Recent Headlines
October 2, 2009
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
October 2, 2009
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
September 27, 2009
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
September 23, 2009
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
September 23, 2009
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
September 22, 2009
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
September 21, 2009
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
September 11, 2009
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
September 7, 2009
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
September 1, 2009
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
August 31, 2009
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
August 27, 2009
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]
Subscribe
Most of us already know we’re being screwed by isps for broadband, some are trying to screw back like my 12tb last month. But why is any fee added always horrible, besides we’re all cheap, Locals demanding kickback from providers for free ota content is where these cost from, where is the blame on local stations? Should all providers eat the cost no matter the market share or the requested amount? I’d love a breakdown showing the cost per local next to that same fee along with overhead and maintenance costs such as the sat feed of the local station,… Read more »
Breaking out broadcast TV fees is simply a political exercise to demand reform of retransmission consent rules and a change in the law to remove leverage from broadcasters. ESPN and several other sports networks cost more than most retransmission consent fees combined among all four major broadcast networks, yet they are not broken out. Equipment fees are, admit company execs, often just a hidden rate increase. That is what Glenn Britt repeatedly told shareholders about Time Warner Cable’s ever-rising cable modem fee. In virtually every case of set top boxes, customers cannot purchase their own equipment from a third party… Read more »
Phillip says: In virtually every case of set top boxes, customers cannot purchase their own equipment from a third party and the cost of the equipment keeps rising,”
Are you forgetting TiVo?
Ever try to watch a switched digital video or encrypted channel with TiVo?
Switched Digital Video: Tuning Adapter supplied by TWC
Encrypted: CableCard
Yes, they both work.
It’s mot that I am a TiVo fan, but it is one approach that some use to avoid TWCs ever increasing STB prices.
That tuning adapter will cost you money starting in 2015. You cannot purchase the device outright. Comcast charges for its tuning adapters as well. Both cable companies would love to see the end of CableCARD technology if they could get away with it.
TiVo’s monthly service fee is even more than the cost of renting most boxes from TWC.
Canadians can purchase their own DVRs and set top box equipment, or rent from the cable company. It’s their choice. Few cable companies here offer that option.
“TiVo’s monthly service fee is even more than the cost of renting most boxes from TWC.”
Ahh, that is the point that I expected you to come back with in the first place! (Though some would point out that one could purchase a “lifetime” subscription).
Another (anti-TiVo) point is that, as far as I know, you can’t access On Demand via the TiVo/CableCARDTuning Adapter “solution”.
Peace