Even Jessica Fletcher can't solve the case of The Digitally Murdered VCR

Time Warner Cable customers in Maine are learning the cable operator’s move to digital cable is making VCR programming downright murder.

Although many of us have retired the videocassette recorder to closets, attics, or basements, millions of them are still being used on a daily basis to time-shift shows and to record one channel while watching another.  But in Maine, the first area to experience Time Warner’s shift to an all-digital cable experience, viewers like Nancy Blethen from Hallowell are learning those days are coming to an end.

Blethen shared her plight with the Kennebec Journal:

I read with interest the story about the converter box for Time Warner subscribers. Although, the idea of more channels is appealing, they really aren’t any that I care to watch.

Another point the story omitted is that if you have a VCR and connect the converter from your cable through the VCR to the TV set, you will only be able to record the channel you are watching. No more recording when you are not home or if you want to watch another channel while recording another program.

I spent at least 20 minutes on the phone with a tech person, and they checked with their supervisor and concluded that this is something subscribers will have to live with, at least for the present. You can avoid this by using one of their DVR recorders, but at an additional monthly fee. Time Warner is the only choice I have where I live so I have to forget recording on the VCR.

Although Time Warner Cable will happily supply a digital solution to this analog quagmire, it doesn’t come for free.  DVR service costs $13 a month or more each month.  While it solves the problem of the flashing 12:00-clock for confounded consumers, it also increases their cable bill by well over $100 a year, more than the cost of the VCR (and tapes) that used to let them record shows for free.

As we originally reported a few weeks ago, Time Warner Cable has launched a planned fall promotion offering new Wideband and SignatureHome customers a $300 rebate on a Slingbox PRO-HD purchased at a participating local Best Buy store or through the retailer’s website until November 30, 2011.

The high-end Slingbox allows customers to stream live cable programming and other video across their home broadband connection to computers, smartphones, or tablets (the latter two require a separate purchase of a $30 iPhone/iPad or Android app).

The offer is good only for Time Warner Cable customers serviced by the company’s New York City division who install new Wideband (50/5Mbps) standalone broadband service for $99 a month or who sign up for the company’s SignatureHome tier ($199/month), which includes Wideband service.  Existing Wideband or SignatureHome customers are not eligible, but current Time Warner customers who upgrade to either service are.

Time Warner Cable has configured the rebate offer to make sure customers pay on time and stay put for at least six months after signing up.  The rebate will appear as a $50 service credit for six months after being successfully processed.  If you pay your bill late or cancel service within six months, subsequent rebate service credits will be cancelled.

If you take advantage of this promotion, we strongly suggest you sign up for automatic payments to avoid a missed payment, which could cost you up to $300 — the value of the rebate — plus any associated late fees.  Remember, you also have to receive service from Time Warner’s NYC operation and the Slingbox must be purchased from Best Buy to qualify for the rebate.

Time Warner’s rebate website accepts online rebate submissions, so you can scan and keep your original receipts.  Since the cable operator will accept rebate submissions until February 15, 2012, there is plenty of time to refile if your original rebate request is lost.

[flv width=”640″ height=”331″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/SignatureHome Ad 9-2011.flv[/flv]

Time Warner Cable unveiled new advertising for its super-premium SignatureHome service last month.  The “concierge” service will bring your monthly cable bill to $199.  The concept of the $200 cable bill was unheard-0f just ten years ago.  (1 minute)

TWCable TV: Time Warner Cable's free iPad TV Everywhere app

Time Warner Cable has announced another upgrade to their free iPad TV Everywhere viewing app: TWCable TV.  In addition to ongoing bug fixes, Time Warner Cable’s Jeff Simmermon reports several new features are now included:

1) Basic search function.

With this update, you can search for programs by title or episode name within the iPad app. You do this by using the search bar located on the top right of the screen. To activate the keyboard, you’ll need to tap the search bar. Once the search results display, you’ll also have the ability to filter your results based on matching genres like News, Cooking, Travel, Sports, etc. We are working on advanced search (keyword, cast, crew) which should roll out sometime around the end of Q4/ beginning of Q1.

 2) You can now view closed captioned content.

To do this, look within the Settings menu of the TWCable TV iPad app and turn the closed captioning switch on. Some programs do not have closed captioning available. Those programs will not display captioning even when the closed captioning is turned on. Look for the closed captioning icon within the program description to determine if captioning is available on any given program.

3) You can now block specific live TV channels from viewing on the app.

Once a channel is blocked it will no longer be displayed in the live TV mini-guide. Please note that you will need to visit MyServices to activate parental controls, and you must exit and re-enter the app for the changes to take effect.

To activate/manage Parental Controls for the app, follow these steps:

• Visit myservices.timewarnercable.com and log into your MyServices account
• Click on either the MyAccount or MyTV tab within MyServices, scroll to the “TWCable TV for Devices” module
• Click on the “Edit blocked channels” link
• On the Edit TWCable TV Channel Blocking for Devices page, scroll down to the channel(s) you wish to block
• Click on the lock icon (it will turn red)
• To complete the parental control activation process, restart the TWCable TV iPad app by pressing the home button or signing out

These settings apply to the TWCable TV iPad app only. To manage parental control settings for your television, you still have to modify the settings on your video set top box using your remote control.

Miscellaneous bug fixes:
I’ve seen a lot of complaints about audio issues in the iPad app – many are saying that there’s no sound. This update should fix that.

Some users were not seeing HD channels in the lineup like they should have – that should also be fixed.

We also have made some minor design tweaks.

HBO GO: Finally available for Time Warner Cable premium customers?

The biggest problem we’ve experienced with the app at Stop the Cap! HQ is the highly-irritating paused/re-buffering playback, which has gotten progressively better over time.  Now, most paused playback occurs only within the first minute after changing channels, and usually does not repeat.  We maintain a 30/5Mbps Internet connection, so there is plenty of broadband speed available, but we suspect as more customers found the application, the cable company’s server capacity could not keep up.

The application’s annoying limitations also remain:

1. You must be a Time Warner Cable television subscriber to watch, with Time Warner Cable Internet service. (We haven’t tried to see if Earthlink from Time Warner works with TWCable TV).
2. Playback is limited to the range of your home broadband network’s Wi-Fi connection.  You cannot watch on other networks, and we’ve been unsuccessful trying to watch from another Time Warner Cable customer’s home.
3. Channel lineups vary market to market.  If your local Time Warner system does not carry a specific network, don’t expect to see it on TWCable TV, even if others elsewhere can watch.
4. No local channels are included.

In a related development, Bloomberg reports Time Warner Cable is close to a deal with HBO and sister network Cinemax to finally allow Time Warner Cable customers access to HBO GO and Cinemax GO, assuming you have a subscription to one or both premium channels.

The app allows access to past and current programs on smartphones, iPads and personal computers for no additional monthly charge.

Wall Street is pushing back against Justice Department efforts to unwind a merger proposal between AT&T and T-Mobile that will leave America with three national carriers.  Some investment firms even believe three carriers are still “too many” and want mergers and acquisitions to accelerate to allow two dominant national carriers to emerge.

“It’s pretty clear what the end game is in wireless,” said Julie Richardson, managing director at Providence Equity Partners Inc. “LTE, 4G — you have to have those services to compete. One of the most interesting things to watch in telecom will be these players coming together.”

Richardson shares the view among many on Wall Street that carriers forced to build costly 4G services like LTE need less competition and more cash-on-hand to pay for upgrades and to obtain needed spectrum.

Only AT&T and Verizon Communications have the resources to support a national 4G Long Term Evolution network, Richardson said. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. wireless operator, is struggling to compete against larger rivals and has lost money for 15 consecutive quarters, Bloomberg News reports.

Among smaller players, Richardson believes the future is clear: mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships.  Sprint is moving increasingly closer to the nation’s cable companies, which have sought a cost-efficient way to deliver the ultimate “quad-play” service package that includes wireless, landline, cable-TV, and Internet service, all from the cable company.  But talk of constructing competing cell networks has gone largely nowhere, and cable companies that do offer some type of wireless service typically resell an existing service under their own brand.  Road Runner Mobile, from Time Warner Cable, for example, is really Clearwire under a different name.  Same for Comcast’s wireless Internet service.  Cox is pitching “unbelievably fair” wireless phone service that actually comes from Sprint.

But cable operators currently don’t seem to be interested in outright acquisitions of cell companies like Sprint, preferring to partner with them instead.

Clearwire, which needs financing and better wireless spectrum, may eventually find a friend in Dish Networks, the satellite TV company.  Dish controls wireless frequency spectrum it currently does not use, and has expressed an interest in expanding beyond a traditional satellite television provider.  An acquisition of Sprint or Clearwire could help them accomplish that.

Time Warner Cable plans to expand its budget-priced TV Essentials package market-tested in New York City and northeastern Ohio across the east coast over the next several weeks in an effort to reduce video package cord-cutting.

Rob Marcus, president and chief operating officer at Time Warner Cable made the announcement Wednesday at a Goldman Sachs-sponsored investor conference.

The package delivers a largely sports-free experience, deleting expensive ESPN and other sports-specific networks from the lineup.  News channels are limited to networks from CNN, and while HGTV is included, Food Network is not (although you can watch the Cooking Channel to get by).

With Time Warner Cable customers now paying an average of $73.50 a month for television service, a package priced between $30-40 may help keep income-challenged consumers from canceling service.  But it is unlikely to reduce cord-cutting among those switching to online viewing.  Time Warner Cable does not heavily promote the package, instead pitching it on a targeted basis, especially to those who call to disconnect service.

Every little bit helps, says Marcus.

“We’ve been challenging ourselves to design an offering that might be more attractive and affordable to those customers who might not be able to handle the full packages,” Marcus said. “The numbers are still pretty small, but the results are sufficiently encouraging that we’re going to roll that out more broadly.”

In northeast Ohio, the TV Essentials package includes all local broadcast channels, public, educational, and government channels, and these cable networks: