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So I have Broadcast (which is even lower than the Basic Tier) cable because I watch little TV to begin with. I don't schedule time around when shows are on and have subscriptions to both Netflix and Hulu Plus. I watch some news in the morning before work, but that's about it for regular cable tv watching. 95% of the time I just watch things through Hulu/Netflix when I'm able to.
However I did notice last night that two channels (7 and 20 I think) are no longer viewable and have messages that they are no longer viewable without upgrading to a digital tier.
I find this laughable considering the 20 or so channels I do get are pretty horrible already. Mostly they are ad-networks trying to sell crap or Spanish channels. I think USA is the only good channel that the Broadcast Tier from TWC gives you. If I'm bored I'll usually put one of the Spanish networks on because it amuses me (and I don't even speak any Spanish).
I've about had it with Time Warner and think I'll just upgrade to higher tier of internet and cancel TV service from them all together. Especially now that I'm apparently paying for more channels than I'm receiving.
I tried calling to cancel earlier but there was a 20 minute wait time. I got tired of listing to the recording that "my business is important to them" and just hung up.
I just checked and I get the same message when I go to channel 7 and 20. The things is, I never watched those channels. What were they? I still have ABC, CBS, NBC, USA, TBS, FOX, PBS.
My guess is they'll end up putting other channels there eventually. The ones I noticed that were gone were ones that I never really watch anyway. A couple that I hope they put on basic are Travel and maybe the Science. We only have a digital box on the TV in the living room and I like having something like Travel or Science on in the background while I'm in my office or when I'm falling asleep
I did notice that Comedy Central HD and Spike HD were coming in November.
My coworker told me they moved ESPN Classic to a different tier as well and called her asking her to upgrade in order to keep it. All I could say was "Wow".
I just checked and I get the same message when I go to channel 7 and 20. The things is, I never watched those channels. What were they? I still have ABC, CBS, NBC, USA, TBS, FOX, PBS.
I think 7 was C-SPAN2 and 20 was Shop NBC. That's probably why you didn't watch them. What's basically happening is they are slowly phasing out anything useful on the Broadcast Tier and replacing the channels with foreign/shopping networks.
4 channels have left the building as of 9/30....C-Span2, ShopNBC, Oxygen and the Soap channel have been moved out of range of anyone trying to get cable directly from the wall and not via the rented digital box. I only have one that came with a package and since they're going to start weeding channels out from people who refuse to rent the digital box, I look forward to seeing how many customers they weed out too. I'll be one of them.
Eventually all of the analog channels are going away. The bandwidth required to provide 1 analog channel is equivalent to around 12 digital channels, or around 4 digital HD channels. So there is a strong motivation to get rid of the analog channels and move them into the digial tier. Plus, TWC will be able to require all their customers to rent digital cable boxes for $$.
[quote=dedratermi;16125718
Plus, TWC will be able to require all their customers to rent digital cable boxes for $$.[/quote]
One of the reasons I have stayed with cable over the years is that I have multiple TVs that are direct connected with coax. By forcing consumers to get a box for each TV, they are losing one of the competitive advantages they had over satellite. Of course, they are finally starting to see some competition from NetFlix and other Internet based services, so we will see if they start lowering prices.
Hubby was watching a ballgame so I went upstairs to watch SNAPPED. I got the same message! It is channel 55, Oxygen. Hubby says I can still watch it downstairs since that TV has box but he is talking about switching from Time Warner, as well.
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