"Where's the fie-yerrr?"
Posted on 01/30/2007 7:46:31 PM PST by fkabuckeyesrule
The Atlanta's area's biggest cable television provider is raising rates by about 4.7 percent, marking the fourth straight year of increases.
Comcast's standard cable service will cost an additional $2.24 per month starting in March, for a new total of $49.99. The company won't be changing rates for high-speed Internet or Comcast Digital Voice phone services.
Comcast hasn't raised Internet prices the past four years, while voice service is relatively new.
The next year or two could be eventful in the television business, as cable providers such as Comcast face the rise of competition from phone companies.
AT&T, which just bought BellSouth, wants to start offering U-verse video services in parts of the Southeast later this year but hasn't revealed a timeframe.
In the meantime, lawmakers in Georgia are considering changes to franchise rules to ease the process. AT&T is the main proponent of efforts to simplify the existing franchising system, claiming that reforms will make it easier for the company to launch services to compete with cable providers.
Comcast has 780,000 customers in metro Atlanta, making it the region's powerhouse. Gene Shatlock, the company's regional senior vice president, said more than half of local users subscribe to more than one service, thus getting discounts.
Shatlock said the average customer's bill will go up 4.2 percent. A user who buys just expanded cable, on the other hand, will see a slightly higher boost of 4.7 percent.
In addition to increases for expanded basic cable, Comcast's Digital Silver offering is going from $73.99 per month to $77.25 a month, up 4.4 percent. Comcast's basic service will cost a dollar more, or $16.95 per month.
In addition to all this they lost the MLB Extra to Directv so they can't even offer that anymore. And if you want to get ESPN Classics & the NFL network it will cost close to 70 bucks a month.
My neighbors have a dish and they have a lot more choices in channels.... They do loose channels on rainy days I guess.
You want it to change? Change the jerks you elect.
We used to have Comcast, now it's Time Warner :-(. I don't like Time Warner, don't like their email format, at least tv reception is now better than it was when they first took over Comcast's customers. No satellite for us, I've seen my sister lose her tv on a bad rainy day, besides, every room in this house has a tv, and it doesn't cost me any extra.
"Where's the fie-yerrr?"
Wow, $49.99 per month is more than we pay for hot water and heat for our energy-efficient home in the winter (Houston area). No thanks, I'll stay with the rabbit ears antenna and free television since we watch it maybe one hour a day.
Same here. Unless someone lives in monsoon-land, rainout isn't that much of a problem on DirecTV.
I thought it was Craptastic?
Im kinda stuck with them cuz I love the broadband from comcast it really it great. I just get stuck with having the cable tv also because I dont want to pay for both services
In this region, Time Warner became Comcast...and the customer service has gone downhill fast.
Comcast doesn't even print the Customer Service telephone number on their bill! That's one way to avoid billing questions I guess...
Time Warner's great service will be missed.
Yes. When I was visiting my sister and brother in Mississippi for thanksgiving it seemed like they had better channels (espn classics) and they paid less for cable than we do here.
Same by Comcast in NJ - now $52 a month for basic cable up from $28 just a few years ago - reminds me I have to write my letter to the state public utilities commission asking them how much Comcast is paying them each year to look the other way while the company continues to rape the public......
XM Satellite Radio is more fun to listen to...C-Span...ESPN..all baseball games..etc. etc. ....around $12 per month....I don't watch TV....
Most licenses are not monopolies. Other companies are free to apply for a liscense and build a cable system. Oh wait, you dont want to take on the investment? Who's fault is that.
How many times do you call them in a year? How about service calls. It costs a ton of money to staff call centers and keep trucks on the road. And guess what, about 90% of the phone calls are: "Did you get my check and what's my balance." Complete wastes of time and money.
When I worked for the cable company we once had a hurricane come through MA. It wiped out our cable plant, knocking down wires and poles. We were getting phone calls in our call center about people wondering if they were going to be able to watch the game that night.
We reubuilt about 100 miles of cable plant in about a month. We didnt charge people for the lost service. And we were self insured. And customers still bitched. yeah, the rates went up. But not an equivalent manner.
C-SPAN is funded by the cable business. They developed it. They pay for it. It, too, is expensive.
I get so frustrated when people act as though cable TV is a provision in the Constitution. If you dont like it, drop it. If you want a dish, buy one. In the end the picture is better if it doesnt snow or rain much, or if the trees don't get in the way. Forget about high speed internet from a dish. The download is fine...but try uploading anything.
And you think the phone company is going to be better? Oh, thats gone so well since Ma Bell was broken up. Cable TV from the same folks that grease you up every month for your cel phone bill? No thanks.
I left the business about ten years ago. But I still admire the folks that founded and built the industry. The construction of the cable TV infrastructure in this country is the largest, privately (read non governmental) project undertaken. All the while we had the government nipping at our heels, trying to suck off franchise fees and taxes.
The franchising process turned me off from local government in the same way that Nixon turned off a generation from national politics.
In the closed door meetings, and lunches in "the next town over", we were held up for more school equipment, more Local Access Studios. I've dealt with waste disposal people that were less greedy (if you get my drift.)
I had a mayor lie to my face, ignore a $1 million bill, and then go out to the press and use his battle against cable TV as the foundation for his campaign for Congress. And when I would go to him to tell him we were raising rates again, he would laugh at me in the face, call my a "sorry bastard" and then go to meet the TV cameras. The invoice sat unpaid for 15 years, and was finally rolled into the next extension for the license. Hmmm....is that one of the expenses that the cable company monopoly should eat? Who pays for that?
Of course the local media is all over these stories becase cable advertising is more effective and less expensive than their ads. Plus our reps were hungrier and more aggresive at serving their clients.
I had another mayor use us to promote a tax overide, grabbing about $50,000 worth of ad time for nothing. Then she too, bitched us up and down when we raised rates.
I had a City Assessor levy a couple of hundred thousand dollars of property taxes on our equipment, cables, and converters because "we had the money." He wanted to disallow our depreciation of our plant. Some $50 million dollars over ten years. At one point I asked him if the principles of depreciation had been outlawed since I went to lunch that day.
Another court case, another couple of grand. Where do the expenses go?
I had a selectmen lie to my face and then call the paper, announcing that I was refusing to meet with him. I got back him though. He wanted the Comedy Channel launched in town. I had just moved into town with my two young kids. We got the cartoon network. Sometimes, it is good to be the king.
In the end, about 5% of your bill goes to the local government. What do they do with it? On my bill, thats about $7.50 a month. Do the nerds at the local access studio really need my $7.50 to show the red faced b-tards speaking at the local rotary club this week. I dont think so.
Yes, TV used to be free. It still is. Except it sucks. If you want something with value, you have to pay for it. And it usually worth what you pay for.
I take it you feel the charges are justified.
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