cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | Interesting
First time I didn't see the word Comcast next to FCC and fine. |
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ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Bridgeport, WV
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
1 edit | said by cypherstream  :First time I didn't see the word Comcast next to FCC and fine. They are in there. Read it again.
Kevin Martin has now fined (pdf) Bright House, Cablevision, Charter, Cox, Comcast Time Warner Cable and several other carriers.
Reading before having the morning coffee is NOT a good thing.  |
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Creef412
join:2004-01-29
Oradell, NJ | directv?
Does DirecTV or Dish have price hikes? |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX | Not with the continual regularity of the cable co's. That is why I kicked TWC to the curb, raising prices well in excess of the rate of inflation every year. |
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pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
·ooma
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·Comcast
|  Is it just me?
Is it just me, or has the FCC started to get aggressive toward the monopolies and pseudo monopolies it regulates as its members are leaving?
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"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
1 edit |  A few observations
1. The request for info from the FCC was initiated, presumably, because the FCC received 600 complaints. I'd be slightly impressed if these weren't generated by a campaign by Consumers Union against cable companies and the fact that ONLY 600 complaints were received out of approx 65 million cable TV households. Not exactly an overwhelming response( .0009 %). But we all know it wasn't the complaints that generated this inquiry. It was Martin on his crusade for a la carte and this inquiry was leverage to try and blackjack the cable companies to go along with him.
2. The FCC gave cable companies 2 weeks to gather all the info they demanded. Not enough time and clearly meant to further Martin's true reason - political blackmail and a PR assault.
News story on the FCC actions:
»www.multichannel.com/article/162···tors.php
The FCC sent letters to the cable operators in late October requesting a voluminous amount of data, including highly sensitive pricing terms in programming contracts. The FCC gave 14 calendars to respond, which some cable operators felt was insufficient, given that the FCC wanted data as far back as 2006. 3. If the cable companies did what Martin wanted(keep analog channels for damn near forever), the process of providing more HD channels(universally demanded by customers) and providing higher quality pictures(digital channels) would be frozen at the status quo for years.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page |
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andyb
Premium
join:2003-05-29
SW Ontario
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to Creef412
Re: directv?
said by Creef412 :Does DirecTV or Dish have price hikes? Dish raises thier prices in Febuary.Dunno about DTV |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: A few observations
Since Martin is gone as of yesterday. The cable companies will sue them for the fines and then go on about their business and not give a damn about Martin.
They'll forget about him just like everyone else. |
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cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | reply to ropeguru
Re: Interesting
Doh! Lack of comma between Comcast and Time Warner threw me off. That plus no coffee + early in the morning = fail! |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| reply to andyb
Re: directv?
said by andyb :said by Creef412 :Does DirecTV or Dish have price hikes? Dish raises thier prices in Febuary.Dunno about DTV DTV has them from time to time. Certainly not with the same frequency as cable. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | reply to hottboiinnc
Re: A few observations
His successor will probably pick up where he left off though. |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH | If he does though at least it won't be directed just at the cable companies since he has been talking about fair open access. |
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BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to TKJunkMail
I don't think it's a crusade against cable.
It is only right that they actually stop screwing consumers in a downed economic time.
Cable co's need to give out free to low cost gear to receive a digital signal. $20 a month for a dvr is a gaff. $15 for an hd box , $10 for a digital box $4 for a remote $5 per jack.
Half of your bill is the damn equipment , which we can't purchase.
Now the "content" prices are creeping up as well. To just under outlandish. And they want to know why.
I can tell them. The investors are greedy, in a down economy they lean on the companies to keep themselves in the ferrari and 24 year old model life styles.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" |
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Drex
Beer..It's What's For Dinner
Premium
join:2000-02-24
La Place, LA
·AT&T Southeast
| said by BosstonesOwn :Cable co's need to give out free to low cost gear to receive a digital signal. $20 a month for a dvr is a gaff. $15 for an hd box , $10 for a digital box $4 for a remote $5 per jack. They have to make up the money from these fines some kind of way. 
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I gave up drinking and eating bad food. And in 14 days, I had lost 2 weeks. |
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pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
·ooma
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Comcast
|  reply to BosstonesOwn
I believe cable companies should provide an unencrypted basic tier of HD that any digital set can receive.
Mandatory set top boxes are a profit center for cable companies and hurt those who have the least IMO.
The FCC shouldn't lightly permit unencrypted cable from disappearing, even if eventually all signals are digital.
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"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
2 edits | said by pandora :I believe cable companies should provide an unencrypted basic tier of HD that any digital set can receive. The FCC shouldn't lightly permit unencrypted cable from disappearing, even if eventually all signals are digital. That, as a goal, sounds noble. But it flies in the face of the direction technology and the industry is taking and the demand by customers for more channels and more HD channels in particular.
There is a limited amount of bandwidth capacity on cable HFC systems. HD channels(and eventually almost all channels will be HD) take up quite a bit of bandwidth. To get around the limitation(until FTTH is ubiquitous which is a decade away or more), cable is going to use Switched Digital Video (SDV). Current TVs can't support that without some kind of external box(an SDV adapter, or a STB). Eventually, Tru2Way will address that in new sets. But again that will take years before they are ubiquitous.
So your solution is regulation that will squash consumers demand for more channels and more HD channels because there is a group of people that can't afford a Cadillac. My solution is that those people make do with OTA TV and leave the rest of us alone to enjoy the progression of technology.
A solution that slows progress because some will be left behind is not a good solution. But it is a solution supported by socialists. That is, pander to the lowest common denominator, and to heck with progress.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page |
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Pizz
Hi
join:2000-10-27
Astoria, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by TKJunkMail :said by pandora :I believe cable companies should provide an unencrypted basic tier of HD that any digital set can receive. The FCC shouldn't lightly permit unencrypted cable from disappearing, even if eventually all signals are digital. That, as a goal sounds, noble. But it flies in the face of the direction technology and the industry is taking and the demand by customers for more channels and more HD channels in particular. There is a limited amount of bandwidth capacity on cable HFC systems. HD channels(and eventually almost all channels will be HD) take up quite a bit of bandwidth. To get around the limitation(until FTTH is ubiquitous which is a decade away or more), cable is going to use Switched Digital Video (SDV). Current TVs can't support that without some kind of external box(an SDV adapter, or a STB). Eventually, Tru2Way will address that in new sets. But again that will take years before they are ubiquitous. So your solution is regulation that will squash consumers demand for more channels and more HD channels because there is a group of people that can't afford a Cadillac. My solution is that those people make do with OTA TV and leave the rest of us alone to enjoy the progression of technology. A solution that slows progress because some will be left behind is not a good solution. But it is a solution supported by socialists. That is, pander to the lowest common denominator, and to heck with progress. MSOs try and progress newer tech? This made me laugh very, very loudly. |
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keyboards
join:2001-02-14
Doylestown, PA
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :There is a limited amount of bandwidth capacity on cable HFC systems. HD channels(and eventually almost all channels will be HD) take up quite a bit of bandwidth. To get around the limitation(until FTTH is ubiquitous which is a decade away or more), cable is going to use Switched Digital Video (SDV). Actually, HD Digital channels take up less bandwidth than a single analog channel. With standard MPEG-2 you can fit 2 HD digital channels per QAM channel. Comcast (and I'm sure others) have started adding additional compression to increase that to 3 HD channels per QAM. MPEG-4 further reduces the bandwidth but requires new equipment to be deployed as most current STBs won't decode MPEG-4.
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REMEMBER: Stupidity should be painful !! |
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DataRiker
Premium
join:2002-05-19
Metairie, LA
clubs:
| reply to TKJunkMail
TK is ok with encryption when it suits corporations, but against it when it comes to consumer privacy, such as peer to peer systems. Don't take it too seriously its his job.
Usually i would also be against more regulation, but the monopolistic cable world really needs reform, or instead of that perhaps an open network for competitors.
Like many people, i have only ONE choice for television and internet, and its not a very good one. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to TKJunkMail
If the cable industry and CableLabs were not doing everything they can to hold back CableCARD technology and "Tru2Way" (another stalling tactic) this would not be a problem. Since you are tagging things, let's call cablers "communist" since they insist on central command and control, the lowest possible performance, the least amount of accountability and the highest amount of intimidation.
This is about as transparent as the argument that cable prices have dropped significantly 'when viewed on a per-channel basis'. Well, adding 200 fluff channels and duplicates so your divisor is higher does not lower the price no matter what those sharp NCTA accountants might say.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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