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Cable TV A La Carte?
Anonymous Coward writes "According to this BusinessWeek article you can now get your MTV a la carte. I having been waiting for years to buy my cable by the channel, and this article indicates that my cable company is now legally required to let me. I am going to call Time Warner tomorrow with my list just to see what they say. Anyone out there doing this now?"
If you read the article... it's only talking about getting premium channels individually. So you can get just one nightly dose of Skinemax, w/o paying for cinemax 2, 3 and 4.
Doesn't apply to basic cable.
The headline and description are totally wrong. The rule says that a Cable company must allow you to buy HBO/Showtime/Cinimax/TMC without signing up for premium cable. So this means if you don't like watching MTV, Discovery Wings, or other non-Basic cable channels, but you watch HBO, you can drop Premium cable, but still keep HBO.
Come play Heroes of Might and Magic Mini online.
I quit because all of the sudden Time Warner wanted (aka insisted) that we use "Digital Cable" - to get what I used to get just fine. There is no way I am paying $80 a month to watch a bit of TV. No way. None.
They tried to con you too? Be glad you didn't take it, digital isn't all that much better and it doesn't degrades gracefully. Time-Warner in our area didn't want to be bothered actually fixing the ancient equipment in our neighborhood so the tv was impossible to watch. We went back to analog in a month.
Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.
Our local cable company offers the ability to buy individual channels from the packages they offer.
However, unless you are buying less than 5 channels you'll spend more money than the package.
Since most people want at least MTV, TWC, CNN, DISC, CC and SCIFI it's kind of a moot point.
Well in France, the whole country is divided geographically between operators, with each operator exercising a monopoly in its area. But the big advantage is that ALL of the cableco allow for pick and choose. In Paris, a basic cable subscription gives you all the free channels as well as the national ones, each additional channel is accounted for by a number of points and you can buy points for each month by points. I.E. you can buy 75, 110 , 150 etc. points. The only channels that are bundled are the 2 competing groups of movie channels that are sold in groups of 5. That way I was able to get Cartoon Network, CNBC, Mangas (yes we have an all anime channel in France) as well as Game 1 (which is another nice channel dedicated to gaming). My total bill each month is around 29 Eur.
Taken from RealityWorldTV.com:
The second season of Trading Spaces has seen some pretty dramatic room makeovers, as well as homeowner reactions. None more memorable than that of Pam Herrick, who had to leave the room and cry, after the reveal of her new dark brown living room. She tells EntertainmentWeekly.com that she "felt violated." Meanwhile her husband says the "Trading Spaces crew is sloppy, unprofessional and unsafe when it comes to the makeover process. Our home was left a fire hazard and in violation of local building codes." Meanwhile, a couple weeks ago, TLC aired an episode in which designer Hilda Santo-Tomas glued straw/hay all over a couple's living room. In case you were wondering, it took 5 adults (including the neighbours who glued it on in the first place) 17 hours to get all the hay and glue off the walls, after the show had left. As the unstable bookshelf that Trading Spaces installed became a hazard for their young children, the couple removed it from the room. In addition, they paid $3000 for a new mantle, to replace the one that Hilda removed. So much for that $1000 budget.
Here's the article I think he's referring to: Oakland survivors of home decorating TV show try to paint over cracks in friendship
Because the link is slow, here is the text of that rule:
Here is the article article about the hay incedent. The lady crying while on the episode is here.
You can also do a search on Google searches for Tranding Spaces hay, Trading Spaces cry, or Pam Herrick to find out more about the show.
Things that they don't tell you on the show:
You sign a contract stating what room is to be changed, what can NOT be touched (They ignore this), what you would like (colors, themes, etc). Trading Spaces then assigns a designer (none of which have any formal design education) to do what ever they want, not what you want. Most of the work is done off camera by the crew. Sewing done on camera is just for show...they have a crew to do that. Same with carpentry. The furniture is made super cheap...particle board bookcases come to mind on one show. I just got to the point where I started laughing at the shows. Some had interesting decorations, but most were a joke. You get around $1000 to change the room, but nothing if you don't like it. You are responsibie for carting away trash (they will pay the disposal fee, but it's just a hassle). You also have to put up with that annoying Paige lady. That would be the ultimate deal breaker for me regardless of the rest.
Here is a summary of the part of the
0 12:@@@L&summ2=m&|TOM:/bss/d102query.html|
Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 that is being refered to:
Prohibits (with exceptions) a cable operator from: (1) requiring the subscription to any tier other than the basic service tier as a condition of access to cable programming offered on a per channel or per program basis; or (2) discriminating between subscribers to the basic service tier and other subscribers with respect to rates charged for video programming offered on a per channel or per program basis.
Gotten from: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d102:SN00
So, it says that if a channel is offered alone, then the cable company cannot say must buy something else first. However, in the case of (for example) the Home And Garden channel, they don't sell it alone, so you cannot buy it alone.
Cable Companies have actually been doing this for a while, but you have to ask explicitly for it. Even (on occassion) forcing the sales person to talk to their manager.
I would love to buy channels ala cart, though.
Ciao!
The Doctor What (KF6VNC)
OK, here ya go, straight from the Gov (relevant sections only):
CITE
47 USC Sec.543 01/02/01
EXPCITE
TITLE 47 - TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND RADIOTELEGRAPHS
CHAPTER 5 - WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION
SUBCHAPTER V-A - CABLE COMMUNICATIONS
Part III - Franchising and Regulation
HEAD
Sec. 543. Regulation of rates
STATUTE (Partial Text)
(7) Components of basic tier subject to rate regulation
(A) Minimum contents
Each cable operator of a cable system shall provide its subscribers a separately available basic service tier to which subscription is required for access to any other tier of service. Such basic service tier shall, at a minimum, consist of the following:
(i) All signals carried in fulfillment of the requirements of sections 534 and 535 of this title.
(ii) Any public, educational, and governmental access programming required by the franchise of the cable system to be provided to subscribers.
(iii) Any signal of any television broadcast station that is provided by the cable operator to any subscriber, except a signal which is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier beyond the local service area of such station.
(B) Permitted additions to basic tier
A cable operator may add additional video programming signals or services to the basic service tier. Any such additional signals or services provided on the basic service tier shall be provided to subscribers at rates determined under the regulations prescribed by the Commission under this subsection.
(8) Buy-through of other tiers prohibited
(A) Prohibition A cable operator may not require the subscription to any tier other than the basic service tier required by paragraph (7) as a condition of access to video programming offered on a per channel or per program basis. A cable operator may not discriminate between subscribers to the basic service tier and other subscribers with regard to the rates charged for video programming offered on a per channel or per program basis.
(B) Exception; limitation
The prohibition in subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a cable system that, by reason of the lack of addressable converter boxes or other technological limitations, does not permit the operator to offer programming on a per channel or per program basis in the same manner required by subparagraph
(A). This subparagraph shall not be available to any cable operator after -
(i) the technology utilized by the cable system is modified or improved in a way that eliminates such technological limitation; or
(ii) 10 years after October 5, 1992, subject to subparagraph (C).
(C) Waiver: If, in any proceeding initiated at the request of any cable operator, the Commission determines that compliance with the requirements of subparagraph (A) would require the cable operator to increase its rates, the Commission may, to the extent consistent with the public interest, grant such cable operator a waiver from such requirements for such specified period as the Commission determines reasonable and appropriate.
--
Note that this the 1992 "Act" is really only a set of ammendments to the original Title 47 (Telecom act of 1934).
The relevant portion is here:
"A cable operator may not require the subscription to any tier other than the basic service tier required by paragraph (7) as a condition of access to video programming offered on a per channel or per program basis."
This means that it only applies to premium and pay-per-view channels i.e. "offered on a per channel or per program basis."
Paragraph 7 also is vague enough about the "basic" service they have to offer that AT&T (my provider) can use their "Standard" package ($37.50/mo) as the base. I called them and they said "Sure, buy the $37 standard package and we'll sell ya HBO ala carte." But he wouldn't sell me HBO on top of the $12 "Basic" package, which may or may not be legal.
Regardless, this means diddly for me, because I couldn't care less about HBO. I just want Comedy Central and Sci-Fi with my broadcast stations.