The "fun" I mentioned in the GP post was simply the wholesome pleasure of making a homemade natural "supplement". I was not talking about the "fun" that a few frat boys might try to have with some new crazy kind of homemade Absolut Peppar.
It's not taken for the fun. The alcohol acts as a solvent for the nonpolar capsaicin molecule. Water would not have the same effect. Making an alcohol-based tincture allows for concentrations not possible with water, due to the polar nature of water. It's really not a lot of work: Make it; wait for first batch to finish; drink occasionally; have next batch in the garage waiting. Quite useful for those who dislike curry and other spicy foods, such as myself (...and yet I love hot wings).
I'll let the debate about alcohol's potential health benefits slide, as there have been fairly conclusive studies for both sides of the argument. Use only in moderation (Are you ready to Tanqueray?):)
Excluding my closet addition to hot wings, I've been enjoying the benefits of capsicum for a few years now. I make a tincture of capsicum very similar to this one, listed in the 1918 USP Dispensary.
I use 15 fresh habanero peppers and 1 quart of the cheapest 90+ proof vodka I can find. Put them in a mason jar, seal TIGHTLY, and let sit for 4-6 months. Pour off the liquid and discard the peppers (or eat them, I guess, if you're insane). Store the tincture in the freezer. It should remain liquid even at 0 degrees or below due to the alcohol. That is why I use 90+ proof. Administer 1 ounce every few days. You HAVE to shoot it. The vodka should be super cold when you drink it, so the burn from the capsicum is minimized by the temperature and the quick drinking. I always feel a warm heat in my gut after a shot, as the capsicum gets absorbed.
Don't use this tincture daily or more often, as it can cause serious GI irritation in quantity. Believe me, you do NOT want to vomit the stuff. Just imagine shoving a peeled habanero into your nose/sinuses for an idea of the pleasure. Also, keep away from eyes.
This is cheaper than buying capsaicin tablets, and more fun, too! Challenge your buddies to a (single) shot of habanero sometime...Enjoy!
Visit Alice Cooper's Town in Phoenix, AZ if you ever get the chance. They serve Wings of Mass Destruction, the hottest wings I've ever eaten (and I love HOT wings). An order is a dozen wings. The first one makes your mouth and throat burn, the second one makes you want to die. If you make it that far, you're in the clear. At this point, your taste buds are so thrashed that you won't taste your meal. That's a pity, because their 1/2 pound Pepper Jack Cheeseburger is awesome. I only tasted the last three bites of it, though, since I ate 10 WMD's.
It took a full 4 or 5 hours for my sense of taste to return. No pain, though, after the 2nd wing. I'm definitely eating there again.
I prefer the small computer inside my head. It's way less likely to fail; and more fun, to boot. I would like to boot this computer in your head sometime, if it is really as fun as you claim. Steel toe, is that OK?
You like to report them because you're an asshole.
-jcr
I typically don't defend assholes, but the two sentences are grammatically equivalent. One is written Cause --> Effect; the other, Effect ^-- Cause. Another slipup like this might get you sent back to Grammar Nazi boot camp. Achtung!
(Forgive me, oh karma lords, for the flame^H^H^H^H^H informative post I am about to deliver. I've had a day full of dimwits, and it's time to take it out on a random Internet poster.)
I have discussed the network that Verizon is setting up with some of my buddies who install for them. It appears to be a type of glass threw connection over a single strand for hundreds of households. Well, duh. Welcome to how fiber works. The capacity of fiber using light is so great that it is a waste to run a dedicated loop to each household. You know that old copper? Dedicated loop. Fully utilized 48-count fiber can pump an insane amount of data. Like into the hundreds of Gigabits/second. Read up on wavelength-division multiplexing sometime. Small variances in the wavelength allow the light to perform as separate carriers. Time domain multiplexing can also be used. Capacity over fiber is NO problem.
It is prone to dB loss and don't even think about pulling the specs for the splices and couplers that they are using. Not really. Fiber loses about 0.2 dB/km at 1550 nm wavelength. Compare this to RG-6 coax, which loses about 155 dB/km at 550 Mhz. (Not a typo, really, 155 dB over a kilometer. This is why cable attenuation is measured in dB/100m or 100 ft.) Fiber loss is extremely minimal. Plus, the specs on the optical splitters can't be too insane, something like this would do the trick, although it might not pass Verizon's standards: http://www.bnisolutions.com/products/broadband_networking/otr.html
I fully understand running more than one user on a single strand of fiber however they are running hundreds with high db loss and compensating with repeaters. No, you don't. Also, no, they aren't. Fiber/light isn't as susceptible to noise and distortion as coax/RF, so a whole bunch of optical splitters, and properly spaced EDFA's are a critical part of any long-loop fiber plant. Field re-amplification is a fact of life in cable (trunk amps and line extenders), phone (load coils), electricity (local substations), and yes, even fiber.
I guess if I was going to do it I would have simply ran a larger bundle of fibers to a neighborhood and broke it apart there. That would allow for vast expansion on the part of the telco. Why, it's too bad Verizon didn't call you before rolling this out! No, seriously, they are building their FiOS network well within industry and trade standards. Fiber would be prohibitively expensive to roll a 256-count fiber out the the DSLAM (or whatever the equivalent is in a all-fiber plant) then break to 256 homes with a single strand.
And for those interested, yes, I have worked extensively with fiber before, thanks for asking!:) Also, I work for a direct competitor of Verizon's FiOS offering. Thankfully, they haven't been granted franchises in any of our markets yet, so I can still say (semi-)decent things about FiOS.
I wonder if a land owner could make a case to receive rent from Verizon of putting private property (fiber) into the public right-of-way access across the his land. I'd imagine that many lawyers would jump at the chance to try for a suit that would be that widespread and lucrative.
Not any lawyers worth their salt, I'd imagine. Public easements are declared explicitly in property deeds and titles. They are a known burden (legal term, not in the typical sense of the word) when the owner bought the property, and any objections must be made and satisfied prior to sale. Now, if Verizon or Quest or Comcast were to install a feeder line or a customer drop through my property and outside the easement without permission, you would have the makings of a civil suit. However, rather than pay me rent into perpetuity, the operators would likely relocate the line into the easement, and settle for the reasonable cost of damage to the lawn.
Any further legal action (on the basis of an easement violation) would be frivolous and likely get dismissed from court.
Now I know why my laptop burns my legs whenever I use it...it literally IS always on...so that's what my power management was set to. I had no idea that affected the CPU frequency stepping. I guess i just had assumed that was something that scaled intelligently depending on load average or some other *CPU* metric, not a battery setting.
Of course, being WinXP, I should have realized that Foo is actually changed each time I use the GUI to modify the behavior of Bar 1 and Bar 2, which are completely separate system functions.
This is exactly how the workforce management application I work with passes its transactions. When I started the job, I knew nothing about the backend of the app, since I had only used it in the field, and thus seen the frontend. By the end of the day, I was reading log files and XML transactions as they flowed. I was able to understand the data and the schema immediately because it contains intelligently crafted tagnames and structure. Maybe not all XML is like this, but the gobbledygook I see each day is well formatted.
Prior to taking this job I had no experience with XML whatsoever, only a basic grasp of HTML. I still don't know much about XML, but at least I can read it.
I've already preordered mine.
I've been wanting to find out which one of my neighbors is leaving the uhhh...deposits on my sheets while I'm at work and the wife is home. Obtaining reference samples will be easy: both of them flick their cigarette butts in my yard.
I'm certain this will be cheaper than hiring a divorce attorney. (The quote does not apply to me; those words were uttered by a co-worker with whom I shared this article.)
Most locals should be digital anyway---given that there's a FCC deadline. Speaking of the FCC: Those digital local channels may be getting converted to analog by cable companies until 2012, due to a new requirement imposed on Cable Cos this week: PDF! (Better than.doc) http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-276576A1.pdf
In my experience, it usually turns out that virtual channel 470 is just one of many digital subchannels living in the 6Mhz chunk of spectrum which lines up with analog EIA CH88 (or 78, 555 Mhz, in the system I used to work as a field tech).
And yes, HiTS is a crazy way to build channel maps. We only have a few HiTS systems left, and eventually they will migrate to our regionalized DACs.
Hey, I just tell it like it is. You DID make me think, though....Motorola's got to be making money hand over fist with all the kit we buy annually, especially with the 7/1/2007 separable security law in effect now.
As I mentioned in another post, DCT700's do not comply with the FCC's separable security mandate. In simple terms, they don't accept CableCards. Just another example of the cable Catch-22.
Fair enough! I agree, a-la-carte would be ideal. The technological implementation isn't too demanding (think Video on Demand). However, the challenge is getting content providers (ESPN/Discovery/Sci-Fi/Viacom) to agree to it at a cost that will not raise the subscriber's bill.
My numbers are certainly NOT wrong, and in fact were slightly low. Our dual-tuner DVRs cost just over $500 per unit, direct from MOTO. The DCT2524 is $300. http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dct2500_settop.asp We would have liked to move to the DCH-700 which is a slick little digital only box, but they do not comply with the FCC separable security
Surely, you know these are more than mere "zapper boxes" or frequency remodulators. At the minimum, dual QAM/analog tuners, diplex filters, return generator, FCC-mandated CableCard slot and corresponding software, and in the case of a DVR, a 160GB hard drive. Already we've blown past your $50 mark, just in required components. If you would like verification on pricing, call Motorola for a price quote. We buy in units of 1,000. I cannot provide the partner 800 number on a public forum, but I have verified that a little Googling will find it for you.
I also doubt ATSC digital is anymore complex than QAM/QPSK, especially since digital cable tuners have to determine on-the-fly whether the input is QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, or 256QAM. I think it's likely a draw, and we'll consider it a moot point.
Now, if you need an analog converter for a really old ghetto TV, (which is more along the lines of the example you've given) we've got so many of those in the local systems we don't even charge for them.
I agree with you mostly, but it seems to me that 2/3rds of your complaints lies with the ISP. With the current trend of packet-shaping and bandwidth caps from almost all major ISP's, how is that the cable company's fault? They are no more or less guilty of these un-customer-friendly practice than other ISPs.
On your third point, my employer would charge just $62.50/mo for the options you've described. $42.50 for basic (includes 6 unencrypted HD channels: ABC/NBC/FOX/CBS/ESPN/ESPN2), $19.95 for the DVR. The actual DVR monthly cost is $10, plus $9.95 for digital access, which pays our expenses for the license fees for the on screen guide and the 42 music channels/5 extra HD's (A&E/Discovery/NatGeo/2 which I can't remember) which come included. That said, I don't know who your provider is, but maybe I can guess. Cough...Comcastcough!
Are you sure you didn't mean $120/mo for HDDVR + basic cable + Internet + (possibly) phone?
I was merely trying to explain the position coax-based TV providers have been put in. I failed to expand on the Microsoft comparison, though. I had intended to add that just like Microsoft, cable companies get dragged through the mud even when actually trying to help the end user experience.
Then again, if cable = Microsoft, this would be Soviet Russia...TV watches YOU!
Disclaimer: As mentioned before, I do work for a cable company.
Americans can get their traditional TV through a number of different providers, but it boils down to just a few methods of delivery: direct from the broadcasters over the air, from a satellite, via fiber owned by a telephone company, or via a hybrid fiber/coax network owned by a cable company. Of these options, cable providers are caught in the crossfire of regulatory demands and consumers who don't know enough about the technology itself to know what they really want. You never hear these complaints about satellite/FTTH (FiOS), only because the nature of their medium requires all digital transmission. But is 100% digital always "better" for the consumer? The answer is clearly no, not always.
As I'll explain later, much of the FCC's time is spent regulating the coax providers to help the "smaller players". Really, now...AT&T and Verizon are small players? When will the FCC step in to help the smaller players in the landline voice business, such as Vonage and VOIP? (Hint: they won't.)
Cable has been the incumbent for so long that they have become the Microsoft of TV. If there is any complaining to be done, lets complain about the cable company. But as I said, most consumers don't know what they are complaining about. Let's look at the ramifications if every cable company switched to 100% digital tomorrow...which seems to be to be what people want. Let's do a step by step breakdown:
The infrastructure in most cable systems does not need a rebuild for digital, just a little headend work and some maintenence in the field to fix issues that will visibly affect digital but not analog (CPD, microreflections, etc...). So, BAM! Cable is all digital. What happens the next day?
Firstly, ALL TV's without a digital tuner go dark. Great-aunt Maryrose and Gramma Clara turn on their perfectly good 1988 Zenith, and get static. They now have to go buy new TV's to use cable service, because consumers demanded digital transmission. In fact, this WILL happen when the OTA conversion happens in 2009, but OTA viewers may get subsidized boxes. (It will be interesting to see the FCC enforce the separable security statute with that one.) Cable companies get to eat the cost. In fact, this week the FCC guaranteed that cable companies eat the cost for an additional 3 years. They mandated that all cable providers (coax based only) provide a viewable analog OR digital signal to all subscribers until 2012. Linkage (pdf warning) It would be easier to comply by sticking with analog signals for the mandate, but customers (and the FCC) are demanding digital broadcast.
"But wait," you say, "they can get a digital cable box and keep the older TV!" Well, sure, but then we get to hear about how the cable company is bleeding it's customers dry by charging for equipment. I call horseshit on this one. Cable companies charge an average $7.50 monthly lease fee for the box that costs them $300 upfront, plus maintenance and repair. In "only" 40 months of maintenance free operation of that box, the cable company breaks even. Yeah...that's certainly not what I would call milking the customer.
"Why can't they use a third-party box, like a TiVO?" you might ask. They certainly can but to access encrypted channels, the box will need CableCards, the abomination of technology that they are. I work in the billing department and since they are authorized through our billing software, I support and troubleshoot CableCARDs on a daily basis. They have potential, and would work SO much better if manufacturers would standardize on a set of firmware...but I'm diverging from the point. Besides, the bigger question is "WHY DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE MAKE A 3RD PARTY BOX?!" Personally, I think there is not currently a market for cable boxes. How much money did TiVO lose last quarter? Ah...only $17 million.
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I never knew Gene Roddenberry's first name was really 4659. "Gene" must be a stage name.
Plus, I'm not sure who this Nichols cat is, but Issac Asimov; I know. Now there's a sci-fi guy who's not afraid to use his real name!
I'm not sure what the capsaicin content of curry is, compared to a habanero, but here's two articles that provide decent sources:
http://www.nutrasanus.com/cayenne.html
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070720/20chilipeppers.htm?s_cid=rss:20chilipeppers.htm
This link gives you some sources straight from the National Institute of Health: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=Capsaicin+health+benefits+study+site%3ANih.gov&btnG=Search Everything from blood pressure to osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis has been studied lately, with interesting results.
Not bad at all.
Capsaicin typically only causes lower bowel irritation if improperly digested in the upper GI. My constitution seems to handle the wings just fine.
Dang - I hit submit instead of preview.
The "fun" I mentioned in the GP post was simply the wholesome pleasure of making a homemade natural "supplement". I was not talking about the "fun" that a few frat boys might try to have with some new crazy kind of homemade Absolut Peppar.
It's not taken for the fun. The alcohol acts as a solvent for the nonpolar capsaicin molecule. Water would not have the same effect. Making an alcohol-based tincture allows for concentrations not possible with water, due to the polar nature of water. It's really not a lot of work: Make it; wait for first batch to finish; drink occasionally; have next batch in the garage waiting. Quite useful for those who dislike curry and other spicy foods, such as myself (...and yet I love hot wings).
:)
I'll let the debate about alcohol's potential health benefits slide, as there have been fairly conclusive studies for both sides of the argument. Use only in moderation (Are you ready to Tanqueray?)
Excluding my closet addition to hot wings, I've been enjoying the benefits of capsicum for a few years now. I make a tincture of capsicum very similar to this one, listed in the 1918 USP Dispensary.
I use 15 fresh habanero peppers and 1 quart of the cheapest 90+ proof vodka I can find. Put them in a mason jar, seal TIGHTLY, and let sit for 4-6 months. Pour off the liquid and discard the peppers (or eat them, I guess, if you're insane). Store the tincture in the freezer. It should remain liquid even at 0 degrees or below due to the alcohol. That is why I use 90+ proof. Administer 1 ounce every few days. You HAVE to shoot it. The vodka should be super cold when you drink it, so the burn from the capsicum is minimized by the temperature and the quick drinking. I always feel a warm heat in my gut after a shot, as the capsicum gets absorbed.
Don't use this tincture daily or more often, as it can cause serious GI irritation in quantity. Believe me, you do NOT want to vomit the stuff. Just imagine shoving a peeled habanero into your nose/sinuses for an idea of the pleasure. Also, keep away from eyes.
This is cheaper than buying capsaicin tablets, and more fun, too! Challenge your buddies to a (single) shot of habanero sometime...Enjoy!
It already exists.
Visit Alice Cooper's Town in Phoenix, AZ if you ever get the chance. They serve Wings of Mass Destruction, the hottest wings I've ever eaten (and I love HOT wings). An order is a dozen wings. The first one makes your mouth and throat burn, the second one makes you want to die. If you make it that far, you're in the clear. At this point, your taste buds are so thrashed that you won't taste your meal. That's a pity, because their 1/2 pound Pepper Jack Cheeseburger is awesome. I only tasted the last three bites of it, though, since I ate 10 WMD's.
It took a full 4 or 5 hours for my sense of taste to return. No pain, though, after the 2nd wing. I'm definitely eating there again.
Oh wait...I see the comma now! Never mind.
You like to report them because you're an asshole.
-jcr
I typically don't defend assholes, but the two sentences are grammatically equivalent. One is written Cause --> Effect; the other, Effect ^-- Cause. Another slipup like this might get you sent back to Grammar Nazi boot camp. Achtung!
And for those interested, yes, I have worked extensively with fiber before, thanks for asking! :) Also, I work for a direct competitor of Verizon's FiOS offering. Thankfully, they haven't been granted franchises in any of our markets yet, so I can still say (semi-)decent things about FiOS.
Not any lawyers worth their salt, I'd imagine. Public easements are declared explicitly in property deeds and titles. They are a known burden (legal term, not in the typical sense of the word) when the owner bought the property, and any objections must be made and satisfied prior to sale. Now, if Verizon or Quest or Comcast were to install a feeder line or a customer drop through my property and outside the easement without permission, you would have the makings of a civil suit. However, rather than pay me rent into perpetuity, the operators would likely relocate the line into the easement, and settle for the reasonable cost of damage to the lawn.
Any further legal action (on the basis of an easement violation) would be frivolous and likely get dismissed from court.
Now I know why my laptop burns my legs whenever I use it...it literally IS always on...so that's what my power management was set to. I had no idea that affected the CPU frequency stepping. I guess i just had assumed that was something that scaled intelligently depending on load average or some other *CPU* metric, not a battery setting.
Of course, being WinXP, I should have realized that Foo is actually changed each time I use the GUI to modify the behavior of Bar 1 and Bar 2, which are completely separate system functions.
This is exactly how the workforce management application I work with passes its transactions. When I started the job, I knew nothing about the backend of the app, since I had only used it in the field, and thus seen the frontend. By the end of the day, I was reading log files and XML transactions as they flowed. I was able to understand the data and the schema immediately because it contains intelligently crafted tagnames and structure. Maybe not all XML is like this, but the gobbledygook I see each day is well formatted.
Prior to taking this job I had no experience with XML whatsoever, only a basic grasp of HTML. I still don't know much about XML, but at least I can read it.
If it's a Motorola 6400 series, I can tell you.
With the box on, press Power (turns it "off") then press Select within 4 seconds. This should take you to the User Settings menu.
If Power/Select takes you to the diagnostics, try Power/Menu. It's one or the other, I just cant recall which right now.
In my experience, it usually turns out that virtual channel 470 is just one of many digital subchannels living in the 6Mhz chunk of spectrum which lines up with analog EIA CH88 (or 78, 555 Mhz, in the system I used to work as a field tech).
And yes, HiTS is a crazy way to build channel maps. We only have a few HiTS systems left, and eventually they will migrate to our regionalized DACs.
Hey, I just tell it like it is. You DID make me think, though....Motorola's got to be making money hand over fist with all the kit we buy annually, especially with the 7/1/2007 separable security law in effect now.
As I mentioned in another post, DCT700's do not comply with the FCC's separable security mandate. In simple terms, they don't accept CableCards. Just another example of the cable Catch-22.
Fair enough! I agree, a-la-carte would be ideal. The technological implementation isn't too demanding (think Video on Demand). However, the challenge is getting content providers (ESPN/Discovery/Sci-Fi/Viacom) to agree to it at a cost that will not raise the subscriber's bill.
My numbers are certainly NOT wrong, and in fact were slightly low. Our dual-tuner DVRs cost just over $500 per unit, direct from MOTO. The DCT2524 is $300. http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dct2500_settop.asp We would have liked to move to the DCH-700 which is a slick little digital only box, but they do not comply with the FCC separable security
Surely, you know these are more than mere "zapper boxes" or frequency remodulators. At the minimum, dual QAM/analog tuners, diplex filters, return generator, FCC-mandated CableCard slot and corresponding software, and in the case of a DVR, a 160GB hard drive. Already we've blown past your $50 mark, just in required components. If you would like verification on pricing, call Motorola for a price quote. We buy in units of 1,000. I cannot provide the partner 800 number on a public forum, but I have verified that a little Googling will find it for you.
I also doubt ATSC digital is anymore complex than QAM/QPSK, especially since digital cable tuners have to determine on-the-fly whether the input is QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, or 256QAM. I think it's likely a draw, and we'll consider it a moot point.
Now, if you need an analog converter for a really old ghetto TV, (which is more along the lines of the example you've given) we've got so many of those in the local systems we don't even charge for them.
I agree with you mostly, but it seems to me that 2/3rds of your complaints lies with the ISP. With the current trend of packet-shaping and bandwidth caps from almost all major ISP's, how is that the cable company's fault? They are no more or less guilty of these un-customer-friendly practice than other ISPs.
On your third point, my employer would charge just $62.50/mo for the options you've described. $42.50 for basic (includes 6 unencrypted HD channels: ABC/NBC/FOX/CBS/ESPN/ESPN2), $19.95 for the DVR. The actual DVR monthly cost is $10, plus $9.95 for digital access, which pays our expenses for the license fees for the on screen guide and the 42 music channels/5 extra HD's (A&E/Discovery/NatGeo/2 which I can't remember) which come included. That said, I don't know who your provider is, but maybe I can guess. Cough...Comcastcough!
Are you sure you didn't mean $120/mo for HDDVR + basic cable + Internet + (possibly) phone?
I was merely trying to explain the position coax-based TV providers have been put in. I failed to expand on the Microsoft comparison, though. I had intended to add that just like Microsoft, cable companies get dragged through the mud even when actually trying to help the end user experience.
Then again, if cable = Microsoft, this would be Soviet Russia...TV watches YOU!
Disclaimer: As mentioned before, I do work for a cable company.
Americans can get their traditional TV through a number of different providers, but it boils down to just a few methods of delivery: direct from the broadcasters over the air, from a satellite, via fiber owned by a telephone company, or via a hybrid fiber/coax network owned by a cable company. Of these options, cable providers are caught in the crossfire of regulatory demands and consumers who don't know enough about the technology itself to know what they really want. You never hear these complaints about satellite/FTTH (FiOS), only because the nature of their medium requires all digital transmission. But is 100% digital always "better" for the consumer? The answer is clearly no, not always.
As I'll explain later, much of the FCC's time is spent regulating the coax providers to help the "smaller players". Really, now...AT&T and Verizon are small players? When will the FCC step in to help the smaller players in the landline voice business, such as Vonage and VOIP? (Hint: they won't.)
Cable has been the incumbent for so long that they have become the Microsoft of TV. If there is any complaining to be done, lets complain about the cable company. But as I said, most consumers don't know what they are complaining about. Let's look at the ramifications if every cable company switched to 100% digital tomorrow...which seems to be to be what people want. Let's do a step by step breakdown:
The infrastructure in most cable systems does not need a rebuild for digital, just a little headend work and some maintenence in the field to fix issues that will visibly affect digital but not analog (CPD, microreflections, etc...). So, BAM! Cable is all digital. What happens the next day?
Firstly, ALL TV's without a digital tuner go dark. Great-aunt Maryrose and Gramma Clara turn on their perfectly good 1988 Zenith, and get static. They now have to go buy new TV's to use cable service, because consumers demanded digital transmission. In fact, this WILL happen when the OTA conversion happens in 2009, but OTA viewers may get subsidized boxes. (It will be interesting to see the FCC enforce the separable security statute with that one.) Cable companies get to eat the cost. In fact, this week the FCC guaranteed that cable companies eat the cost for an additional 3 years. They mandated that all cable providers (coax based only) provide a viewable analog OR digital signal to all subscribers until 2012. Linkage (pdf warning) It would be easier to comply by sticking with analog signals for the mandate, but customers (and the FCC) are demanding digital broadcast.
"But wait," you say, "they can get a digital cable box and keep the older TV!" Well, sure, but then we get to hear about how the cable company is bleeding it's customers dry by charging for equipment. I call horseshit on this one. Cable companies charge an average $7.50 monthly lease fee for the box that costs them $300 upfront, plus maintenance and repair. In "only" 40 months of maintenance free operation of that box, the cable company breaks even. Yeah...that's certainly not what I would call milking the customer.
"Why can't they use a third-party box, like a TiVO?" you might ask. They certainly can but to access encrypted channels, the box will need CableCards, the abomination of technology that they are. I work in the billing department and since they are authorized through our billing software, I support and troubleshoot CableCARDs on a daily basis. They have potential, and would work SO much better if manufacturers would standardize on a set of firmware...but I'm diverging from the point. Besides, the bigger question is "WHY DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE MAKE A 3RD PARTY BOX?!" Personally, I think there is not currently a market for cable boxes. How much money did TiVO lose last quarter? Ah...only $17 million.
If true, this is the most conclusive proof I've ever seen for "It's a Small World".