I love cable TV. With all my heart and soul. I love paying for TV. I think it's great that I can get a bill in the mail for things I don't use, like Lifetime, Telemundo and The Hallmark channel. I am, however, oddly attracted to strange channels like Weatherscan. I can get radar, weather conditions and a forecast without having to wait for The Weather Channel's "Local on the 8's."
Imagine my surprise when I flipped on the TV and it was gone, along with the MLB Network and ESPN News. Perplexed, I called Comcast to find out why the screen said "Access denied."
The phone rep told me that they were part of their Digital Preferred package, and I only had Digital Standard. I wondered why I've had the MLB Network since its inception and I've had Weatherscan since I bought the digital converter box a year and a half ago. They seemed like odd channels to have as part of a "preferred" package, and as far as I was concerned, they were just basic digital channels.
She could switch me over (for a fee) to the preferred package, but could offer no explanation as to why I've had these channels before. She said, "People call all the time and wonder why they don't have HBO anymore. They never subscribed to it, but they miss it when it's taken from them."
"I'd know whether I was getting a pay channel like HBO, but Weatherscan doesn't strike me as a preferred channel. It's the weather. Honestly, I don't think most people know which channels are included in their cable packages. I didn't know that those three channels weren't in my standard digital cable package."
It probably goes back to last week, when I responded to an offer to get Starz for free because Comcast is taking the NFL Network away. When they flipped that switch, another one may have been flipped. There a lot of switches.
She then went on a long-winded monologue about how Comcast is going to be switching a lot of channels over to a set of digital channels - apart from the digital conversion that is coming in June. They're looking to add more digital channels. It sounds like they're responding to competition from Verizon FiOs and the satellite providers.
I'm not sure if charging extra for a weather channel is a idea.
2 comments:
We've been digital for a number of months now. It's not all it's cracked up to be. I especially like it when the picture freezes yet the audio continues for 5 or 6 seconds, the the picture resets itself.
We get 101 channels. More than half are all showing the same thing, just at different times.
This Weatherscan sounds fascinating. I could watch stuff like that for hours...especially during bad weather.
i have FiOs and will not ever go back to cable.
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