No; there hasn't been an HBO or Showtime promotion in San Diego in about 10 years -- probably longer. I noticed this situation first time a few years ago. I noticed it again recently. All I can say is that every time I checked, the HBO-in-the-clear channel was there. Ala carte cable destroys the gatekeeper model of cable. Since it's really their only intangible asset, they play it. Destroying it isn't a bad idea. John Willkie -----Original Message----- >From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx> >Sent: Jun 8, 2008 5:04 AM >To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [opendtv] Re: News: The Real Fight Over Fake News > >At 10:18 PM -0700 6/7/08, John Willkie wrote: >> If you are able to watch at least one channel that should have been >>encrypted, that's simply the problem/fault of the cable company. > > From time to time the cable companies put HBO or other premium >channels in the clear for promotional purposes. Perhaps the clear QAM >version was just a promotion where they removed the encryption for a >weekend? > >> >>I kind of wonder how cable is able to charge for digital when you >>have access to many digital cable channels when you hook up a DTV >>receiver to cable. > >Actually, when you subscribe to digital cable on most systems you are >required to choose one or more tiers, which you typically pay for. >With digital cable the cable company can enable/disable channels on >an individual basis via the STB - a critical part of the two-way >cable agreement. So you do not gain access to the digital channels >unless they program the system to allow you to view them. > >Cable has used this argument to fend off the ala carte overtures of >the FCC and public interest groups. In essence they have said that >they cannot offer ala carte until every subscriber has a conditional >access box. The fact that DBS cab enable/disable channels on an >individual basis but still offers programming packages says volumes. > >THEY COULD EASILY offer ala carte but do not. One would think that >they would jump on this opportunity as it is a major CURRENT >advantage over cable. But they go along with the same bundling >schemes because that's what the congloms want, and they make a little >more money too. > >Regards >Craig > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: > >- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at >FreeLists.org > >- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word >unsubscribe in the subject line. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.