FCC to review report that Cable Companies don't have enough competition

[lupi]

Aka this months no shit award.

 

[paulxcook]

Link?

And yes, let us all celebrate this announcement with a cheerful and resounding "DUH".

 

[brxndxn]

Hell yes..

Then again.. it's the FCC..

There's no fucking reason it should gost me $8/month in fees just to rent cable cards so I can have my own Tivo rather than their shitty Scientific Atlanta piece of crap.

Also, there's no reason I should be required to add Voip service if I want the fastest internet speeds they offer.

Also, I should not have to pay extra for HD service.. the FCC supposedly mandated against that.

Also, why the hell are all the HD channels compressed? They look shitty compared to REAL HD.

Why do I have to wait on hold for 30 minutes if I have a service issue?

Brighthouse, you fucking suck!!

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
Hell yes..

Then again.. it's the FCC..

There's no fucking reason it should gost me $8/month in fees just to rent cable cards so I can have my own Tivo rather than their shitty Scientific Atlanta piece of crap.

Also, there's no reason I should be required to add Voip service if I want the fastest internet speeds they offer.

Also, I should not have to pay extra for HD service.. the FCC supposedly mandated against that.

Also, why the hell are all the HD channels compressed? They look shitty compared to REAL HD.

Why do I have to wait on hold for 30 minutes if I have a service issue?

Brighthouse, you fucking suck!!

The irony of your Ron Paul link in your sig is overwhelming. Email Ron and ask him if he thinks that the Federal Government should be wasting time with regulating something as unnecessary as cable television.

 

[Kadarin]

The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

the FCC has been nothing but a revolving door of industry insiders for decades upon decades.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

The FCC chief is for regulation. The others on the FCC board are iffy.

 

[paulxcook]

This has nothing to do with cable companies, but still seems appropriate.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

i have been saying that for years.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

"The people" have a right to cable service? The whole reason this situation exists at all is because for most of the formative years of cable exclusive franchise rights were awarded to a single companies for a locality.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: Kadarin
The FCC will most likely side with the cable companies and let this quietly drop. It seems that for the most part, the US government no longer serves the people.

"The people" have a right to cable service? The whole reason this situation exists at all is because for most of the formative years of cable exclusive franchise rights were awarded to a single companies for a locality.

yeap. that was a huge mistake.

Growing up i remember reading about how comcast would screw the city year after year.

they would want to raise rates. the city would say no and threaten to bring in competition. Comcast would agree not to raise rates. So the city would give t hem another 1-2 year deal. within months of the sighning they would raise rates. the city would bitch and complain but nothing would be done about it.

 

[spidey07]

Cable has plenty of competition and it's only going to get more competitive as the telcos push into their markets with video and HD service to compete with triple-play. And with all the exciting things happening with so much broadband competition there is NO NEED to have the FCC mucking things up.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Cable has plenty of competition and it's only going to get more competitive as the telcos push into their markets with video and HD service to compete with triple-play. And with all the exciting things happening with so much broadband competition there is NO NEED to have the FCC mucking things up.

Agreed.

 

[mugs]

Cable companies have more competition than ever before. Two major satellite providers + AT&T & Verizon in many areas.

 

[Nitemare]

cable and utility companies have monopolies. I just don't think it's right that in order for me to get espn from the cable company I have to spend $55 a month

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: paulxcook
Link?

And yes, let us all celebrate this announcement with a cheerful and resounding "DUH".

Just heard it over a radio news report so don't have a hard link yet. They also made a mention about the FCC ppossibly getting involved in the time warner/comcast and nfl network dispute.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
cable and utility companies have monopolies. I just don't think it's right that in order for me to get espn from the cable company I have to spend $55 a month

How else do you propose you get it for less?

😕

 

[Linflas]

The whole reason the FCC is spouting off about this at all is because they are looking for a pretext to regulate cable the way they regulate broadcast television. They have no business sticking their nose in the cable business, TV cables are not "public airwaves", they are privately owned infrastructure and the FCC should have nothing more to say about them than what is an acceptible level of EMF emission from the cable plant.

FCC Could Extend Reach To Cable TV

That article should scare the hell out of everyone. An unelected government body can just vote itself regulatory power over an entire industry? And there is no way we can count on the 535 crooked pissants in the Capitol to stop it.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Haha. I mentioned how I hated the "local cable monopoly" to the woman signing me up for cable, and she went on a tirade, somehow equating the idea of cable competition with her being forced to share lottery winnings? 😕

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Nitemare
cable and utility companies have monopolies. I just don't think it's right that in order for me to get espn from the cable company I have to spend $55 a month

How else do you propose you get it for less?

😕

A la carte. I don't give a shit about HGTV, VH1, Sci-Fi and 90% of the other channels I have in my $60 package. Just give me my locals and let me choose the rest at a cost per channel.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Nitemare
cable and utility companies have monopolies. I just don't think it's right that in order for me to get espn from the cable company I have to spend $55 a month

How else do you propose you get it for less?

😕

A la carte. I don't give a shit about HGTV, VH1, Sci-Fi and 90% of the other channels I have in my $60 package. Just give me my locals and let me choose the rest at a cost per channel.

you do understand if it goes A la Carte you are going to pay more a month? unless you want one or two channels...

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Nitemare
cable and utility companies have monopolies. I just don't think it's right that in order for me to get espn from the cable company I have to spend $55 a month

How else do you propose you get it for less?

😕

A la carte. I don't give a shit about HGTV, VH1, Sci-Fi and 90% of the other channels I have in my $60 package. Just give me my locals and let me choose the rest at a cost per channel.

you do understand if it goes A la Carte you are going to pay more a month? unless you want one or two channels...

I'd like the option. Locals are free, you pay $15/month to use their lines. If I only cared about and watch 2 or 3 other channels outside of the locals then I could see it being a savings for me, even if I'm paying more per channel. At the same time they're still easily able to offer the packages for people who don't care to customize.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: Linflas
The whole reason the FCC is spouting off about this at all is because they are looking for a pretext to regulate cable the way they regulate broadcast television. They have no business sticking their nose in the cable business, TV cables are not "public airwaves", they are privately owned infrastructure and the FCC should have nothing more to say about them than what is an acceptible level of EMF emission from the cable plant.

FCC Could Extend Reach To Cable TV

That article should scare the hell out of everyone. An unelected government body can just vote itself regulatory power over an entire industry? And there is no way we can count on the 535 crooked pissants in the Capitol to stop it.

I feel dumb for not thinking of this.

 

[Agentbolt]

The only thing that bugs me is the lack of cable's competition against itself. The practice of carving out market areas for each provider and not allowing any other cable services to operate there is ridiculous. For cable TV, I have a chance of Comcast, or Comcast. Cox is literally 4 minutes away, explain please why I shouldn't be allowed to go with Cox? I'm currently stuck with horrible DSL service from Qwest because of this. Why'd I choose horrible Qwest service? Because it's better than the NO service I'd usually get from Comcast.

You really think Comcast would be content to sit around with their atrocious connections if their customers could go to Cox for their cable? That's the kind of competition I'd like to see.

 

[darkswordsman17]

This is a lose-lose situation. If they come in and start regulating them, then they'll jack up prices and whine and complain until the FCC regulates everyone else that competes with them, and will probably get the FCC into regulating the internet (since IPTV is set to take off soon). Then if they rule in favor of the cable companies, the FCC will probably regulate the companies competing with them, which will stifle competition and raise prices.