Billions of dollars are spent every year providing power to the nation’s cable boxes, much of it consumed when the boxes aren’t being actively used. A group of 15 cable companies and box manufacturers have agreed to changes that will — eventually — save around $1.5 billion each year in electric bills, but some say it’s all just a lot of hot air. [More]
Cable Industry Claims Next Generation Of Set-Top Boxes Won’t Use More Electricity Than Refrigerators
By December 6, 2012
You'll Take The Cable Box Comcast Gives You And You'll Like It
By April 24, 2012
Nancy wants to put a small TV in her kitchen, but there isn’t room for a full ginormous cable box. That’s okay, though: her cable provider, Comcast, makes a special mini box for tiny televisions in tight spaces. The problem is that if you want one, you have to just cross your fingers and hope that the installer happens to have one in their truck that day. You can’t order it, and you can’t even show up at a local Kabletown outpost to pick one up: there’s no guarantee they’ll have one. No, you have to use what your installer shows up with. And you’ll have to like it. [More]
Cable Boxes Slurp More Electricity Than Refrigerators
By June 27, 2011
The biggest energy hog in your house is probably sitting right under your TV. That little ol’ set-top box could be using up more electricity in your house than your refrigerator or central air conditioning, according to a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council. [More]
Cable Company Asks For Cable Boxes From Alabama Tornado Victims Before Reconsidering
By May 23, 2011
After tornadoes swept through Alabama last month, killing hundreds of people and ravaging homes, cable company Charter Communications showed its priorities by asking victims to look around for their cable boxes so they could return them, lest they face hefty fines. The cable company later changed course and decided to credit victims for lost or damaged equipment. [More]
Comcast Charges $2 For You To Deliver Their Cable Boxes
By August 11, 2010
Comcast may have sent you a shiny new digital cable box for free, but that doesn’t mean that you can give it back for free. If you want to de-clutter your house and bring your box back, you’re going to have to pay up. An anonymous reader tells the Consumerist phone tipline that Comcast charged him $1.99 to take his spare cable boxes off his hands. [More]
Time Warner Cable: Thanks For Ordering Cable, But We Won't Have HD Boxes Until June
By March 2, 2010
Reader CJ decided to order cable after not having it for several years. Turns out Time Warner Cable in LA is out of HD cable boxes… until June. [More]
This Mediacom Cable Box Comes With Invisible Roommate Who Keeps Ordering Porn
By January 21, 2010
Lesley lives alone, and says that despite what any Mediacom CSRs may think, she hasn’t been consistently ordering adult movies for the past three months. [More]
Indie Flicks Now Come To Cable Boxes As Soon As They Hit Theaters
By June 18, 2009
It used to be Steven Soderbergh who could get away with bringing indie films to cable on-demand services on their theatrical opening day
Subscriber Sues Comcast For Requiring Customers To Rent Cable Boxes
By February 13, 2009
Hate renting set-top boxes from Comcast? So does one San Francisco Comcast subscriber. He’s suing, claiming that the rental fees are far in excess of what the boxes would be worth on the open market.
Comcast: Fire Destroyed Your Cable Box? Pay Up.
By August 21, 2008
Here’s one more thing to worry about when a fire destroys your home — Comcast.
Man Files Antitrust Suit Against Time Warner Over Forced Cable Box Rentals
By August 13, 2008
Matthew Meeds of Fairway, Kansas, doesn’t want to pay Time Warner Cable a monthly rental fee for his cable box—he’d rather own one outright. He’s filed suit against the cable provider and its parent company, Time Warner, Inc., accusing them of establishing an illegal tying arrangement by making the box rental a condition of the subscription agreement. He’s seeking class-action status for all TWC premium customers in Kansas.
