Cox is notorious for doing this -- they randomly increase fees here by a buck or two every few months. When pressed for a 'why?' they just rudely tell you you're free to go elsewhere if you don't like it. And I only get their Internet service...
Cheers Kon On Oct 30, 2008, at 9:32 PM, Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There a number of ways cablcos are doing stealth price increases. Following a thread on AVS today I checked my bill and then emailed Cox cable to find I no longer get the broadband discount for having limited basic cable. I don't know when it disappeared.This weekend will be dedicated to antennas and getting digital OTA working again as I anticipate canceling my cable TV next week if at all possible.- Tom Manfredi, Albert E wrote:Craig Birkmaier posted: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6609840.html?display=Breaking +News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228 Martin Slams Cable on Pricing, Bundling FCC chairman backs Consumers Union complaints to Congress about cable industry By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/30/2008 9:33:00 AM [ ... ] "We have also received complaints that cable companies are movingchannels to a digital-only tier and charging consumers the same monthlyrate for a reduced number of channels. If consumers wish to continue watching the same channels that they were before, they must now buy a more expensive package or rent more expensive equipment. This is an unfortunate trend for families facing increasingly difficult economic times."The National Cable & Telecommunications Association saw it differently. Calling the group "off base," NCTA said: "CU completely misses the realreason that more consumers are enjoying digital cable - because it provides a valuable and diverse range of programming, high-definitionvideo and interactive services that the entire family can enjoy. During today's tough economic climate, the significant price savings offered by cable's triple play bundle of video, broadband and phone service is evenmore valuable to consumers." ------------------------------ I heard this piece on the news today. A very interesting development, and should not come as a surprise. Cable companies using consumer confusion on the analog switchoff to their advantage.Note: the FCC does require cable companies to retain an analog tier, or other means to support analog sets, until 2012. But with no mandate on how many channels such an analog tier, or D/A conversion of basic cablechannels, has to support. So cable companies are doing what any profit-motivated company would do.This could be the sort of thing that keeps the balance between MVPDs and FOTA TV, though. It's not at all a bad thing, overall. Unless, that is,you want to kill off OTA TV. I did post a note to the FCC on the white space vote coming up, btw. I'll let you guess what "side" I was on. Bert--- -------------------------------------------------------------------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.
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