Learning to Love the Cable Guy

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times and C|Net are reporting on new good will gestures from big cable companies. As service monopolies increasingly became the norm, quality of service began to decline across the board. Now, though, with a number of alternatives cropping up, cable companies are beginning to realize the need to ensure customers say with the often imposing service companies." From the article: "[As] service has improved slowly as satellite providers, upstart phone carriers and cell phone companies have provided attractive alternatives. And now that cable and phone companies are starting to sell similar bundles of phone, broadband Internet and television products--known in the industry as a triple play--they risk losing subscribers forever if they do not keep them happy."

Comments

How about just letting me buy what I want?

[jcr]

I have a pretty spiffy DLP TV, and all I use it for is watching DVDs. I haven't bought any cable or satellite service because nobody will just sell me the channels I want, without insisting on bundling in all the bible-thumpers and home shopping network crap. It feels like getting spammed, and it just pisses me off.

I'm convinced that IPTV is the future, and that's mainly because the cable vendors SUCK.

-jcr

Re:How about just letting me buy what I want?

[Smidge204]

Perhaps you should write a letter to the local cable TV service and tell them that. After all, if they really are concerned with making customers happy, your request does not sound like that big a burden to their system.

And frankly, I'd like that option too.

Since Verizon has been adding cable TV to their FioS service, it is looking like a much better alternative to Cablevision/Optimum Online. Verison's phone and internet is already available on FioS in my area, and as soon as TV is there I'm probably going to switch. Hooray for competition!
=Smidge=

Re:How about just letting me buy what I want?

[truthsearch]

I know one person whose sole source of television content is iTunes. It's exactly the video-on-demand we've all wanted for years. Pay for only the exact shows you want to see, and get a discount for buying a whole season. When enough content enters the on-demand services cable companies will likely see a massive drop in customers.

Re:How about just letting me buy what I want?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Pick your favorite 11 channels.

I don't have 11 favorite channels. I have two. (There were three before TechTV bit the dust.)

A la carte would be a nice option for people like me.

Re:How about just letting me buy what I want?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I program out the channels I don't watch. Works kinda like adblock.

You're still paying for them, though.

I very highly doubt that. I have C-Band satellite (the huge dish type) without a paid subscription except for Comedy Central, SciFi and Cartoon Network.

Despite not having a subscription to the religious or shopping networks, I can get them, even if all my subscriptions lapes, they still come through. That type of channels are unencrypted, meaning that I don't have to buy a subscription to watch them. I doubt that the cable systems are giving those networks any money.

The upshot of this is that ...

[ScrewMaster]

monopolies don't care about customers and charge whatever the hell they want, and companies that have to compete at some level will exhibit concern about what their customers want. The only variation on this theme would be a heavily-regulated monopoly (ala the old Bell System) that has enforced service standards. This is hardly news.

Too bad that the FCC doesn't understand something so basic to any economy. Somebody in law enforcement really should take a look at the Commissioners' bank records for the past few years.