Welcome to viewers of G4, the basic cable channel for video game and technology enthusiasts.  You found us courtesy of Attack of the Show’s The Feed.

StoptheCap! is in the fight against broadband usage caps, no matter where they are or what company tries to slap them on their customers.  Read up. Ask questions. Get involved. Join the fight!

StoptheCap! reader Maribel wrote to inform us she got her point across about Time Warner’s unpopular usage cap “experiment” on Elmira’s WETM-TV news.  The NBC affiliate in the southern tier of New York largely broadcasts to areas outside of the Rochester Road Runner system, but as you’ll see, some viewers in the northern part of their viewing area are affected, and they are angry and upset with Time Warner.

They should be.  What starts in Rochester, Greensboro, Austin, San Antonio, and Beaumont will be coming to your Time Warner city soon enough.  The time to stop the cap parade is right here, right now.

Starting today, StoptheCap! will rate the integrity and quality of the video news reports you see on this site. We feel it’s important to inform you when we think the reporter has gone beyond simply reciting a press release and accepting Time Warner’s assertions at face value. A “thumbs up” indicates a news report that provided fairness and balance, exposing viewers to multiple sides of an issue and/or a reporter willing to challenge the assertions made by those on camera. A “thumbs down” represents a report largely consisting of a rehash of company press releases, or a reporter who simply plants a microphone in front of a company spokesperson and allows them to ramble on, without any apparent hard questions or contrary viewpoints. You’ll quickly be able to identify which is which on your own soon enough.

The traditional media’s coverage of Time Warner’s announcement it would impose caps on their broadband customers has been headline news in some cities, barely mentioned in passing in others.

By far the most intense coverage was found in Rochester, New York where it has led newscasts for several days and garnered “above the fold” coverage in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Friday.  Rochester’s daily newspaper also planned special weekend coverage to survey customer feelings about the end of unlimited Internet for the Flower City.

WROC-TV made Time Warner’s plan their lead story earlier this week, talking with a typical younger user of the web who now devotes at least an hour or two daily on the Internet, and how the rationing plan will impact her use of Road Runner.

WHAM-TV was back late in the week to gauge how much customer outrage local residents were feeling towards Time Warner.  It was quite a lot.  The number one rated newscast in Rochester led with the story on their 5:00pm newscast:

And WROC-TV was back on the story as well later in the week, this time pondering exactly how customers will be able to gauge how much they are already using the Internet:

But in other areas, the story has generated considerably less media scrutiny.

In Austin, Texas, only Time-Warner-owned cable channel News 8 Austin devoted significant television coverage to the story, weighted heavily to the company’s position on bandwidth usage and a single customer protesting the event in an unflattering soundbite.

The Austin American-Statesman covered the story in greater depth, also from a political angle because of a written protest from a mayoral candidate released on his website.

In San Antonio, KSAT-TV provided a written account of the metered bandwidth plan, but no video to share.  The station also provided a poll to ask if residents are planning to switch providers over the change.  As of this writing, the poll attracted about 1,000 respondants with 50% planning to cancel service.  WOAI-TV delivered a straightforward report on the plan in their April 2nd newscast, along with their own poll, asking customers if they favored the plan.  A whopping 92.8% said they didn’t.  The comments attached to the report from viewers were overwhelmingly hostile.

KABB-TV, the local Fox affiliate, mentioned the cap briefly on its April 1st newscast with few details.  The San Antonio Express-News gave the story detailed coverage, and reader comments numbered over 130, virtually all extremely upset with the cable company.  With a story headlined Big Internet Usage Could Cost You Big Bucks, it was a story noticed by local readers.

KENS-TV also gave the issue short shrift, but it did not escape the attention of viewers who threw their own two cents into the story’s comments section.

Greensboro, part of North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad, had some excellent coverage on the issue with more than a recitation of the Time Warner press machine.  WGHP-TV, the area’s Fox affiliate, raised skeptical questions about just how consumers will be able to easily track their usage by remembering to visit the Road Runner “gas gauge.”  They were also the only station to point out that even if customers may not be the “heavy users” Time Warner labels them today, it’s only a matter of time before even moderate users of the Internet break through the caps.

WXII-TV, the NBC affiliate, had some of the best coverage of all, making it a top story and going into the issue in great detail from all angles.

Taking a moment to return to the bandwidth battles of days gone by, here’s another commercial from Pacific Bell about how cable is rationing their bandwidth.   Today, it’s a whole new battle with a fictional war based on a whole different kind of fictional intelligence: “a bandwidth crisis” that will lead to America running completely out of Internet bandwidth if we don’t cap everyone today.   No independent verification.   No independent evidence.   Just a lobbying firm in Washington, a bunch of equipment manufacturers who stand to make a pile of cash selling the equipment to keep everyone on a bandwidth diet, and happy shareholders who don’t have to worry about telecommunications companies making practical investments to keep their networks on track to grow with the rest of the Internet.   It’s quicker and easier to call you a bandwidth hog – log off now!

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The cable industry used to face the wrath of DSL companies who ran very effective advertising telling people that cable modem users were all sharing the same bandwidth and slowing down the network for everyone.   They’ve used enough Internet – log off now!   The cable industry’s proposal to start capping usage opened a unique opportunity for DSL providers to finally get some competitive advantage.   Hampered by an aging network, slower speeds, and less ability to rapidly increase speeds, DSL has tried to compete on price.   Imagine if the telephone companies saw cable caps and tailored ads like this to their cable competitors, telling families they’ve used too much Internet and they’d better log off or else.

But telephone companies always take the opportunity to miss a great opportunity and, in the case of Frontier, have elected to one-up them with a cap so low that dial-up users could consume more bandwidth.

So let’s take a look back to the good old days, when the Internet was our friend, and DSL was a noble competitor in the broadband marketplace.