Sucker: How Cable Companies Make You Pay For Channels You'll Never Watch

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/story/153770/sucker%3A_how_cable_companies_make_you_pay_for_channels_you%27ll_never_watch/

If you have cable or satellite TV you are captive behind a virtual iron curtain. That's right. You're a prisoner in an electronic gulag. You can leave, but only if you move to another electronic gulag. There is no escape. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

With all the fussing and moaning from Tea Party types about the American government going all socialist on us, it's amazing how the same people can go home, turn on their cable TV box and not notice the cable-commie shackles snapping closed around them.

I have Comcast. Poor me. But the other cable and satellite providers are cut of the same commie cloth. While they tout their companies on Wall Street as models of capitalist profitability, they are, in fact, as authoritarian and anti-freedom as any latter day Stalinist.

I turn on my TV and there they are... five hundred channels of this and that. I am supposed to be bowled over by this entertainment Horn of Plenty - for which I am charged over $1500 a year. But start clicking through them and you see what a gulag it really is:

[hlthe2b]

1. I don't routinely watch sports... maybe during the olympics or occasionally the Superbowl...

Yet, ESPN has a stranglehold on Cable systems--and even XM-Sirius radio. If I don't want to watch the games, why the hell would I want to HEAR them. Why should I be subsidizing them?

Rates for both cable tv and satellite radio are being directly impacted by this need to feed the ESPN monster. It pisses me off that I can't opt out and reap the savings.

[xmas74]

42. I do watch the sports channels

(not constantly, maybe once or twice a week, and sometimes I turn them on just to get an update while cleaning). What I don't watch are the million and one shopping channels and the religious channels.

I'm a Christian and I don't think I need twelve channels of stupid stuff featuring Kirk Cameron. Give me the Hallmark Channel-it's close enough and I don't have to see KC on it.

[left is right]

2. I don’t have a problem with subsidizing the foreign language groups

I will never watch a Spanish, Vietnamese, or Chinese entertainment or news channel but I figure that everyone needs news and entertainment in their native tongue. The only way that is possible is to make everyone pay. But I see know reason to have to pay for any of the EXPN, Shopping, or Fox News channels. I resent paying for them

[oldhippydude]

4. then too

we end up subsidizing the faith indusrtry... people are shocked when i tell them i look upon christian channels, the same way the look upon pornography.. i wouldent want children watching such hate filled garbage

[LearnedHand]

5. Roku, baby

Or any other form of streaming video. The watching/scheduling experience is quite different, but you cut the cable/satellite umbilical and truly pay only for what you want to pay for (such as rental films, e.g.) I dropped satellite several months ago and absolutely revel in the freedom. The ONLY thing I haven't been able to see yet is this season's Dexter. Still worth it.

[customerserviceguy]

13. I have two Roku boxes

and with only the very lowest speed DSL (that's all Verizon can bring me), all I can do is watch some news clips of MSNBC or CNN shows, which interrupt for about a minute every three minutes. You absolutely need true high speed Internet to enjoy Roku for anything like a movie or TV show.

Maybe when we have high speed wireless Internet (ten years ago, when I was in networking school, they were touting "mesh networks&quot it will be viable for people who don't want to spend megabucks for fiber or cable, but for now, it's very limited.

I get by with an extremely basic Cablevision package, channels 2 through 21, with CNBC on channel 24 as some sort of unitended bonus. I also put in some good antennas with signal boosters to get high def on a few channels, and a few more freebie choices. One is a 'hillbilly' antenna made out of a board, coathangers, and standard fasteners, cost me a buck for the balun at a dollar store to convert it to a cable signal.

The OP is right, you want TV entertainment, you're going to pay for it, even if you're relatively geeky, you really can't get too far around that.

[Hepburn]

17. I just got Roku and it is fabulous!

I am getting rid of cable asap!

[oldhippydude]

6. another point

Arab spring last year..i now have link to Al Jazzera english on my desktop...why with all those channels can i not get Al Jazzera?

[BiggJawn]

7. 499 channels of Absolute CRAP...

... and the Weather Channel...

Current TV is an extra-charge "Premium Channel" here. But Eternal Word and Trinity aren't.

[frazzled]

8. It really is a vast wasteland

There are only about 7 or 8 channels we ever really even tune into. Out of hundreds, including a kazillion that are nothing but infomercials for acne or zumba dancing.

We wouldn't get it at all if our condo building had not decided to buy bulk service from DirecTV and add it to our assessment. Fortunately, we pay only $27 a month for this crap. (However, I'm addicted to Turner Classic Movies, and it saves my sanity some times; well worth the cost.)

[Politicalboi]

9. We feel the same way

I wish they would only charge for channels you watch. And to Sir with Love is on 11.00am pt today on TCM.

[wellstone dem]

10. Yep, sitting here now waiting for that movie

a favorite from my youth.

[Historic NY]

11. Myself included, wish we had a cafeteria plan where we the consumer could decide...

what we actualyl want not what they throw at us.

[bluerum]

12. Errrm. Cancel your cable subscription.

There is nothing worth seeing on cable (imo of course) that you can't find on the web.

[Muskypundit]

14. I have recently discovered netflix.

And I am constantly entertained, a lot better then when I had cable though.

TPTB is trying to Fuck it up though.

[Mopar151]

15. The Jeebus channels and Consumer Ripoff (shopping) channels should pay us for access to our homes!

How much are they payin' Dish-Comcast-direct to be on the thing?

[LibertyorDeath]

16. Do a google search for watching tv online

http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Tv+Online#hl=en&safe=off&q=watching+tv+online&revid=2126917945&sa=X&ei=5loTT8nkO-vKiALxm8TRCg&ved=0CC4Q1QIoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=b2e8f49d4507551a&biw=1066&bih=659

Also Watch TV Shows & Movies Online or Streaming to your TV via Wii, Xbox, PS3 & many other devices. For Only $7.99 a month.

https://signup.netflix.com/home?autoRedirected=1&country=3&rdirfdc=true

We used to pay $85 a month for

tv & movies we now pay about $140 a

year!

[McCamy Taylor]

18. Warning: A la carte cable rears its head once again. Issue dear to the heart of the religious right

which sees it as a way to shut down gay friendly, woman friendly and kid friendly channels (like Nickelodeon). And, of course, Al Gore TV.

On the side of the bundled cable---folks like Disney which want their network in as many homes as possible so that Americans will be exposed to the ads for Disney merchandising---you know, films like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and "The Lion King."

In the other corner, the religious righties who want to see an end to cable diversity. Because diversity means more opinions counter to theirs.

Note that when the issue is presented to the left, they always talk about "cost" and "freedom of choice." However, the real goal of the fundies is to eliminate your choice.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. But if people actually had to pay extra to see the fundie channels, how many would?

I'd like to see an a la carte plan like this:

Package A: All local channels plus public access

Package B: All channels in Package A plus any five of your choice

Package C: All channels in Package A plus any ten of your choice, and so on, in increments of five.

We'd then see which channels people actually watch.

[dmr]

29. +1

[xmas74]

43. I certainly wouldn't pay for the religious channels

Why can't they just sell them in blocks? Maybe offer only one of the main channels in the regular lineup (the one that shows The Waltons-I'll occasionally watch reruns of that, knowing how pathetic that makes me sound) and then allow subscribers to subscribe to a block?

Why can't they offer other blocks, with one of the main channels in the regular line up? Kids block, news block, sci-fi and horror block, etc? I'll take one Lifetime but I don't need all the others while I'd love to subscribe to a sci-fi block of channels.

Seems like there could be an increase in channels while actually getting the targeted market to subscribe.

[AverageJoe90]

39. Somehow I get the feeling you may be on to something here, McCamy.......

[Fearless]

19. Netflix. Far better deal.

Of just drop the tv altogether and use the internet. There's no sense in paying that kind of money for something you sometimes use and don't need.

Break the beast.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. We do not miss tv at all since cutting the cord.

In fact, we have many more options of movies, books, radio shows to choose from via the net, or torrents, than we have time for
PLUS
I have not seen a commercial for years
and do not have to watch them online either.

We WERE paying about 65.00 a month for cable and/or satellite over the years, that money now goes to pay the house insurance every year.
Double plus: flat 19" monitors are great for movie watching, much better that the old tv screens we had.
Sound levels/tonality can be adjusted per individual, we each use headphones, no noise pollution in the house...
all in all, much much better for the way we live.
Now, back to Moneyball.

[Fearless]

36. +1

[Odin2005]

20. There is almost nothing on cable worth watching anymore.

[jeff47]

22. It's not the cable companies. It's the content companies

Let's say you're Disney. You've decided you can make a little more money if you create yet another Disney channel. You've got tons of programming in the vault, and putting reruns on another channel costs you nothing. But you've got to get the cable and satellite people to carry "Disney Channel #47".

With little consumer demand for yet another Disney channel, the cable and satellite people would say "no". But you don't control just "Disney Channel #47". So you go to the cable and satellite and tell them if they want ESPN, ABC, Nickelodeon, and a whole bunch of other channels that are in demand, they also have to carry Disney Channel #47. In the same "basic package". Cable and Satellite can't say "no" to that.

Cable and Satellite would love a-la-carte pricing. They'd make a fortune off of it. But the major content producers will not let them because it hurts their income.

[ArcticFox]

24. Maybe you could cancel it

We did about 6 months ago, and we're not dead yet. I made a simple fractal antenna and we get enough channels.

Or think about it this way. It's all propaganda. Why do you want to pay to have propaganda shoved down your throat?

[ArcticFox]

25. Maybe you could cancel it

We did about 6 months ago, and we're not dead yet. I made a simple fractal antenna and we get enough channels.

Or think about it this way. It's all propaganda. Why do you want to pay to have propaganda shoved down your throat?

[AverageJoe90]

40. All propaganda? LOL. No offense, but have you been listening to Alex Jones? =p

[ArcticFox]

41. Who's that?

I stand by my characterization.

[jwirr]

26. I have long wished we could make up our own packages. However, with my luck all the ones I would

want would be the expensive ones.

[DirkGently]

27. Yep. Much closer to "legalized theft" than taxes are. But we never seem to hear that.

[SheilaT]

28. When I relocated partway across the country three

and a half years ago, I decided I could not afford to buy a TV nor to pay for cable. I treated it as an experiment, but the more time goes by the less I miss it. I can watch as much as I want via the internet. I also have Netflix and Hulu. If any really important breaking news happens there will be streaming video from some TV channel or another. Last year when the shooting in Tucson happened at least one of the Tucson TV channels started streaming live. So I don't miss anything of importance.

[Skittles]

30. when I hear people going on about the latest cable show plots

they all sound so fucking ridiculous - and on occasion when I have watched some of these shows, they are usually laughably bad

[Doctor_J]

31. Due to the telecommunications lobbying, there are only about 4 choices too

we are definitely a fascist state now. As soon as my current contract is up I am going with Roku & Netflix

[JNelson6563]

32. Great article, couldn't agree more!

I cut the cord when it comes to TV maybe a year ago. I hooked up an old computer to my TV and stream Netflix for $8 a month. One of the best things I ever did.

Julie

[LittleGirl]

33. we're in the process of switching

We have the computer set up and just purchased a $100 antenna for HD that we're going to set up this week when the snow melts.. In March our contract (ggggr) for direct tv expires and we're cutting the cord. We're paying 85 bucks a month now, (I downgraded a month ago from 95 a month after I verified that we could still watch Current TV) and can't wait to cut the cord. We don't watch sports, we don't shop on tv and we're political junkies so we can get all of those shows we do watch on-line. I counted the number of hours we watched tv a week and figured we're paying 3 bucks an hour to watch direct tv. We don't turn the tv on til after 6pm. We'll have between now and March to test the equipment, internet speed and verify that everything is working for a clean break come late March.

[Auggie]

34. I predict this will change when enough consumers switch to alternate services

Cable services will have no choice but to offer "a la carte"programming, but at higher prices.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. In about 2006, I got rid of all but basic-basic cable

Even with analog, I for some reason had very poor reception in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis, and Comcast fixes is so that buying Internet alone costs more than buying Internet plus basic-basic (local channels, CNN, Univision, CSPAN-1, and public access only).

Qwest (now Century Link's DSL) is what I had when I first moved here, but MSN kept bouncing legitimate e-mail as spam and then not even telling me about it. Since I run a translation business, that was simply unacceptable.

So I'm stuck with Comcast Internet. The cell phone companies are honest about telling me that their tethering services are insufficient for my heavy user needs.

So, for the time being, it's Comcast Internet plus basic-basic cable plus Vonage for phone service (I'm not much of a phone talker at all, so Vonage's budget service is ideal for me). Since 90% of my TV viewing is PBS or MHz Worldview (which shows up on public access), I'm fine. A further advantage is that I didn't have to buy a new TV during the digital changeover.

For other things, I have Netflix and Hulu Plus and DVDs ordered from Amazon UK. Between those, I have more content than I have time to watch, and it's actually things that I want to watch. I look at the local cable listings and even the shows offered through iTunes, and it's 50% reality shows (opportunities for narcissists to show just how banal they are), with the rest being lame sitcoms, overwrought medical dramas, cop shows that make Miami Vice look like Shakespeare, and a few gems, which I watch on Netflix or Hulu or even order from iTunes. No shortage of movies, either. I have 191 titles in my Instant Watch queue on Netflix.

[Terry in Austin]

37. Cable teevee may have jumped the shark

This time next month, I will be cable-free. With Google TV and net-accessible TV content, we can get all the TV shows we're interested in.

One site, watchseries.eu, has just about all the major TV series going back to the 1980's and further. I've found that a very useful addition to my entertainment center is a laptop and a net hookup.

I think the heyday of cable television is past. Consider: you pay $80 a month for television, and you STILL have to watch commercials??!! How the heck did that happen, anyway?

[supernova]

38. Cut the cord nearly a year ago

We have internet and phone package through Time Warner. We did have TV with HBO and Cinemax too but we dropped it a year ago. It was just too much money and not enough content that we wanted. I didn't want the commercials, I didn't want the shopping channels. I don't shop that way. Period. I didn't want the sports channels. Neither of us likes sports. I don't like "reality" programming, either. So there were probably about 7 or 8 channels we watched. I sometimes enjoyed a couple of the music channels.

Now we have a Seagate box for Netflix streaming. We get hulu. We watch major new stories online ... as they happen. We get over the air local channels. I love PBS. My PBS station has an extra channel called "Explorer". Nothing but science shows, travelogues. Love, LOVE that channel.

I might consider getting cable again if they go to a la carte programming, but probably not. I know how to find what I want.

[ackr]

45. How I cut the cord with cable TV and I love it.

I cut the cable over a year ago with the help of a free site: www.CableCutterGuys.com
It walked me through the process of picking out an antenna, hooking up windows media center to create a free dvr. I wont say it was easy, but it was not hard either. I only wish I had done it a lot earlier. I can't believe how much money I used to pay to watch tv!

As someone above said, free over-the-air broadcast HD is much better that what you PAY for with the cable companies.

Take the steps and cut the cord, you won't be sorry.

Andy

[Mosaic]

44. It's socialism for the corporatocracy

Capitalism is for the little guy. But it's not real socialism, democratic socialism. It's authoritarian state socialism, the kind they demonize and can't distinguish from the good kind, the one for the common good. Stalin would admire the cable companies, Hitler would admire the power of propaganda from the big 3, CNN, Faux, and Msnbc. Yes, even us liberals are caged in from free ideas like Democratic Socialism. Only the bullies of the repug party get to taunt a whole ideology, they don't want us to call them out for the scum they are. Life is not fair in the 'land of the free' and 'home of the brave'. OWS is the best hope, maybe the last best hope.