fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to ninjatutle
Re: I'm ok with another HD tier.... Okay.. anyone care to give Comcast credit yet? They seem to be the only company that does not believe that the HD they have is a premium above and beyond equipment rental.
Unless AT&T, Fios, TWC, or the birds are giving you "programming" that is different than what you already have, then any amount of money above the equipment rental is a cash grab in order to pay for the ability to have a service in which they use to compete for your business..
I have NO problem paying a small fee to rent equipment that I'd otherwise have to purchase. However, I am do not think it's right to make you 1) pay for the service such as Bravo, or Discovery, and then 2) pay for it to be clearer.
The way things keep going, AT&T, FiOS, DirecTV, et all, are clearly and quickly becoming no better than Comcast/cable TV in general on rate increases; they're just doing it in their own way. |
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AVonGaussPremium
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL | I haven't checked in about a year and I know in some markets it is true, but I don't believe that is necessarily true for all Comcast markets, is it?
Towards the article in general, I can understand back in 2000 paying Comcast an additional fee for HD when it was new and exciting. Now, almost in 2009, I cannot understand anybody paying an additional fee just to have access to a HD or digital signal.
For the subscriptions channels (ala HBO) you can vote with your own dollars whether it is worth it to you, for the channels that are primarily funded by ad dollars such as Bravo or TNT - if I were an advertiser, I would pull most of my ads from the networks that require or allow an additional fee to be imposed just to see my ads more clearly. |
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 insomniacOh YeahPremium
join:2002-09-22
Naperville, IL
 ·Comcast
 ·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:Okay.. anyone care to give Comcast credit yet? They seem to be the only company that does not believe that the HD they have is a premium above and beyond equipment rental. I'll give 'em credit--and I haven't exactly been running to their defense in the past. The biggest reason I didn't abandon Comcast and switch to WOW when I moved into a dual-franchise area recently was because WOW has fewer HD channels at a higher price.
(The other big reason was because I had no interest in going through another TiVo S3 CableCARD fiasco. I had a friend who was once a WOW customer, tried to get a CableCARD for his TV and was told by the installer that they "just don't work." It took four truck rolls for Comcast to get mine working, but at least they kept at it rather than just shrugging their shoulders and handing me a Motorola DVR.)
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If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something. |
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| reply to fiberguy
Yeah, instead of raising fees for HD which only certain percentage have, they just raise the box fee for everyone. Comcast gains more income with their route....Tisk tisk.
Comcast already owns the cable box and bought them a long time ago. They're just raping as much money from the consumers as possible. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to AVonGauss
More markets than none - and they are rare that do charge an HD tier fee - don't charge for the HD tiers.. they simply rent the box and you get the channels in the lowest digital tier. Premiums come with the premiums you purchase. I know that many TWC systems even charge to have HBO HD along with HBO subscriptions.. so.. |
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 djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
kudos:1
 ·Verizon Wireless..
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·VOIPo
·PHONE POWER
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:Okay.. anyone care to give Comcast credit yet? They seem to be the only company that does not believe that the HD they have is a premium above and beyond equipment rental. Unless AT&T, Fios, TWC, or the birds are giving you "programming" that is different than what you already have, then any amount of money above the equipment rental is a cash grab in order to pay for the ability to have a service in which they use to compete for your business.. Comcast had the highest rates of any cable company we've had. They didn't charge a specific HD fee but they sure made up for it in other ways. So, I can't in good conscience give Comcast an atta-boy for being a value leader. To me, it seems fair to charge people that are interested in higher quality service to pay a bit more for it. Not terribly different from paying $10 more for faster internet. Makes a better value for people who don't need the high end.
I can't complain about U-Verse's base HD fee too much because I didn't have to buy the equipment, nor am I paying for a box rental, nor a DVR fee, and just $5/month to get HD programming and access to my HD DVR in my bedroom (2nd HDTV).
It sucks that Universal HD is going away, but it could be a lot worse. TWC wanted extra for just HDNet, HDNet Movies, Mojo and Universal. Maybe the problem isn't AT&T, but the networks charging too much for access. At least this way we can choose whether or not it's worth it.
-- Rob
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AT&T U-Hearse
Your funeral. Delivered.
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JPLPremium
join:2007-04-04
Downingtown, PA
kudos:1
1 edit | reply to insomniac
I'll be honest, I'm not sure how people would believe that Comcast is such a value. For starters they do charge for HD - at least in my area (and the price that you pay depends on which tier you sign up for).
To compare apples to apples, here's how the price would break down, if I were paying ala carte, between FiOS and Comcast in this area (we can get into bundling, and there's no doubt that savings could be had, but I just wanted to give a comparison point). I'll assume that I want no additional packages (although Verizon now includes all their sports channels in their HD package, so to make it fair, I'll include Comcast's sports pack in the mix), and assuming I want one DVR. Here's how it shakes out:
Comcast:
Digital Preferred programming tier - $70.65
DVR - $13.95
Sports Pack - $5.00
HD Service for this tier - $6.50
Total = $96.10/month
Verizon:
Extreme HD programming package - $57
HD DVR - $16
Total = $73/month
anyone still want to argue that comcast doesn't charge for HD? Granted, all these companies have different pricing schemes. The one that works best for someone depends on what they're looking for. I'm not arguing that. I'm simply pointing out that you DO pay for the service, one way or another.
Edit - I know this is a U-Verse thread, but I'm using FiOS for two reasons: 1) U-Verse isn't available around here; 2) FiOS is, and that's the service that I use. |
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