Posted on 08/07/2005 7:56:40 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Tired of constantly rising cable-TV costs but convinced you can’t do anything about them?
I know the tug of defeatism. When my bill climbs, I do little more than grumble that I’m a prisoner of Comcast and its chokehold on local sports. Using a loophole in federal law, it refuses to provide Comcast SportsNet to satellite TV, my only alternative.
Maybe it’s time for all of us to vent.
Last week, close to 12,000 people did so. Prompted by Free Press, a media watchdog group, they complained to the Federal Communications Commission about cable’s rising prices and anti-competitive practices. They urged it to reject a proposed deal that would further enlarge Comcast and Time Warner, already the nation’s top two cable companies.
I know what you’re thinking: Why bother? Don’t consumers always lose when they’re up against big business?
Maybe so. But there are exceptions, especially when we, too, have business firepower on our side.
On the SportsNet question, we do.
I’m not just talking about the usual suspects, though they are again speaking up.
DirecTV and Dish Network recently raised the issue in the case that drew those 10,000 e-mails. They urged the FCC to strike a blow for real competition before letting Comcast and Time Warner divvy up the cable systems of bankrupt Adelphia Communications.
Similar arguments come from RCN Telecom Services — the company that once offered to build a competing cable system in Philadelphia but was scared off by Comcast and city officials.
But in the SportsNet debate, the new star power pushing to close the loophole comes from another quarter: Verizon Communications.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not portraying Verizon as a white knight.
Verizon and the other descendants of the old AT&T monopoly have done all they can to ward off competitors, especially companies that want to piggyback on their local phone systems to deliver high-speed Internet service.
But ironically, in today’s confusing telecom landscape, Verizon may suddenly be the best friend a disgruntled cable customer has.
To understand why, consider how our on-again, off-again system of regulation has basically left cable companies as unregulated monopolies, and allowed the price of standard service in many places to top $50 a month.
The latest deregulation came in 1996. Its goal was to free the market to do what it does best: stimulate investment and innovation, along with the discipline of competitive pricing.
Investment and innovation have come as promised. Cable has delivered a flow of new channels and technologies, including a high-speed link to the Internet. Even phone service.
But consumers have paid a price because, as a spur to competition, the ‘96 law was a bust. Consumers served by two cable companies enjoy prices averaging about 15 percent less than in noncompetitive markets. But only a tiny fraction has that choice.
That’s where Verizon comes in. Until other new technologies come of age, its planned fiber-optic network will be alone in offering a cable-like bundle of services.
But to compete, Verizon needs access to SportsNet, and assurance that Comcast and other cable companies won’t be able to use "must-have" local programming to lock customers into their cable services.
Comcast officials like to compare SportsNet to DirecTV’s "NFL Sunday Ticket, a package of out-of-town football games to which DirecTV has exclusive rights. But as any local sports fan will recognize, it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison.
Personally, I’d prefer it if Comcast and Verizon had to offer me a path to the Internet, where I could buy their programming, and anything else, a la carte. Ultimately, that’s what these technologies should promise.
But right now, the FCC may have enough leverage to close the SportsNet loophole. So if competition matters to you, it’s time to speak up. (For instructions on how to comment, go to www.freepress.net.)
Contact Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jeff Gelles at consumerwatchphillynews.com or 215-854-4558. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/jeffgelles. Visit his blog at http://consumerwatch.blogspot.com.
...c-band satellite dish and receiver.
BAH! Not worth the money..
All the news (and some entertainment) I gets on FR..
Of course, I live on an island where MY cable company gives me programing two to three weeks behind the states. And only 35 channels. Period.
NOW, if I had the 350+ channels, probably.
It's quite simple, actually: cancel the service and turn the damn thing off. Your real life will reap benefits you won't believe, and Greta and Sean won't really miss you a bit.
Actually, I'd probably get it if I could
I'm paying a whopping $62 per month for my only choice for broadband internet service, Adelphia Cable.
I've heard some promising things about wide-area WiFi, perhaps that'll offer some alternatives.
I feel your pain. I pay Time Warner Cable $57 a month for my broadband. I can't get DSL, I'm too far from the CO. Granted, that meant that I could have my telephone land line shut off years ago, and I've never missed it! (I just use my cell phone)
Mark
Ever heard of DirecTV?
Yes, there **is** competition for cable. When my local cable company told me that I had to take 4 hours off of work to stay home and sign papers (they couldn't mail them to me to sign and return) I canceled my order and went with DirecTV. Have not regretted it...
I now find myself listening to talk radio, watching the TV with rabbit ears, and playing DVD's.
We are getting close to dump cable go with either Direct or Dish... We have Comcrap....
I just called and cancelled my cable last week. Tired of paying $50 a month for maybe 2 or 3 channels worth watching.
Comcast SportsNet Philly isn't available on satellite in any form. That's the loophole Comcast uses. Since they never uplink it, even to send the game's feed back from out of town, they don't have to make it available to satellite providers.
It's a PITA for subscribers to MLB extra innings, since few of the Phillies games are available.
BWAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAA...............
Verizon can't even keep my regular phone lines working properly, and I'm supposed to consider them over cable? What a flipping joke.
Neither Verizon or cable offers high speed internet in the particular part of the county we live in, and neither plans to do so in the forseeable future........even though both promised it to me by 2004, when I was signing up for service when we moved here in 2003.
We dumped Charter Cable 2 weeks ago and switched to Dish Network........even in 2 weeks we have seen a marked difference and it's about $25 a month cheaper........and we don't have any bells and whistles.
1) During VERY heavy thunder storms the signal can't get through. Although cable goes down at times to.
2) You more or less need a receiver for each TV. Although I use one receiver with a radio frequency remote that will work from anywhere in the house. I run the output from the receiver to all TVs and take the remote with me. I believe with digital cable you need one box per TV. With analog cable just run the cable to all TVs.
I think DirecTV has a better lineup than cable. Cable refused to carry Fox News for quite a while. Don't know if they do now or not. The Military Channel was recently added to DirecTV.
Do you ride a horse to work or take the chuck wagon?
(kidding...)
My cable and broadband cost me $110/month.
Dumped cable and got a package (DSL + unlimited landline + DirectTV) for about the same.
Saved about $100.
I pay $19.95/mo for an on air premium provider (USDTV) and it is super. I have 30 channels inclucing FNN. Unfortunately, it is only available In Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
Exactly.
Cable is a monopoly here, but I've told my whining friends. The answer is simple and in your hands. The next rate increase, if 50% of the subscribers in my county cancel service, I guarantee a rate drop. But you have to be willing to do without all those channels for a while. Months maybe. But I can't, but I can't. Well then, too bad. Keep paying. But be quiet about it.
I have had an antenna for local channels for 30 years at $00.00 cost per month. Do the math. Adds up, doesn't it?
350 channels but somehow there's only 2 with anything on maybe ;-/ How is the internet service on the island ?
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