Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable. Internet Monopoly?

[Will E Worm]

:hatsoff:

 

[Rey C.]

Some companies in Canada already offer "cable ala carte" for about $4/channel. I would imagine this will be the norm very soon across North America. Netflix and other on demand programming are going to force cable companies to adapt. It's only a matter of time before each viewers television experience is uniquely tailored to their tastes. I could see this being beneficial to advertising companies as well.

Please elaborate. Do you have to take a certain base level service to be able to pick & choose? What does the minimum/lowest tier cost before you start adding desired channels? And lastly, once you take the base level (if there is one) can you add any channel that you want or just certain, predetermined channels?

That's what I hate about DirecTV and Dish (and I doubt most of the cable operators are any different). To get certain channels that you may want, you have to take a bunch of crap channels that you'd never watch in a million years. And those forced packages is where you get ripped off.

I love this idea! Do you remember which companies offer this and are any of them operators here???

I don't know about it being the norm though. Any and every attempt or discussion about going that route in the U.S. gets the cable cartel losing their minds like a Playboy magazine at a N.O.W. convention. They're the reason that Apple and others can't get content for AppleTV and other services. The cable mafia says to the content providers, "I wouldn't do that if I was you. If you sell them content a la carte, we'll cut the fees that we pay to you." So they back down!

Maybe when Obama and Holder get done campaigning for gay rights in Russia and gay marriage in Utah, they might find just two or three seconds to look into the unfair business practices instituted by the cable and satellite operators here in the United States!

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Maybe when Obama and Holder get done campaigning for gay rights in Russia and gay marriage in Utah, they might find just two or three seconds to look into the unfair business practices instituted by the cable and satellite operators here in the United States!

So you're saying that Obama and Holder should stop playing politics in foreign countries like Russia and Utah?



(sorry, that just reads funny and I had a chuckle there)

 

[Rey C.]

Considering the things that seem to (completely) occupy their time lately, what I'm really suggesting is that they both just come out of the closet and get it over with already.

Then maybe they'd feel free to spend just a little bit of time on things that concern the other 90%+ of the population... like middle class job creation, deficit reduction, over-reaching corporations, privacy and fraud on the internet, etc. But most of all (in my best southern accent), my sat-llite bill is too damn high and I ain't gonna take it no more!

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Considering the things that seem to (completely) occupy their time lately, what I'm really suggesting is that they both just come out of the closet and get it over with already.

Then maybe they'd feel free to spend just a little bit of time on things that concern the other 90%+ of the population... like middle class job creation, deficit reduction, over-reaching corporations, privacy and fraud on the internet, etc. But most of all (in my best southern accent), my sat-llite bill is too damn high and I ain't gonna take it no more!

So, if I understand what you're saying correctly... the United States made the wrong black man President...

This is probably the fault of white America. I'm sure they thought they were voting for McMillan but couldn't tell the two apart...

 

[BCT]

This should not be allowed to happen.

 

[bobjustbob]

Content providers are paid pennies per subscriber. A la carte charges dollars per channel. This is where the cable companies start doing their shell game. Bundle and package shit in a way so if you want only what you want, you have to buy everything.

An example, have you ever shopped for plastic cutlery for a picnic or BBQ? 15 forks, 15 knives, and 15 spoons to the pack. Are your guests going to use 15 knives or spoons? Hell no. Just the same as you paying for my racing channel to get your fishing. Don't look for any relief from the phone companies with their Internet and TV packages either. They are playing the same game. We can give you this but we can't give you that unless you pay more.

I'm not against companies making money for services provided but if we are going to complain about these rates then we have to knuckle down and say no. For every 4 hours of television we watch per day, 1 hour has been sold in commercial time. Do we really need Entertainment Tonight? That show is one huge fucking commercial for the entertainment industry. Who come onto a talk show without having something to sell? Cut the cord and make them fight for our dollars.

 

[juryduty]

Is there an alternative to Cable in America? If you don't want to give into Comcast how else can you get internet?

 

[Rey C.]

Is there an alternative to Cable in America? If you don't want to give into Comcast how else can you get internet?

There are other companies that provide internet services. Phone companies (AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, etc.) are pretty prevalent. I had satellite internet for awhile. But that's a worse deal than the worst cable or phone company. They throttle your Mbps speeds based on daily usage (except for between 2-6AM I think it was) and it has a lot of lag too. And in some cities, there are subscription based wireless services - none close to me though. But with the addition of Time Warner, I believe Comcast captures the cat bird seat in the ISP market too - and that's the REAL reason why they want Time Warner. Cable TV is dying a slow death. But to be a cord cutter, whether you go to Netflix or Amazon Prime or something that Apple or Google might want to come out with, you still have to have a broadband internet connection. You can pay Peter or you can pay his other identity, Paul. Either way, you're going to pay the same guy more money.

 

[STDiva]

Rey, the companies that offer those services are Telus in western canada and another that is strictly Quebec. Videotron or something like that. I don't think Telus is true pick and pay but videotron is. You pay for a base cable package that is mostly local news and prices start are between $20-$30. I think videotron offers you 5 channels of your choice for $9 or $4/per. Neither of these options are available to me in southern ontario so I can't elaborate as much as you'd probably like. I do know that Canadian government is stepping in and forcing cable companies to stop their bundle bs. Thank goodness for that.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

This is a bad idea.

:hatsoff:

This is one of the few times I actually agree with the cupcake.

 

[D-rock]

This would be more upsetting if it wasn't already for nearly every major internet provider in the country already having a de facto monopoly where they operate as it is why our government does almost nothing about it. As it is this just means that Comcast will have a monopoly in a greater area than it has a monopoly now taking over for somebody else that used to run that monopoly there.

 

[Rey C.]

Rey, the companies that offer those services are Telus in western canada and another that is strictly Quebec. Videotron or something like that. I don't think Telus is true pick and pay but videotron is. You pay for a base cable package that is mostly local news and prices start are between $20-$30. I think videotron offers you 5 channels of your choice for $9 or $4/per. Neither of these options are available to me in southern ontario so I can't elaborate as much as you'd probably like. I do know that Canadian government is stepping in and forcing cable companies to stop their bundle bs. Thank goodness for that.

See, that would work for me. Even if the base package sucked, at most I would only want 3-4 more channels.

Did your PM have dinner with Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast? No? Well, our President did. You get a la carte and we don't. See what he did there?