[YouTube via The Soup Blog]

...the five FCC Commissioners and other Commission staff will fan out to [selected] markets to raise awareness and educate consumers.

Dear FCC, please please please let these commissioners show up with cheezy t-shirts pulled on over their normal button-and-collar shirts. In fact, t-shirts for everyone! This is America, after all.

The FCC says they'll visit every market "in which more than 100,000 households, or at least 15 percent of the households, rely solely on over-the-air signals for television."

At each stop, there will be a public event, such as a town hall meeting, workshop, or roundtable, with an FCC Commissioner to highlight the digital transition, and be available to local press. In coordination with these visits, the FCC will work with local broadcasters and radio stations to increase the broadcasts of radio and TV DTV PSAs. All combined, this outreach is designed to educate consumers in these DMAs and especially those groups that are most vulnerable in the transition: Seniors, People Living in Tribal and Rural Areas, People with Disabilities, Individuals with Low-Incomes, Minorities and Non-English Speakers

It may sound like overkill, but then again the people most likely to be confused about it are probably the ones least likely to be online hitting sites like Consumerist and Gizmodo.

When will a commissioner be coming to your town? The FTC site doesn't have info up yet, but you can probably check back at http://www.dtv.gov/ for more information.

To Enlighten All Regarding The Digital TV Transition" [SatNews]

Universal TechTronics calls the converter box the "Miracle ClearView TV," and promises "No Bills: New ClearView TV receives free channels, no need to pay for cable to get the new digital picture quality and sound." These guys really like the word "miracle."

"They’re really targeting the senior citizens who are going to be confused and not up-to-date on the technology,'' said Alison Preszler, a spokeswoman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

The ad is designed to look like a news article and features that smiling older gentleman displaying his actual warranty certificates. The Better Business Bureau has seen the ad appear in newspapers in Portland, Ore.; Memphis, Tenn.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Charlotte, N.C.; and the state of Ohio.

"Think twice before buying a digital TV converter box from this man" [Los Angeles Times] (Thanks to Paul!)
RELATED
"BBB warns of DTV converter-box scam" [Consumer Reports]
"A Sucker Is Converted Every Minute"
(Image: Los Angeles Times)

Larry writes:

I just attempted to buy, at Circuit City, using my charge card, and one of the $40.00 government-provided coupons, a TV converter box. After swiping both cards, the sales clerk presented me with two printouts to sign. One was for $21.19 and the other was for $40.00. Of course the $21.19 was the one for the difference between the purchase price minus the government coupon (plus the sales tax). Both printouts ended with this statement:

"The cardholder agrees to the credit card amount shown hereon and agrees to perform the obligations set forth in the cardholder agreement with the issuer."

I refused to sign the one for $40.00. I spoke with the manager, Kim, (whose last name is "the only Kim in the store") to cancel the transaction. She said she couldn't and insisted that I sign both printouts. I could see this was going to turn into an issue so I quickly pocketed both unsigned receipts, the government coupon card, and my credit card and left while Kim was threatening to call the police. NOTE: I removed no merchandise from the store.

As I was driving away, Kim was standing outside writing down my license number and talking on her cell.

The government is distributing $40 coupons to subsidize converter boxes that will allow people to watch television over-the-air after February 17, 2009, when all broadcast signals switch from analog to digital.

Retailers are required to accept the coupons, and customers are required to sign a slip so the coupon can be redeemed. For some mindless reason, Circuit City is using a credit card agreement as their signature slip, and making it appear as if the customer is about to pay an extra $40.

Circuit City already called Larry to tell him that his $21 charge would be reversed. As for his $40 coupon, apparently, it will be "refunded to the government."

One page illustrates the difference between standard definition 480p and HD 1080p by asking the reader to "take your crayon and draw 480 dots inside this TV," then "take a different color crayon and draw 1,080 dots inside this HDTV." Aha! Also included is a Blu-Ray maze; it took us a few tries to complete it, but we feel like we now have a better understanding of HDTV, 1080p versus 1080i, and upconverting.

Free Coloring Book - HD for Kids! [NonToxicReviews]

Comcast Treats M-Card as Two CableCARDs, Bills Accordingly [Christopher Price]

The starting point for comparison is 1996, when Congress deregulated the telecom industry, ostensibly to spur competition. Startups and cable companies quickly trammelled the telecoms' ability to dictate prices, but nobody emerged to take on cable.

Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the F.C.C., said in an interview that since 1996, when Congress increased competition in telecommunications, prices have dropped for many other services.

“We’ve seen the opposite occur in the cable industry,” he said. “The dramatic increases in pricing we’ve seen are one of the most troubling issues from a consumer point of view.”

In 2007, average monthly revenue for each Cablevision subscriber was $75, up from $65 in 2005, according to SNL Kagan, a research company. At Time Warner it was $64, up from $54.50.

The industry isn't changing its prices or practices because consumers aren't changing their habits.

“I work eight hours a day facing a computer. When I come home, the last thing I want to do is mess with another computer,” said Eric Yu, 24, a college student in San Francisco who pays around $80 a month for cable.

Mr. Yu said he watches only a handful of channels, including some in high definition like National Geographic. But to get them, he has to pay for a premium package. “I just pay the bill and try to forget about it,” he said. “It lessens the pain.”

Well, some are...

Evelyn Tan, 22, a friend of Mr. Yu, takes a different approach. She pays Comcast $33 a month for Internet access and does not get cable television — but she does watch TV programming.

In fact, she watches ABC shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Gray’s Anatomy,” which are free on the Web. When she wants to watch shows or movies that are not readily available online, she says she easily pirates them. “I would not pay for cable TV at all,” she said.

A la carte programming isn't coming anytime soon, but the monopolistic anti-consumer juggernaut Verizon might provide some relief as it elbows its way into the television business. While Verizon is no better than its cable competitors, its arrival opens a brief window for competition by allowing consumers play one giant against the other to eek out slight savings on cable programming.

Of course, those slight savings might only bring your rates closer to what you were paying two or three years ago. Neither the Times nor the FCC think cable is worth the cost. What do you think?

Cable Prices Keep Rising; Customers Keep Paying [NYT]
(Photo: Getty)

Gil was stuck in an American Airlines Admiral's Club for 5 hours waiting for his flight back to L.A., so he tried to access the South Park website to help pass the time. What he got instead was the screen here, saying that the site had been blocked because it's considered "tasteless." We've seen the same message at a Cosi restaurant in NYC. Thanks, companies, for protecting our delicate sensibilities! We're going to go get the vapors now.

Here's Gil's account:

I'm stuck in the Admiral's Club in Narita Airport for another 5 hours in Japan because AA cancelled my flight to LA. To kill time I figured I catch up on my South Park episodes and watch the last few shows. I type in www.southparkstudios and settle in for some quality comedy and satire, but then I get the attached message from AA's network nannies.
 
Tasteless? Who decided that? What makes this almost sublimely ironic is the picture of the naughty Japanese lady cop they use as an image for the blocking page. They apparently consider that tasteful.
 
I went through to see what else they block but couldn't find anything else. Apparently serial killing (Dexter), selling dope (Weeds), trashy evening soaps (Desperate Housewives), and crappy South Park wannabees (Family Guy) are considered acceptable.

Just for the hell of it, we went to the Fortinet website (fortiguardcenter.com) and requested a review of their classification on southparkstudios.com. Their drop-down list of possible categories for web content is amusing all by itself—it's a compendium of Things That People Take Offense At, from abortion to homosexuality to marijuana to tobacco.

Judging from the number of comments, I get the feeling that this will be welcome news for baseball fans that are, or are considering becoming, FiOS TV subscribers.

We are currently working with MLB Extra Innings and we’re optimistic that we’ll begin offering the package soon. It won’t be everywhere, all at once unfortunately, but we are working hard to get MLB EI on FiOS TV for as many fans as we can as soon as possible.

Though Verizon didn't actually announce anything in the post, it was picked up by a few blogs and websites and more than a few Verizon customers and potential Verizon customers took the post's headline to heart, signing up for FiOS with the belief that Extra Innings would be available by the start of the 2008 season.

The "announcement" (or lack thereof) turned out to be premature and for months a steady stream of enraged baseball fans have been leaving vicious comments on Verizon's post. Here are a few:

Thanks for getting us jacked up for nothing.

Well, since the season starts tomorrow morning, I signed up for MLB EI through Cablevision this season. By draging your heals, Fios has lost out on this willing subscriber for another 7 months. I'll check in with you again next winter - hopefully the landscape will have settled somewhat by then. I can only switch if I can be sure I will be able to get MLB EI. It seems silly to give up customers like me who will pay tons of money for extra services, but so be it.

I too have left and contacted Directv as the seasons starts tomorrow. you've lost another customer not so much becuase you didnt get the deal done but becuase you've mislead us. i would have just signed up for mlb.tv if it werent for your misleading statements.

Wow, Red Sox kicked off the season today and I'm sitting here in Portland, OR with no Extra Innings even though I was told the package would be offered when I agreed to leave Comcast.....If I knew it was going to be like this I would have never left as now I have NO Red Sox games probably for the season!

Please send information about MLB Extra Innings. My husband almost divorced me last year because I switched our TV service to you guys and then I couldn't get extra innings. If you don't get it this year, I will be forced to discontinue service with you and start up with our cable company that does offer extra innings.

Very disappointing Eric. Why would you EVER make an announcement like this and then go to ground and ignore us. I have bounced around among a number of cable companies over the years as I move from place to place and each one is more disappointing than the next. But, this takes the cake. You started this thread - you owe us an explanation IMMEDIATELY!

Why would you even announce that last month unless a deal was imminent. That was a reckless act by whoever authorized it. I'm guessing the reason why we haven't heard from Eric again, is b/c he's been fired. The only legitimate reason for announcing the potential deal that I've read on this blog, was to keep people around for at least one more month. What a terrible way to do business.

What really makes me angry is that back in January, the salesman that sold me Fios told me that Fios would be getting EI. Had I known, I would not have switched.

No salesman should ever promise something like that just to make a sale, that is just bad business...I should have known better as he also said that Fios would be getting Sunday ticket in '09. I am not holding my breath on that one either.

You'd think at some point Verizon would decide enough is enough and treat their subscriber's interests as a priority. While they're debating how they'll split up millions, the baseball season is now well under way. You guys had all winter to hammer this out and you didn't. When I signed up for Verizon I was specifically told they'd have the EI package, so I left Comcast and signed up, thinking I was sacrificing nothing. Baseball is an important part of cable for a lot of viewers, and we're willing to pay hundreds of dollars a year to watch these games. Wake up, Verizon. We're sitting here willing to give you our money. Wait much longer, and I, like a lot of others, will just walk away. This is one of the most despicable things I've ever seen a cable company do, promise their customers over and over a service is coming yet never delivering it.

This was a total scam on your part and you should be ashamed of yourself. I live in the Boston area and if you don't have EI by May, I am going back to Comcast.

The last update on Verizon's blog instructed the angry customers to order MLB.TV (Major League Baseball's internet service) in lieu of Extra Innings. FiOS customers could then "see games with the broadband speed and clarity that FiOS makes," whatever that means.

Did a Verizon CSR promise you Extra Innings when you switched to FiOS?

MLB Coming to FiOS, Mom and Apple Pie Rejoice! [Verizon Policy Blog]

"We really do literally have five or six major corporations in this country that determine for the most part what Americans see, hear and read every day," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), the lead sponsor of the resolution. "I don't think that's healthy for our country."

Dorgan has 25 senators behind his bill, including Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, and is confident it will pass the Senate. A similar bill has been proposed in the House.

The Bush administration has threatened a veto, but Dorgan could try to attach the resolution to a must-pass bill to make it harder for the White House to block.

Senate panel moves against FCC media-ownership rules [L.A. Times]
S.J. 28 - A Joint Resolution Disapproving The Rule Submitted By The Federal Communications Commission With Respect To Broadcast Media Ownership [THOMAS]
Write Your Senator
Write Your Representative
PREVIOUSLY: How To Write To Congress
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Best Buy told the Chicago Tribune that they were "extremely disappointed" by the fine because they'd made a good faith effort to pull all analog-only tuners off the sales floor last October. As for some of the other companies, "Wal-Mart did not immediately comment, while a message to Sears was not returned." That's probably because Sears' phone has been disconnected for failure to pay its bill.

"Sears, Wal-Mart, others fined for analog TV labeling" [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to Tim!)
(Photo: Getty)

3. Current devices are bound to get cheaper.
2. Better and less expensive units are coming down the pike.
1. The coupon expires in 3 months.

Don't sign up for your $40 DTV converter box coupon—yet [Crave]
[dtv2009.com]

Update: Missdona has provided a couple of useful links in the comments below. If you experience similar issues with select programs being incorrectly DRMed, check out these threads for advice on how to resolve the situation.

Here's what Dean experienced:

"This morning, my kids and I decided to watch a TiVo HD recording we made last night of The Making of John Adams. This is the new upcoming mini-series by Tom Hanks and others about the lives and accomplishments of John Adams. When we started watching it, I first found that the TiVo had flagged it for mandatory auto-deletion within a few hours of being deleted, due to 'copyright policies.' Hmm - never saw that one before.
 
After about 5 minutes watching, my oldest son came into the room, and we decided to start it over so he could enjoy it. What I found was something I've never seen before and has me pretty frosted. When I backed up to the beginning and attempted to watch it again, TiVo would not allow me to - again stating that it had violated copyright policies. After countless attempts at forward and reverse moves, we found that we could now not watch any portion of the show! I rebooted the TiVo, and found the same thing. No can do - the TiVo/HBO/Comcast programming had locked it from being viewed again! Then as promised at 11:29am EST, it deleted from my hard drive and there was nothing I could do about it.

In this Wired interview from November 2004, Tivo's general counsel assured the public that it was unlikely (ha!) that content providers would take advantage of the Macrovision technology to restrict recording of regular programming:

What if the higher-value content is just the beginning? This could be a Trojan horse.
That would be a violent blow to consumer flexibility. You could end up in a situation where different products by different manufacturers would have different rules. I don't think we would go along with it.
 
With the cable companies in bed with the studios, TiVo could be the last line of defense for the DVR as we know it.
Sometimes I feel that way. We're aware of the danger, and the slippery slope. The danger is that DRM can tilt the balance of copyright so that ultimately there's no concept of fair use, because the content owners dictate what the rules are. But I think content owners are beginning to recognize that if you make things too restrictive, then consumers will find nonlegal ways to achieve what they want.

"UPDATED: HBO's new miniseries IS locked down for TiVo recording" [The Culture of Ownership] (Thanks to Missdona!)

RELATED
"Has TiVo Forsaken Us?" [Wired]
(Photo: Culture of Ownership)

Here are some of the issues with FiOS TV that I've run into over the course of the past year:

• chronic "tiling" and image degradation since Q2/Q3 2007
• audio/video "freezing" and "dropouts" * numerous canceled technician appointments
• complete loss of all three services (POTS, internet, TV) on two separate occasions - services down anywhere from 24-72 hours
• clueless, unresponsive technical support
• "tiling" on HBO video on demand

For the non-techies, "tiling" is a term used to describe when the image becomes distorted and is broken up into little blocks.

(For a detailed history of all the problems I have experienced with FiOS since March 2007, see my full review of the service at dslreports.com: according to technical support, I have 55 unique support tickets under my name, the majority of which are related to problems with FiOS TV.)

Since March 2007, I have been forced to use the "nuclear option" - contacting Verizon's "Presidential Appeals" department - on two separate occasions, as their first-level technical support was unable to resolve anything in a timely manner. So far, the appeals department is 0 for 2 - each time, the problem was not resolved.

I contacted the presidential appeals department because HBO video on demand would not function properly; signs of tiling would appear every few minutes. Numerous technicians were dispatched and were unable to resolve the situation. Several weeks passed before the representative working for the appeals department came across an internal Verizon document stating that this was a "known issue" and a fix would be implemented in August 2007. To this day, this has not yet been fixed; according to a Verizon employee who posts on the FiOS TV message board, a fix is supposedly still being tested.

Weeks later, I was forced to contact presidential appeals for a second time when the normal levels of support were unable to resolve issues with the image quality; once again, several technicians were dispatched but were ultimately unable to resolve the issue. At one point, in an act of desperation, the local group decided to replace most of the components up to and inside the home. The measures were ineffective; the problems continued. A local manager was eventually dispatched out to the home; he claimed that the sub-par image quality was a result of "electrical issues" having to do with the wiring inside the home. End of discussion, case closed. (A visit from an electrician several weeks later would show that this claim was incorrect.)

So, I doubt that contacting the presidential appeals department will help to resolve the chronic issues that I continue to experience with the service.

The quality of the FiOS TV service since October 2007 has been at an all-time low; for the past four months, I have been forced to deal with severe tiling, audio/video "freezing"/"dropouts" and generally sub-par image quality. Verizon's technical support group insisted on dispatching more field technicians out to the home; the technicians were unable to find a cause for the problems. On several occasions, technicians did not show up at the home at all. This continued until mid-January when Verizon's network group eventually discovered a problem with their video distribution equipment in the local central office. This seemed to correct some of the problems with "tiling"; however, image quality continued to be sub-par.

So far, Verizon has wasted time and money replacing:

• 8x optical network terminals ($$$)
• 4x battery backup units
• 4x set top boxes ($$$)
• 3x coaxial cable splitters
• 1x length of fiber and conduit
• 1x length of RG6
• 1x Actiontec MI424-WR router 0x fiber distribution terminal

On January 31, a technician finally diagnosed the problem to be with the fiber distribution terminal - the only piece of equipment yet to be replaced. He informed me that somebody would be out the following day to replace it; par for the course, nobody showed up to replace it. I was eventually informed (after hounding technical support and a supervisor, daily, for any sort of update) that the piece of equipment in question would be replaced sometime next week. We'll see - I don't have high expectations at this point, given how difficult it has been to get Verizon to actually take a look at a problem or fix anything.

Dumping FiOS TV and switching back to Comcast is currently not an option as I am locked into a triple play contract with Big Red until 2009 - I have better and more important things to do with my money than to pay the early termination fee.

(Photo: Getty)

And don't just print out our certificate. We earned that through hard work. Brush up on your DTV transition facts and win the respect of friends and neighbors alike with a certificate of your own.

DTV Deputy Quiz [dtv.gov]

Proving how non-addictive tobacco is, only 25% of people were willing to give up cigarettes for a TV, and about the same number were willing to give up chocolate.

Maybe the men who answered six months were counting on loopholes—there's a lot of non-"sex" you can enjoy with a 50" plasma TV and some hi-def porn.

"Half of UK men would swap sex for 50 inch TV" [Reuters]
(Photo: Getty)

Tivo says that for the fifth year in a row (since the company started tracking viewership data, in fact) the commercials were more watched than the game, with the most popular ads enjoying a 5 to 30% larger audience because they're re-watched repeatedly.

Nielsen disagrees and lists an entirely different set of winners—"Budweiser's horse/Dalmatian spot, Coke's parade balloons, Diet Pepsi's Max, FedEx's pigeons and Pepsi's Timberlake." Their data, however, comes from "200 people who were polled online," so it sounds like typical Nielsen nonsense.

"TiVo: E-Trade Won Super Bowl" [BrandWeek]

RELATED
"How About Those Super Bowl Ads!"

Here are the new rates:

• PREMIER™ $104.99/mo.;
• LO MÁXIMO™ $104.99/mo.;
• PLUS HD DVR™ $72.99/mo.;
• PLUS DVR™ $62.99/mo.;
• CHOICE XTRA™ $57.99/mo.;
• FAMILIAR ULTRA™ $54.99/mo.;
• CHOICE™ $52.99/mo.;
• FAMILIAR™ $45.99/mo.;
• PREFERRED CHOICE™ $32.99/mo.;
• SELECT $45.99/mo.
  

DirecTV's email to customers:

Effective February 27, 2008, the monthly price of some DIRECTV® programming packages will change.

Please click here (PDF) for pricing information in English and Spanish.

[...]

For seven years running, DIRECTV has had higher customer satisfaction ratings than cable, thanks to loyal customers like you. Thank you for your business.

Sincerely,
DIRECTV, Inc.

Q1 2007 and Historical ACSI Scores [American Customer Satisfaction Index]
(Photo: cmorran123)

Granted, Netflix only has about 6,000 movies available for download—but even if their library is missing some obscure or specialty titles, that's still not a bad price-per-movie if you watch a lot of flicks on your PC.

We hate to sound like a commercial for Netflix, a company this writer has hated and avoided since 2002 when I caught them throttling my rentals—and that craptastic 2006 "settlement" was even more offensive than TJX's offer to hold a "special sale" for its victims of identity theft. But hey, a deal's a deal, and $9 a month for unlimited movie and TV downloads is pretty sweet.

"Netflix Expands Internet Viewing Option" [Wired]

Target and Circuit City, on the other hand, were acting almost as if they're in the business of consumer electronics and looking forward to the transition as a selling opportunity. Weird.

Executives with Circuit City and Target agreed the digital TV transition is fraught with challenges.

But the transition presents opportunities as well, says Steve Eastman, vice president and general merchandising manager for consumer electronics at Target. The analog-to-digital switch will get people thinking about high definition and what technology is in their homes, he says.

Target plans to have converter boxes in stores by April.

There were some successful campaigns, too, but we're not AdWeek, so we're just going to focus on the failures. They're more fun anyway:

Bad Ideas

• Suicide-themed spots from G.M., Volkswagen, and Washington Mutual. The suicide bit was edited out of later airings of the G.M. spot.


• Orville Redenbacher's CGI doppelganger, which has almost put me into therapy. Pulled after six months, and the agency responsible for it was fired.


• The Snickers ad that "showed two lugs harming themselves after they had kissed by mistake." Many people claimed the controversy was intentional, but Snickers aired the ad only once and then pulled both it and the related website, which included more clips of straight guys freaking out.


• Virgin Mobile used neighborhood-specific posters throughout New York City (where every neighborhood has a distinct name and personality). Unfortunately, the ones that made fun of the Upper East Side were put up in the Upper East Side.

"A Year for Quick Hits and Fast Flops as Campaigns Broke New Ground" [New York Times]

RELATED
"GM changing robot suicide ad" [CCN Money]
"Let's let Orville rest in peace" [AdFreak]
"Snickers yanks ad campaign" [Canada.com]
"Virgin Mobile Installs NYC Neigborhood-Specific Ads In Wrong Neighborhoods" [Medaibistro Fishbowl]

(Image from Judge Joe Brown)

About six months ago I moved into my apartment in Chicago to learn that the only service available was with DirecTV. Not only that, but we were forced to use MDU communications, a DirecTV reseller. With no options for television, I reluctantly purchased my own HD receiver off eBay (The HR-20) to avoid entering into a contract with them for two years. When I received my unit, I called MDU to sign up and the CSR at MDU told me that since I had my own receiver, I could sign directly up with DirecTV. Awesome I thought, I can cut out the middle man. The CSR at MDU even transferred me to DirecTV account set up line himself.

This being The Consumerist, so you know now is just about the point where the story takes a turn for the worse...

I went through the process of trying to get a signal, but was having issues so they dispatched a tech two days later, which required me to use one of my vacation days. The tech showed up and notified me that I would have to sign up through MDU because I needed some special equipment which they did not provide. Great, I'm getting MDU and DTV to point fingers at each other. At this point, I'm signed up for service yet still don't have any TV. The next day I called MDU to get service set up and a tech dispatched FOUR DAYS later (burning another vacation day). The tech shows up and informs me that I needed some sort of signal splitter, he sets me up and I have service within the hour. This is not where the troubles stop...

Because MDU told me to sign up with DirecTV, I now have an account open with DirecTV and an account with MDU. I didn't find this out until the first billing cycle. On top of that, I am charged for installation since technically I didn't initially sign up with MDU first. So now I have MDU Access Fee + DirecTV + Setup fee's. I spent the better part of nearly two weeks discussing, fighting, eventually yelling, to screaming at these people that their install process was why all of this happened in the first place. They agree to waive the setup fee.

A few days later, I go to check to make sure with DirecTV that I am not in a 2 year contract with them since I bought my own receiver. Low and behold, I'm apparently locked in for two years. I call customer service and they say no problem, fax us in your receipt and we'll take it off. I fax in my information, the Paypal receipt, along with all the eBay printouts/documentation and am told that since I "got such a cheap price on the unit, they cannot waive the contract". Wait what? I buy my own receiver from someone completely unaffiliated with DirecTV and you still wont waive my contract? Arent the 2 year contracts used to offer a "rebate" for buying a receiver from DTV?

I also opted in for the HD service, since I am a big Cubs fan and wanted to watch them in HD. It turns out however, that DTV cant get a WGN-HD (the main Cubs channel) signal in this building. I call tech support, they schedule another tech to come out, I burn another vacation day to learn they cant do anything about it. Fine, by this point I'm sick of them all and I can deal with one channel not being in HD even though its the main channel I got HD service for. I'm sick of the headaches.

The final straw came today.

Last night I tried to watch TNT-HD only to see it cut in and out constantly with no audio and that famous grainy "bad signal" picture you get. It was storming pretty hard down here so I didn't think anything of it, figured it was due to that. But today I turn it on and get a message stating that the "channel is not purchased". I've had this problem before (go figure) where the permissions on your receiver go a little crazy. All you have to do is call DTV and have them "re authorize" your unit and you're fixed in a few minutes. Today was a different story. I call tech support to complain and they know it's an issue. The reason?

Apparently on weekends, DirecTV has capacity problems with their system due to all of the "NFL Network" games so they've been having to cut service (channels) to everyone. Thats right, they're DE-AUTHORIZING people's access to certain channels so they have enough room on their system to provide everyone with their precious NFL Network.

Shame on you, DirecTV for advertising all your new, snazzy HD channels and then having to take them away from people because you dont have enough resources. What did they give me? Oh a free month of Showtime. Whoopty doo, Showtime sucks.

I cant even get the new HD channels they launched (and I pay for) because MDU wont upgrade the satellite on our roof.

....and I cant even switch to Comcast.......

(Photo: cmorran123)

The ads from the cable giant read:

Dear Neighbor,

We recently contacted you about the federal requirement to convert all broadcast television stations to digital-only broadcasting. If you currently use an antenna or apartment building equipment to receive your TV signal, you may experience a disruption of your TV service.

The Optimum Network has the new digital format already in place, which means Optimum customers will continue to receive all of their television channels in brilliant digital picture and sound.

To make this transition easy and ensure you continue receiving uninterrupted TV service, we have a special low cost offer for you:

Get our Digital Basic Package for just $19.95 a month for a year including FREE installation.

Starting on January 1, 2008, the federal government will offer $40 coupons to help subsidize the cost of a converter box. The government has also committed $5 million to educate the public about the switch. Of course, England spent $400 million on public education ahead of their transition, but they didn't have good-natured private companies like Cablevision to help spread the word.

Swindled consumers would pay $240 (plus tax) for the first year of Cablevision's service, instead of $20 for a converter box. Warn your grandparents that this is not a good deal.

People are your partners [House of Naked] (Thanks to Joe!)
Digital Television (DTV) Tomorrow's TV Today! [DTV.gov]

(Photo: Getty)

"Commodore Vic-20 commercial" [YouTube via Geekend]

If any of these scenarios listed below describes you or your family, and you would like to share your story with us live on the TODAY show, then write to us with details and questions relating to your financial situation.

• Are you a married couple that has been living beyond your means? Are you in debt, and don't know how to climb out?
• Are you a married couple that is nearing retirement or recently retired and trying to figure out how to continue to live comfortably without the same flow of income?
• Are you a married couple between the ages of 45 and 60 who feels like you are playing catch-up when it comes to retirement savings?
• Are you a married couple who is expecting your first child, or who has one or more young children at home, and you have no idea how to plan for their financial future (including college)?
• Are you a single female in your late 20s to mid 30s who is trying to balance college loan payments and saving for retirement with having enough money to enjoy life?
• Are you a single or married person of any age whose parents have come to you for financial assistance? Is this putting a strain on your own finances?

When American advertisers do weird, they just end up being creepy. (Thank you, Skittles, for those horrible nightmares about the candy-eating beard.) By contrast, this ad from Thailand is funny, weird, and memorable. Our favorite part is when the boy misidentifies a "jackfruit ghost."

[via Neatorama]

Radio has moved from being in the business of empowering and educating people to Wall Street, to making money. And that's not the big corporate conglomerates, you know, that's not their fault. They were allowed to do this.

This is the fault of government who did not put the proper checks and balances so that this could not happen.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thinks they should be allowed to own more. Moyers speculates that Martin wants to pass media consolidation by the end of the year to keep the issue away from the Presidential campaign calender. Even pro-business Republicans oppose consolidation; Trent Lott (R-MS), the Republican whip in the Senate, is leading the fight against consolidation with North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan. According to correspondent Rick Karr:

There's no constituency out there saying we want more consolidation. It's essentially just the big media companies. There are no citizens groups out there saying we want more of this.

Transcript [Bill Moyers Journal]
Comment On Media Ownership Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket - 06-121 [FCC Electronic Comment Filing System]
Write Your Senator
Write Your Representative
PREVIOUSLY: How To Write To Congress
FCC Chairman To Relax Media Ownership Rules
(Photo: fsgm)

From March to November of that year, over 1,800 items were delivered to her house by what we imagine must be the world's least curious UPS driver in the country. (You'd think he'd grow suspicious after, say, the 900th delivery that summer.) Apparently QVC never caught on to the scam, but Moore-Perry's good times came to an end when two women in Alabama contacted QVC after they grew suspicious about the items they purchased from her through eBay.

A shopping network with lots of female hosts, a lady con artist, and two private citizens (both women of course) from the south who crack the case—this totally sounds like a great idea for a Lifetime movie. We just can't decide which character Jean Smart should play.

"N.C. woman admits 400G scam of QVC" [Philly.com]

(Photo: Getty)

The idea, Ms. Cabral says, is to "reach people at teachable moments in their lives" by finding multiple ways to get educational messaging out in the public space.

"Too many kids are graduating high school, for example, not knowing what a budget is, how to balance a checkbook, what a credit card is, what an interest rate is, or how compound interest works... If the treasury tries to do this by itself, it will not be successful, but if you do this in partnership with all the other segments of society, you're likely to be very successful and in the end the public and the entire country is better off."

"Financial education from soap operas?" [Marketplace] (thanks to Granolaheadesq!)

RELATED
mymoney.gov [U.S. Treasury]
(Photo: Getty)

Jack: So Liz, what are you going to do with all that money? Put it in your 401(k)?

Liz: Yeah, um... I gotta get one of those.

Jack: Where do you invest your money?

Liz: I've got 12 grand in checking.

Jack: Are you an immigrant?

There's one other great life lesson from the same episode, when Jack says, "Never follow a hippie to a second location."

"30 Rock: Best Personal Finance Show on TV" [FiLife]

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Episode 204: "Rosemary's Baby" [NBC]

(Photo: Getty)