[opendtv] Re: News: The Real Fight Over Fake News

  • From: John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 18:11:45 -0700 (GMT-07:00)

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.

Other related posts: