Another Monopoly going down?

[Linux23]

It will never happen. Too much revenue on the line.

 

[brianmanahan]

 

[futurefields]

star wars monopoly was a joke, bout time they stopped making them

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

InfiniTV tuner + cablecard + Media Center extenders + MoCA adapters. I haven't paid for a set-top rental in 7 years. The initial upfront cost paid for itself long ago.

 

[BUTCH1]

well, I understand the car and battery fee for owners, when you pay for a service like....getting a new battery and new tires, but for rentals. That is new.

I wonder if there is some sort of explanation for this? Is it that the rental companies pay a greatly increased fee for this in maintaining the fleet, and it's simply a cost they pass on to customers?

I can see how they'd rather the customer blame the evil government for taxes! rather than just nudge that cost into the rental fee. But it's something every business does and something we, as Americans, expect I guess. Most countries, you just have a purchase price. That's it. For whatever reason, we have to know ever damn cent that we are paying and where it is going on every piece of paper that most of us never read anyway.

Well airlines charge extra for baggage and most people go meh, and just pony it up. We're all so used to getting corn-holed it's become the new norm.

 

[zinfamous]

I'd bet most rentals in Florida are to out of state visitors. State governments have no problem raising taxes on the backs of visitors. Its more politically palatable because those people don't vote in your state.

now that's a good point

 

[Red Squirrel]

What's funny is that you'd think with digitization of TV we'd be ahead, but the days of VCRs and analog cable were actually better in a lot of aspects. Faster TV channel switching, ability to record AND archive content... with PVR there's not really any easy way to get content off of it. My dad likes to keep stuff like hockey games or even news blurbs about stuff to be able to watch it many years later. If anything, for entertainment. One day he put on a 20 year old tape of just the local news station we used to have and we were making fun of everybody's hair. It was also quite nostalgic to see.

But now you'd think that everything is digital it would be easier and you could just connect to the PVR directly through a LAN IP and download files, but noooooo they have to go and make it super hard instead.

 

[lupi]

...Yet. :hmm:

and verizon has increased theirs to $5 each.

 

[tortillasoup]

What's funny is that you'd think with digitization of TV we'd be ahead, but the days of VCRs and analog cable were actually better in a lot of aspects. Faster TV channel switching, ability to record AND archive content... with PVR there's not really any easy way to get content off of it. My dad likes to keep stuff like hockey games or even news blurbs about stuff to be able to watch it many years later. If anything, for entertainment. One day he put on a 20 year old tape of just the local news station we used to have and we were making fun of everybody's hair. It was also quite nostalgic to see.

But now you'd think that everything is digital it would be easier and you could just connect to the PVR directly through a LAN IP and download files, but noooooo they have to go and make it super hard instead.

I agree.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

and verizon has increased theirs to $5 each.

Cable card from Fios was $6.99 for me last checked about a year ago.

I never get why they don't go after the low hanging fruit. Simply say 1st box free and whatever the additional box cost needs to be listed on the same line & same font/size as the monthly cost in all advertisements. I get the idea that cable is a package and they want an average cost, just make it upfront about the costs. I'm not saying this fixes the problem but the minimal competition we have should balance things out.

 

[bradly1101]

FCC to vote on proposal eliminating Cable company grip on set top boxes.


http://recode.net/2016/01/27/its-time-to-unlock-the-set-top-box-market/



He is correct in every point he makes and it is hard to say any unintended consequences would be worse than the status quo.

That has the potential to break my dependency on WMC.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

What's funny is that you'd think with digitization of TV we'd be ahead, but the days of VCRs and analog cable were actually better in a lot of aspects. Faster TV channel switching, ability to record AND archive content... with PVR there's not really any easy way to get content off of it. My dad likes to keep stuff like hockey games or even news blurbs about stuff to be able to watch it many years later. If anything, for entertainment. One day he put on a 20 year old tape of just the local news station we used to have and we were making fun of everybody's hair. It was also quite nostalgic to see.

But now you'd think that everything is digital it would be easier and you could just connect to the PVR directly through a LAN IP and download files, but noooooo they have to go and make it super hard instead.

Meh. You're romanticizing things. 480i/4:3 resolution. A broadcast format that was subject to interference. A recording medium that degraded over time. Trying to actually schedule recordings was a nightmare. Sorry, it just wasn't all that great.

The great thing about using Media Center and a cablecard is that on most cable systems you can archive content, except those programs marked as Copy Once, which is not all that common unless you are a Time-Warner subscriber.

As far as the thread topic we might see this in 5 years, if we are lucky. While the FCC makes some grand plans, they move slowly.

 

[dank69]

I'm really liking what the FCC has been doing lately.

Make sure to vote GOP so we can put a stop to that.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Make sure to vote GOP so we can put a stop to that.

<--- P&N is thataway

 

[dank69]

<--- P&N is thataway

FCC is the government...

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

FCC is the government...

Yes, they are. Being a partisan twit, however, is P&N.

 

[Raduque]

When I first moved to Midland, the cable provider I had was Suddenlink. The box they provided (and charged me for) was ugly and ran hot, the guide was slow and crappy only showing 3 channel listings at a time, AND it had ad banners at the bottom of the screen when in-guide. All that for a little over $100/mo, including a $6/mo rental fee for the crap box!

I own my own cable modem. Maybe someday we'll just be able to go buy a generic cable box at Walmart, plug it in, give the cable co. the serial or whatever and have TV without slow shitty guides, extra heat in the living room and no ad banners.

 

[dank69]

Yes, they are. Being a partisan twit, however, is P&N.

Are you calling me that because you don't believe that most of the GOP is against net neutrality and things like this?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Are you calling me that because you don't believe that most of the GOP is against net neutrality and things like this?

Not at all. I agree that the GOP is against all that is good in life, and that the Democrats are against most of which is good in life. However, those sentiments belong in P&N and should not pollute OT. Don't be a twit in here.

To quote the Offspring - "You gotta keep it separated."

 

[Brainonska511]

This might be really good for companies like Roku and TiVo if they can compete to be your cable box. This is also the kind of market change the Xbox One was built for.

I actually got a mailer two days ago from TWC trying to get me to switch from my existing provider (RCN), and one of TWC's advertised features was being able to use a roku instead of renting a box.

 

[JimKiler]

Ok...I will say it then. We are talking about Tom Wheeler here. I imagine whatever he proposes will be designed to do one thing, increase cable companies profits and control.

-KeithP

Except his department adopted net neutrality rules that the cable companies hate. Care to rephrase your comment?

 

[dank69]

Not at all. I agree that the GOP is against all that is good in life, and that the Democrats are against most of which is good in life. However, those sentiments belong in P&N and should not pollute OT. Don't be a twit in here.

To quote the Offspring - "You gotta keep it separated."

It isn't partisan to point out simple facts. It's only partisan when you allow your biases to affect how you interpret or spin the facts.

 

[vi edit]

I guess I don't really understand...I'm on Time Warner and use a Cable Card in a TiVo. What else am I supposed to get with this legislation?

 

[lupi]

The jist is that cable cards are going away replaced with a new mechanism easier to adopt to new technologies allowing a wider variety of consumer purchasable devices to enter the settop box/dvr market.

 

[Strk]

Who ever guessed Tom Wheeler wasn't going to be a giant dickbag? Or at least a dingo!

Madness!