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peristaltorConsider this entry both a rant and a public service announcement. By now, those paying any attention whatsoever know that the broadcast television format in the United States will officially change on June 12, 2009 (Congress pushed the deadline back from later this month). When the change comes, owners of older analog-only sets will have to do something, like install a converter box. The Gov currently offers a coupon for buying these little thingies.
Following me so far? Good.
Taking advantage, no doubt, of all the potential new customers, Comcast has been blitzing the air waves with a nifty slogan, "Comcast has you covered." They are widely announcing that their cable customers will not have to invest in the digital to analog converter boxes. Comcast will continue to distribute basic stations through their cable in analog format, even after the individual broadcast stations stop analog transmissions from their antennae.
Ah, but what about the stations that aren't actually broadcast? Comcast plans to convert many, many stations currently distributed in analog format to digital, forcing over a million people in Washington State alone to install hideous and clunky tuner boxes and quite possibly render millions of DVRs and VHS recorders useless overnight.
Here's one version of the story:
Why are they doing this? With the confusion surrounding the broadcast transition, it probably seems like the perfect time to dump service to the so-called Extended Basic customers. This frees up the cable spectrum for more profitable internet, digital cable television and digital telephone, services that come at a premium. From the article:
Here's the technical gist of that Extended Basic service (something, BTW, no longer listed as available on the Comcast website): Back in the early days of cable, everyone had fairly primitive televisions with 13 channels of "regular" VHF and a few dozen UHF (very high frequency and ultra high frequency). To make more offerings available, the cable companies issued cable boxes that translated the many other goodies the cable company had to Channel 3 (or 4, sometimes). As cable became more and more prevalent, television manufacturers started making sets that could tune a hundred or more analog signals. Unless you subscribe to premium content like Digital Cable (not the same as digital broadcast!), the set-top boxes were no longer necessary.
Until now, it seems. After they make their switch, even televisions equipped for digital broadcast reception will need the new Comcast digital boxes. Furthermore, your TV remote? For those higher channels, it will be worthless.
In typical smarmy style, the PR flaks are hailing this transition as an "improvement:"
Oh, joy, additional channels put out by the same over-the-air broadcasters I currently shun and abhor. Fan-freaking-tastic. What isn't being discussed -- what is, in fact, being actively avoided, is the impact to those of us who like to record shows. I have four devices in the house dedicated to recording, two DVRs and two VHS recorders. None of these devices will be able to tune those new set-top boxes, so will be completely unable to record the channels which comprise over 75% of our household viewing. From what I've read, the Tivo might be able to change the channel; but that would render the set hooked to the Tivo a dead device if we wanted to watch something else at the time the recording is being made . . . something we do quite a lot. It's one of the big reasons we got the Tivo. Duh.
Don't get me wrong; I'm no huge fan of Tivo. I would love to see them bankrupt, their technology adopted as an open source instead of a subscription shackle tied to every single one of their boxes. Sadly, their systems work. Why? Competitors who dare mimic the look and feel of Tivo's boxes get forced to brick the boxes, screwing the consumers who actually bought those boxes. Oh, no, never say that Tivo is a force for good in this world.
But Tivo's shenanigans of darkness may have just been eclipsed by this latest Comcast embuggerment. One article, an obvious press release with no testicular reportage to offer any clarification, claimed "Comcast says 10 percent to 15 percent of its customers subscribe to this level." Oh, that maybe so, but only if you count all of Comcast's customers, folks who may have the internet or phone service but not bother with cable TV at all. What happens when you count only those Comcast subscribers who have a variant of the TV service? I'm willing to bet the Extended Basic subscribers comprise over 50% of their TV business.
Funny story, and relevant to this topic. I was genuinely curious about exactly what percentage of Comcast customers subscribe to Extended Basic, so I decided to conduct a neighborhood survey. I printed up some check-off sheets and set out to doorbell. I gave up after only two houses. Neither one knew exactly what level of service they had. Oh, they knew they had cable TV, but what kind? Did they have a set-top box? How much did they pay? No clue. One neighbor, in fact, was kind of jazzed because he and his wife seemed to get some additional channels after they returned from vacation. It turns out they should have been getting those channels all along, but Comcast screwed up, limiting them to less than half the channels for which they had been paying -- for two years!
I hope he takes them to court to get the back subscription fees reinstated.
Back to the last article I cited. What was one of the first things they advise readers to do? "Relax."
No! I will not simply relax!
This has gone too far. Essentially, Comcast is pulling service from people so it can sell other services at a premium. While I realize they have a legal right to do so, let's remember that their cables snake through public rights of way. They must answer to city and county councils, to utility commissions -- but only if people make noise.
Furthermore, Tivo might be an evil ally in this fight. I plan on getting one of those boxes and seeing if it works. If it doesn't (or if I decide it cripples the functionality of the Tivo), I plan on informing Tivo that as soon as Comcast makes the switch, I will be dropping the DVR service and placing the Tivo box in the attic -- not selling it, which would mean someone else could pay the subscription for me. If enough threaten to cancel Tivo when they opt out of going to a crappy set-top box and simply keeping Basic Cable (and saving $50 a month in the process, over $62 a month if you count the Tivo subscription), one evil empire could be pitted against another.
Spread the word and this link. Do not give up without a fight. Comcast has planned to go way too far.
Addendum: Though it should be obvious, this entry should be taken seriously only by those who actually watch television. In my house, that would be mostly The Wife.
Following me so far? Good.
Taking advantage, no doubt, of all the potential new customers, Comcast has been blitzing the air waves with a nifty slogan, "Comcast has you covered." They are widely announcing that their cable customers will not have to invest in the digital to analog converter boxes. Comcast will continue to distribute basic stations through their cable in analog format, even after the individual broadcast stations stop analog transmissions from their antennae.
Ah, but what about the stations that aren't actually broadcast? Comcast plans to convert many, many stations currently distributed in analog format to digital, forcing over a million people in Washington State alone to install hideous and clunky tuner boxes and quite possibly render millions of DVRs and VHS recorders useless overnight.
Here's one version of the story:
Separately, Comcast is now tweaking its network in a way that will require most of its customers to have a different sort of box. Technically, it's moving channels 30 through 80 from analog to digital.
Unfortunately, Comcast is making its digital switch simultaneously with the broadcast change.
"It's going to be very confusing when they do this," said Tony Perez, Seattle's director of cable communications. "We've been very worried about this because they are telling people right now for the broadcast digital conversion ... if you have Comcast you don't have to worry about it. They have not told people that sometime next year they're going to digitize their programming." (Emphasis mine.)
Why are they doing this? With the confusion surrounding the broadcast transition, it probably seems like the perfect time to dump service to the so-called Extended Basic customers. This frees up the cable spectrum for more profitable internet, digital cable television and digital telephone, services that come at a premium. From the article:
Q: Why is Comcast doing this?
A: That's the billion-dollar question. Comcast says it's switching channels higher than 29 to digital format to free up spectrum for additional high-definition channels and faster Internet service. The company also is steadily phasing out the "expanded basic" tier of service, nudging customers toward digital packages. By putting more cable boxes into homes, the company also is extending the reach of its pay-per-view service and program guide. (Emphasis, again, mine)
Here's the technical gist of that Extended Basic service (something, BTW, no longer listed as available on the Comcast website): Back in the early days of cable, everyone had fairly primitive televisions with 13 channels of "regular" VHF and a few dozen UHF (very high frequency and ultra high frequency). To make more offerings available, the cable companies issued cable boxes that translated the many other goodies the cable company had to Channel 3 (or 4, sometimes). As cable became more and more prevalent, television manufacturers started making sets that could tune a hundred or more analog signals. Unless you subscribe to premium content like Digital Cable (not the same as digital broadcast!), the set-top boxes were no longer necessary.
Until now, it seems. After they make their switch, even televisions equipped for digital broadcast reception will need the new Comcast digital boxes. Furthermore, your TV remote? For those higher channels, it will be worthless.
In typical smarmy style, the PR flaks are hailing this transition as an "improvement:"
Comcast's regional spokesman, Steve Kipp, said expanded basic customers may actually be pleased with the changes, since they'll get additional channels, access to more services and free hardware.
"What we're trying to do here really amounts to a free upgrade," he said.
Oh, joy, additional channels put out by the same over-the-air broadcasters I currently shun and abhor. Fan-freaking-tastic. What isn't being discussed -- what is, in fact, being actively avoided, is the impact to those of us who like to record shows. I have four devices in the house dedicated to recording, two DVRs and two VHS recorders. None of these devices will be able to tune those new set-top boxes, so will be completely unable to record the channels which comprise over 75% of our household viewing. From what I've read, the Tivo might be able to change the channel; but that would render the set hooked to the Tivo a dead device if we wanted to watch something else at the time the recording is being made . . . something we do quite a lot. It's one of the big reasons we got the Tivo. Duh.
Don't get me wrong; I'm no huge fan of Tivo. I would love to see them bankrupt, their technology adopted as an open source instead of a subscription shackle tied to every single one of their boxes. Sadly, their systems work. Why? Competitors who dare mimic the look and feel of Tivo's boxes get forced to brick the boxes, screwing the consumers who actually bought those boxes. Oh, no, never say that Tivo is a force for good in this world.
But Tivo's shenanigans of darkness may have just been eclipsed by this latest Comcast embuggerment. One article, an obvious press release with no testicular reportage to offer any clarification, claimed "Comcast says 10 percent to 15 percent of its customers subscribe to this level." Oh, that maybe so, but only if you count all of Comcast's customers, folks who may have the internet or phone service but not bother with cable TV at all. What happens when you count only those Comcast subscribers who have a variant of the TV service? I'm willing to bet the Extended Basic subscribers comprise over 50% of their TV business.
Funny story, and relevant to this topic. I was genuinely curious about exactly what percentage of Comcast customers subscribe to Extended Basic, so I decided to conduct a neighborhood survey. I printed up some check-off sheets and set out to doorbell. I gave up after only two houses. Neither one knew exactly what level of service they had. Oh, they knew they had cable TV, but what kind? Did they have a set-top box? How much did they pay? No clue. One neighbor, in fact, was kind of jazzed because he and his wife seemed to get some additional channels after they returned from vacation. It turns out they should have been getting those channels all along, but Comcast screwed up, limiting them to less than half the channels for which they had been paying -- for two years!
I hope he takes them to court to get the back subscription fees reinstated.
Back to the last article I cited. What was one of the first things they advise readers to do? "Relax."
No! I will not simply relax!
This has gone too far. Essentially, Comcast is pulling service from people so it can sell other services at a premium. While I realize they have a legal right to do so, let's remember that their cables snake through public rights of way. They must answer to city and county councils, to utility commissions -- but only if people make noise.
Furthermore, Tivo might be an evil ally in this fight. I plan on getting one of those boxes and seeing if it works. If it doesn't (or if I decide it cripples the functionality of the Tivo), I plan on informing Tivo that as soon as Comcast makes the switch, I will be dropping the DVR service and placing the Tivo box in the attic -- not selling it, which would mean someone else could pay the subscription for me. If enough threaten to cancel Tivo when they opt out of going to a crappy set-top box and simply keeping Basic Cable (and saving $50 a month in the process, over $62 a month if you count the Tivo subscription), one evil empire could be pitted against another.
Spread the word and this link. Do not give up without a fight. Comcast has planned to go way too far.
Addendum: Though it should be obvious, this entry should be taken seriously only by those who actually watch television. In my house, that would be mostly The Wife.