Cable attempt to take over the world, details not available, online service too poor.

ulukinatme

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I don't see that happening for a while. Sports are where the cable companies have decided to make their last stand. ESPN, which owns sports broadcasting in this country, has a very cozy relationship with them.

Yup, if it wasn't for fall football, I'd be done with my satellite all together. I used to have cable, Time Warner wanted way too much for a crap load of channels I never watch. I'm hoping a company will come out with an a la cart system, but part of the problem lies with the media giants that force these companies to buy in to all their crappy channels to go with their decent ones.
 

ulukinatme

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This video says it all. Forget politics. Think money; less of yours, more of theirs.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fpbOEoRrHyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2425156-the+rock+clapping.gif
 

NDohio

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Can't. Miss. Daily. Baseball.

Still waiting for a package that gets me just the sports I need at a sane price... and then we will almost certainly do away with cable.

Can't you get the MLB Channel through a Roku? I just got my Roku and remember seeing their app on the available channels. Probably expensive though .....
 

ACamp1900

Counting my ‘bet against ND’ winnings
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parents have Roku so I'll ask... though I doubt it, if you could they'd have been all over it already... it's not just MLB Network... it's Angel games specifically... I'd go into something similar to heroin withdrawal without my Angels… hell, yesterday’s off day was super annoying.
 
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parents have Roku so I'll ask... though I doubt it, if you could they'd have been all over it already... it's not just MLB Network... it's Angel games specifically... I'd go into something similar to heroin withdrawal without my Angels… hell, yesterday’s off day was super annoying.

dave-chappelle-cocaine-crack.jpg
 

Whiskeyjack

Mittens Margaritas Ante Porcos
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Can't you get the MLB Channel through a Roku? I just got my Roku and remember seeing their app on the available channels. Probably expensive though .....

Yup.

parents have Roku so I'll ask... though I doubt it, if you could they'd have been all over it already... it's not just MLB Network... it's Angel games specifically... I'd go into something similar to heroin withdrawal without my Angels… hell, yesterday’s off day was super annoying.

It's $100/ year.
 

ACamp1900

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that's not too bad... I'll def. have to look into getting other sports now... if it's cheaper than cable I'll def to it... have to confirm all post season games are a part of the package also...

one other possible hang up... these damned package offers...
 

Irish#1

Livin' Your Dream!
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One thing I have noticed over the years is that while cable/telephone providers sell you on speed, what is actually delivered to your modem is one thing and what is actually delivered by your router may be something else.

ISP-speeds-in-USA.jpg


Also, I know first hand that these companies throttle speeds at peak times to keep up with demand. Some companies are good at providing good speeds while others like TW are pretty awful. For example, Netflix accounts for 32% of data usage during peak times. This is a chart of speeds for Netflix service for two companies.:
primetimestreamingispcomparison.png

Companies sell you on speeds, but it's really about bandwidth. Cable modem service shares the same circuits with hundreds of customers. You'll notice it's faster during a weekday then it is after school gets out and the kids jump on their gaming systems. It's like having a 1,000 cars trying to merge onto a two lane highway. That's why they throttle speeds at times.
 

ulukinatme

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Damn, I was just coming to post that :laugh: 45,000 comments, and 300,000 e-mails. The next closest proposal only has 2000 comments.
 

MJ12666

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They don't pay taxes in Europe and Asia?

As far as I know Europe and Asia do not pay a USF tax. This tax was originally implemented in the US to subsidize the expansion of telephone service to sparsely populated areas of the country. That is obviously no longer necessary but the USF tax is still being assessed. While I have made business trips to Europe and Asia, I have never lived there so I do not have a direct knowledge as to whether they assess this type of tax, however, given the purpose of the tax I suspect they do not..
 

MJ12666

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I don't see that happening for a while. Sports are where the cable companies have decided to make their last stand. ESPN, which owns sports broadcasting in this country, has a very cozy relationship with them.

This is not true. ESPN and cable/telecommunications companies have an adversarial relationship. I would go so far as saying that the companies despise ESPN because the network is obviously popular and therefore can in effect dictate to the providers what they need to pay ESPN for their programming. The cable/telecommunication companies need to pay the fee and pretty much are required to include ESPN in their standard package because of popularity. I would hardly call this a "cozy" relationship.
 

MJ12666

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I understand everybody's perspective.

But technological gains in cost savings have not been passed on to customers.

If you are like I am, you pay a cable bill several times above what you did, or would have fifteen years ago (adjusted for inflation.) If the actual cost would follow an average between the hardware price, and delivery schedule that companies use for calculation of the cost of their own support services (not an exact science) the bill you would be paying would be about $7 per month for basic services. No argument can be made for subscription services, because that is more dependent on licensing fees.

And, as with everything from Microsoft products to certain hardware and infrastructure devices, manufacturers have been charging us, citizens of the United States for all development. Microsoft operating systems and many application products have been free elsewhere in the world.

Why is this important? The entire cost module certain companies have used are patently false.

Taxes? There is no equivalent scale for taxes, or frame of reference for comparison, as each country applies taxes differently. But many other countries do have triple the minimum wage or guaranteed income. Here the poor are becoming poorer, and companies richer.

This ignores the cost of upgrading the system. It is not as simple as simply inputting new software. For example the following is a list of cap spending from three large providers (all amounts are in millions):

2013 2012 2011
T: $20.9 $19.5 $20.1
VZ: $16.6 $16.2 $16.2
CMCSA: $8.5 $5.7 $5.3

Now if we were paying $7 per month we would be receiving any internet service or VoIP and probably only getting ABC, NBC, CBS, and local programming. What do you think ESPN provides their programming to service providers for free? They are constantly increasing their fee.

I am not sure what being poor has to do with this topic, but just for your information, the government subsidizes telephone and cable services to the "poor" in this country, which is just another disincentive for them to out and get a job.
 
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