersey
FOX News
SPEED (to be Fox Sports 1)
NBC Sports Network
Boomerang
Antenna TV (which my family has since January 1 and is drooling over)
YES (for Yanks games and the Francesa on YES show)
SNY (for Mets games)
MLB Network
BBC America (now only if they had ITV America...ITV has the better shows.)
TruTV
Spike
WGN (Cubs & White Sox games + the only station I know of that still airs In The Heat of the Night)

So, that's the basic list. I'm a  bit picky.

[kphoger]

I work in the cable industry, and I have no video cable, the slowest speed internet offered, and no telephone service.  So maybe I'm not the right guy to ask......

Frankly, I'm just wondering how long it will be before someone figures out how to make money on "build your own package" cable.  Everyone knows the cable companies make their money off the premium channels.  But wouldn't people be willing to pay just a slightly lower price for only 20% of the channels–considering they never watch the other 80% anyway?  With CableCARD technology or something like that, surely there'd be a way for the cable companies to save bandwidth by doing so, which could possibly make up some of the lost revenue.  I don't know how all that works, though (I'm just a dispatcher), but I often wonder about it.

[djsinco]

I work in the cable industry, and I have no video cable, the slowest speed internet offered, and no telephone service.  So maybe I'm not the right guy to ask......

Frankly, I'm just wondering how long it will be before someone figures out how to make money on "build your own package" cable.  Everyone knows the cable companies make their money off the premium channels.  But wouldn't people be willing to pay just a slightly lower price for only 20% of the channels–considering they never watch the other 80% anyway?  With CableCARD technology or something like that, surely there'd be a way for the cable companies to save bandwidth by doing so, which could possibly make up some of the lost revenue.  I don't know how all that works, though (I'm just a dispatcher), but I often wonder about it.

Denver is the home of Dish Network as well as a couple of large call centers for DirecTV. Both offer all employees free, "ultimate package" service and equipment while employees. Comcast here does the same for at least some of their employees, I know an installer who has the "ultimate package" for free as well. I believe Wichita has Cox, why are they so "frugal?" It certainly costs them almost nothing once the install is done.

For the record, I HATE Comcast. They have a virtual monopoly, and "lobby" Congress well enough to reap billions in profit each year, as well as somehow being cleared by Federal Anti-Trust court to purchase NBC with very little restriction. Wait until that 5 year wait is over, then watch them gouge the competition!

Finally, the eventual "remedy" to these virtual monopolies will be put in place by Google. Did you ever wonder why they are beginning to wire some areas with gigabit speed internet? Wait until they have a substantial customer base with reasonably priced full fiber-optic internet. The next step is a la carte TV as it should have been all these past few decades. The biggest obstacle is the cable and satellite companies armies of lawyers, along with the politicians in their pockets, who continue to throw roadblocks in the way of competition and the institution of fair pricing in the pay TV arena. If capitalism prevails, (who knows if or when it will ever happen,) we will not have to pay the highest broadband prices in the world.

[kphoger]

Denver is the home of Dish Network as well as a couple of large call centers for DirecTV. Both offer all employees free, "ultimate package" service and equipment while employees. Comcast here does the same for at least some of their employees, I know an installer who has the "ultimate package" for free as well. I believe Wichita has Cox, why are they so "frugal?" It certainly costs them almost nothing once the install is done.

I'm not an employee of Cox, but rather a contracting company that does installations, disconnects, and service calls for Cox.  I'm able to get free installations–but only by ensuring that the work order gets routed to one of our own techs, after which one of my company's supervisors has Cox credit the install charge back to my account.  If I were an actual Cox employee, then I would indeed be eligible for certain services for free and others for steep discounts.  I also have the fringe benefit of being able to call one of our techs or have one come to my house to troubleshoot issues for free; in fact, even on days off, I can look at their routes and tell who is closest to me, and decide whether to wait or not depending on how knowledgeable I know him to be.

The biggest obstacle is the cable and satellite companies armies of lawyers, along with the politicians in their pockets, who continue to throw roadblocks in the way of competition and the institution of fair pricing in the pay TV arena. If capitalism prevails, (who knows if or when it will ever happen,) we will not have to pay the highest broadband prices in the world.

I heard a few years ago that a court somewhere upheld that it's OK to upload your DVRer shows to a server somewhere, then download them to your premise at your leisure, thereby eliminating the need to rent or purchase an actual converter box for your home.  I don't know the details of it, or if any companies out there are actually doing this.

[cpzilliacus]

For the record, I HATE Comcast. They have a virtual monopoly, and "lobby" Congress well enough to reap billions in profit each year, as well as somehow being cleared by Federal Anti-Trust court to purchase NBC with very little restriction. Wait until that 5 year wait is over, then watch them gouge the competition!

My  hatred for Comcast has almost no bounds.

First they were unable to get my cable working for months on end in the late 1990's, though they kept very efficiently billing me for service I could not use.

So after three or four months of that, I told them I did not want the service any  more, told them to come get the cable box (which they did), and just did without cable TV for four or five years.  Came to find out a year or two later that Comcast reported a $200 charge-off to the credit bureaus for the box which they picked up.  I paid them the $200, but told them  that Hades will freeze over before I will purchase their cable service - and I have gone out of my way to encourage friends, family and neighbors to cancel their Comcast service, and not give them any money for their lousy service.

Verizon FIOS became available in my community (first it was Internet only, because Verizon did not want to give its network capacity away to the county for free like Comcast did, so the county  refused to grant Verizon a cable TV franchise), but FIOS scorches Comcast in every way in terms of Internet speed and bulletproof reliability (Comcast, consistent with my opinion of them, runs dishonest ads in the Baltimore and Washington media markets claiming otherwise).

Verizon took the county to court, and the matter was eventually settled, so now I have their "cable" service, which is also rock-solid reliable.

[djsinco]

I find Comcast to be in a very select group of companies I would term "evil." One of my favorite tidbits regarding Comcast (who is trying to improve their reputation by confusing consumers with the new name "Xfinity,") is the following.

I get a call from a Comcast rep -- 

(Note: I am unfortunately still a Comcast Internet Subscriber, as there are no viable options here [read: monopoly!].)

CSR - "Would you like to "GO GREEN," and change over to paperless billing?

Me - I will allow paperless billing from Comcast as soon as you stop flooding my mailbox with requests for me to become a Comcast internet customer. I get 2-3 such letters a week. If you will stop this flood of stupid, unnecessary mail, I will consider paperless billing. By the way, I have paperless billing with every other monthly bill I get, except for you guys.

CSR - Well, I apologize, but my department has nothing to do with the mailing of circulars.

Me - We are done here, AMF!

[agentsteel53]

AMF!

asshole mother fucker?

or something more elaborate?

[djsinco]

Adios, MF!