[Stonenots]

Montgomery County (MD) cable provider, Comcast, is dropping FoxNews from its Basic Service as of March 1. To get "fair and balanced" news coverage in this area, it will cost an additional charge of $32.22/month. Let Comcast Cable (P O Box 17461, Baltimore, MD 21297) know you want FoxNews to remain on Basic Service.

[Weimdog]

I dropped Comcast in favor of DirecTv.

Free installation, set-up, and I get hundreds of digital quality channels for the same price as cable; and I get FoxNews and FoxSportsWorld.

[FoxInSocks]

I forgot what I wanted to say when I got up to adjust the rabbit ears on my TV again.

[MineralMan]

"Montgomery County (MD) cable provider, Comcast, is dropping FoxNews from its Basic Service as of March 1. To get "fair and balanced" news coverage in this area, it will cost an additional charge of $32.22/month. Let Comcast Cable (P O Box 17461, Baltimore, MD 21297) know you want FoxNews to remain on Basic Service."

OK. A couple of questions: First, what's the source of this information? Second, if your provider is dropping FNC from the basic cable lineup, what all does that additional $32.22 charge give you. Certainly it's not just FNC, right?

[Johnny Gage]

Drop Comcast. Go satellite (Dish or DirectTV)

Been there.. done that. Love my Dish.

[roylene]

WOW! In Sunnyvale, CA the only news service on Comcast basic is CNN - YULK!

[ZULU]

If I lived in Maryland, I'd tell Commiecast to go to Hell, and get myself a satillite disc.

Liberal S.O.B.s.

[Republican Red]

Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts is backing president Bush for reelection and the company's president, Stephen Burke, is a $100,000 'Pioneer' for Bush-Cheney.

[dts32041]

You really want to screw with their heads. Cancel cable, and order XM Radio, switch to to fox news,

9.99 a month what deal.

Hey Britt I have bought two new satellite technologies because of you.

[leadpenny]

There is no link. Stonenots just signed up. No replies on the thread it started.

All the characteristics of a troll. No?

[Alberta's Child]

Before anyone goes out and spends any time and energy complaining to Comcast, I would suggest you do some research and try to find out why Comcast is doing this. Fox News may very well be the real culprit here -- if they've raised the "subscription" price that Comcast must pay them.

There was an enormous hue and cry here in the New York area around this time last year, because Cablevision refused to include the Yankees' cable station in their basic package. The radio airwaves were flooded with ads calling on people to contact their elected officials to "force" Cablevision to carry the Yankees games. But after doing some research on the subject, I decided that I was on Cablevision's side on that one.

[anoldafvet]

DIRECTV channel 360.

[CIBvet]

I want someone to explain WHY Cable and Satellite providers are allowed to get away with BUNDLING their package offerings in the first place.

Didn't the Feds attack Microsoft and someone else(??) for bundling?

I understand Atty Gen. Ashcroft could bust up this intrusive scam by enforcing the Robinson-Patman, Clayton and Sherman anti-trust acts, which would allow us to avoid supporting/paying a portion of our monthly cable bill to Howard Stern, MTV1 and MTV2, Jerry Springer and the rest of the of the slimey purveyors of VIDEO SEWAGE.

I'm aware of at least one petition being circulated currently to do just this.

[leadpenny]

Is there any truth to this. Stonenots didn't provide a link and has not responded since posting.

[mhking]

Supporting link/documentation?

[mercy]

This is like telling you poor conservatives trapped in the evil NE you ought to move to The South. Ya never listen.

Get the satelite. You're silly to stick with cable for a lot of reasons.

[Quix]

tHE IDIOTS OR TRAITORS.

SOUNDS LIKE they are asking to be snowed--well deserved--with emails.

Let the snowbound condition begin!

[bmwcyle]

USED SINCE 1998 AND I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO CABLE -- CLICK HERE

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Pings

Glenn back is always whining about comcast.

[bondjamesbond]

Ancient Chinese Wisdom: Believe not the newbie with sign-up date of today when he presents unverifiable information and no link......

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Union challenges Comcast CEO

CWA gets SEC approval for shareholder vote on Roberts family control of 1/3 of voting shares.
February 23, 2004: 7:02 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A union challenge to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' control over the voting shares of the company will be subject to a vote of shareholders under a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a published report.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported over the weekend that the Communications Workers of America has won a position on the company's proxy statement on whether Roberts and his family should continue to have about one-third of the voting shares of the nation's largest cable company despite holding only about 1 percent of shares outstanding.

The widely-traded class A shares of Comcast, which the company has proposed using to buy Walt Disney Co., have only one-fifth of a vote for each share, while the class B shares controlled by the Roberts family, have five votes each. The union is proposing both kinds of shares get one vote each.

"This issue is especially important in light of Comcast's ongoing effort to take over the Walt Disney Co.," said a statement from CWA president Morton Bahr in the paper. "Roberts would continue to control one-third of the voting power of what would be one of the world's most powerful media conglomerates."

The Disney board turned down the Comcast proposal for an all-stock acquisition, though it said it was open to considering a bid at a different price.

Comcast had previously rejected the CWA's shareholder vote proposal, but the SEC said that the company's reason for excluding the CWA proposal from Comcast's proxy was invalid, according to the Inquirer.

A Comcast spokesman, Tim Fitzpatrick, told the paper that Comcast's current governance structure was approved by more than 99 percent of AT&T shareholders when they voted on it in 2002 after Comcast successfully bid to buy AT&T's cable division. Those AT&T shareholders received Comcast class A shares in their stake in AT&T's cable operations. He would not say whether the CWA shareholder proposal will make it onto the company's 2004 proxy.  

ö

Convergence on a comeback

CIBC World Markets analyst Dvai Ghose says in a research report that content is a key differentiator for U.S. cable and satellite TV operators. By contrast, in Canada, where domestic content laws prevail, cable, satellite and other carriers all show much the same fare.

The costs of some desirable U.S. programming, such as Disney's ESPN sports channel, is spiralling upward, the analyst says, creating more incentive for distributors to own their own content sources.

Comcast is also defending itself from competitive pressures, mainly the move by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which controls the Fox network and a raft of U.S. media assets, to buy control of U.S. satellite monster DirecTV. According to Mr. Eiley, every major U.S. distributor has to look at its options in the wake of that deal.

Rival satellite operator EchoStar is looking for a partner, and is said to be talking to Viacom Inc., whose assets include the CBS network and the MTV music video franchise.