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‘What the hell?’: TV screens go dark as Spectrum cuts channels, raises prices
Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky) ^ | April 28, 2017 | John Cheves

Posted on 04/30/2017 3:51:48 PM PDT by EveningStar

The television screen went dark a month ago as Daniel Fitzgerald watched “American Pickers” on the History Channel.

Perplexed, he grabbed the remote and surfed through CNN, Disney, Comedy Central and the rest of the standard cable lineup. Many of them were gone, too. In their place was a black background with a small block of text advising him that his subscription no longer provided those channels.

“I thought, ‘What the hell? I just paid the cable bill,’” Fitzgerald recalled last week in the tiny Lexington [Kentucky] apartment he shares with his disabled 16-year-old son.

Fitzgerald called Spectrum, the subsidiary created last year when Charter Communications of Stamford, Ct., acquired Time Warner Cable, which was then Lexington’s cable provider. A Spectrum representative told Fitzgerald that he hadn’t been paying Time Warner enough for the standard cable package. If he wanted those channels back, his monthly bill for cable and Internet would jump from $103 to $139, effective immediately.

(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: cable; cabletelevision; cabletv; charter; spectrum; television; timewarnercable
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To: halfright

Its theft... I won’t do that.


41 posted on 04/30/2017 5:19:10 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: halfright
"So is it morally acceptable to receive free streaming channels provided by “jail broken” Fire sticks??"

Look at it as economic warfare against the leftists. Most of them hate capitalism, so why would they want money anyway?

42 posted on 04/30/2017 5:19:23 PM PDT by Flag_This (Liberals are locusts.)
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To: Mr.Barber

We’ve been wanting to cut cable for long time now but been putting off for some reason but now the time.
I have few prime & cable channels that I watch, hubby likes golf, fishing shows & movies. We don’t need all the crap, wish they would allow a la carte pricing.
Not that tech savvy so please give more info on the Kodi stick?


43 posted on 04/30/2017 5:22:44 PM PDT by rainee (Her)
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To: Cementjungle

That’s debatable.


44 posted on 04/30/2017 5:28:14 PM PDT by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: EveningStar

When Spectrum took over a few months ago they sent me an email stating that they were increasing my internet speed by 3x, but it seems slower than before.


45 posted on 04/30/2017 5:30:58 PM PDT by libertylover (In 2016 small-town America got tired of being governed by people who don't know a boy from a girl.)
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To: FreedomStar3028

Its no different than running out of a restsurant without paying.


46 posted on 04/30/2017 5:31:49 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: PAR35

“TCM is the only one that seems to be still watchable.”

I love TCM but it’s become an extremely rare occasion something worth while comes on that I haven’t seen many times before.

The only reason directTV is still connected is the wife would divorce me if she couldn’t watch her shows.


47 posted on 04/30/2017 5:33:44 PM PDT by moehoward
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To: Cementjungle

It’s way different because you can get the same exact product for a lower price elsewhere, sometimes even free. You’re also being charged for programming that in some instances the copyrights are long gone on.

But you are right. It is theft. The consumer is getting stolen from.


48 posted on 04/30/2017 5:36:52 PM PDT by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: EveningStar

Why does the author make a point of pointing out the mans disabled son. As if that’s in any way relevant???


49 posted on 04/30/2017 5:44:04 PM PDT by stuck_in_new_orleans
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To: snarkpup

What company wants to bury the fiber optic ?


50 posted on 04/30/2017 5:49:31 PM PDT by Newbomb Turk (was)
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To: EveningStar
I cut cable about six months ago. Charter begs me weekly to come back. Dangles deals better than the deal I offered them before I disconnected.

But I have adjusted to not paying through the nose for "BUNDLED" services accompanied by taxes on each bundle that I do not need.

51 posted on 04/30/2017 5:52:19 PM PDT by Newbomb Turk (was)
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To: sagar

I had Verizon for the basic cable, land line, and Internet was 265.00 a month switched to spectrum same package as with Verizon 139.00 a month!!! Don’t have any idea what the heck this idiot is complaining about!!!


52 posted on 04/30/2017 6:05:12 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: PAR35

Remember when there was 3 commercials between programs?


53 posted on 04/30/2017 6:06:36 PM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: EveningStar
You can watch just about anything on You Tube, from old TV shows, to graduate school lectures on science and math, to a huge selection of 'Hey fellas, watch this!' stupidity.

The key is having a good You Tube app, which my Amazon Fire TV does. It's flat out addicting.

54 posted on 04/30/2017 6:20:46 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
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To: Ken H

I pay $10/mo for ad-free you tube (You Tube Red). Well worth it.


55 posted on 04/30/2017 6:24:17 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
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To: Keyhopper

I’m not THAT old. I do remember when there was about one or two minutes of commercials every 15 minutes, with a couple of extra between shows. I’d have to check the numbers, but I think they’ve gone from about 47 minutes of programming an hour to about 42 minutes over the last 15 or 20 years.

Of course, in the real old days, the advertisers owned the content, so it was in their interests to keep the eyes on the screen.

Of course, even more annoying than the 18 minutes of commercials are the pop up ads that take the bottom third of the screen (increasingly with distracting animations) DURING the programming, for other shows on that company’s network.

And it’s not like they can actually sell that additional advertising time. They frequently have to take a big chunk of it for promotionals from the network. Idiots are too drugged out to realize they wouldn’t have to interrupt that much if they weren’t interrupting that much.


56 posted on 04/30/2017 6:26:50 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: vladimir998

Satellite is just as bad, and if you live in the country, it is the only option you have..


57 posted on 04/30/2017 6:26:58 PM PDT by richardtavor
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To: Principled
What is Hulu good with?

Hulu has tons of television shows. Think of Hulu as the Netflix of TV.

58 posted on 04/30/2017 6:32:14 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Man-made global liberalism is killing the planet)
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To: FreedomStar3028
It’s way different because you can get the same exact product for a lower price elsewhere, sometimes even free.

I can get the same thing I get at a restaurant for a lot less too if I cook it myself at home, or even for free if I eat at a friend's house. Stealing is stealing... maybe you can justify theft in your mind, I can't. Maybe I'm just from a different time or something.

59 posted on 04/30/2017 6:35:36 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: richardtavor

True. People in rural areas have far fewer options. Then again if it ever “hits the fan” you’ll be better off!


60 posted on 04/30/2017 6:38:05 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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