time warner cable
According to a tipster, Time Warner Cable resets their complaint list every three months, allowing users with shoddy service to continually request perks like free premium channels year-round without reprisal.
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complaints
UPDATE:
Comcast Responds To Yesterday's Article, Waives $1.99 Fee
Reader Jonathon wanted to cancel his HBO so he contacted one of Comcast's infamously useless online customer service representatives. CSR Adam informed Jonathon that to cancel HBO would cost him a fee of $1.99. He asked to speak to a supervisor to get the fee waived but CSR Adam said that would be impossible. The CSR then pointed out that there would be no charge to cancel Comcast's service altogether. Decisions, decisions. Jonathon's letter and chat log, inside...
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fair use
When Dean recorded HBO's new Tom Hanks-produced miniseries "John Adams"—which is
not a pay-per-view or on-demand program—he was surprised to see
it was flagged by Tivo's Macrovision software, which controls how many times you may watch a program and how long you can store it before it's automatically deleted. Now the question is, was this a mistake on the part of HBO or Dean's cable provider Comcast? Or—considering HBO's infamous
anti-consumer stance on time-shifted programming—is it the beginning of a sneaky "back-door" approach to locking down all their content, something Tivo's own people said would
probably not happen when they added Macrovision to their recorders in 2004?
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go to bed early
Reader Steve says Comcast has dropped the west coast feeds on his premium channels without telling him about it. Now his sadness can not be quantified.
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cancellations
More than a few HBO subscribers were enraged by Sunday's series finale and immediately raced to flood HBO's email boxes with complaints—enough that according to LAWeekly, the volume of whiners crashed HBO's website. From LAWeekly:
Either way, it was terrible. Apparently, my extreme reaction was typical of many series' fans: they crashed HBO's website for a time tonight trying to register their outrage. HBO could suffer a wave of cancellations as a result. (Already, the pay channel's replacement series like John from Cincinnati are getting panned.) Chase clearly didn't give a damn about his fans. Instead, he crapped in their faces. This is why America hates Hollywood.
...
This was whimpering. If you're angry at wasting an hour, complain with your wallets.
The Sopranos finale was most notable to this website because it was being used in a thumbscrew-like fashion to "suggest" that analog cable subscribers switch to digital. Comcast, in particular, took HBO off analog cable to coincide with the finale, in the hopes that analog subscribers would switch. Now, oh boy, are people mad.
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copyright
Get ready for DCE, or "Digital Consumer Enablement", HBO's new name for DRM. HBO's CTO Bob Zitter says DRM is a misnomer, because the technology "allows consumers "to use content in ways they haven't before."
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marketing
Delta. Yesterday you were bankrupt, today you're talking about HBO and alcohol.
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ads
From Ad Age:
HBO will offer complimentary bottles of "Rome" cabernet sauvignon at more than 100 eateries in the three cities [LA, Chicago, New York] to promote the second-season launch of its sex-blood-and-togas series, debuting Jan. 14. But rather than have restaurant servers introduce the product by saying "And our house wine tonight is brought to you by HBO," consumers will be presented with a polite card at their tables: "A taste of 'Rome' awaits you. Ask server for details."
A taste of Rome? If, by Rome, you mean "California."
Though intended to give diners an authentic taste of the show's premise, the "Rome" wine was not shipped in from Italy; it was produced in California. HBO's senior VP-consumer marketing, Courteney Monroe, was unable to secure an Italian wine vendor, but she doesn't believe the promotion fails logistically.
Uh, right.
—MEGHANN MARCO
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Consumerist
