Between the FCC’s efforts to reform the set-top box market and the cable industry’s thinly veiled threats of litigation — not to mention divided opinions on the issue on Capitol Hill — the old cable box is a big topic of conversation these days. And while much of the focus has been on the billions of dollars the cable and satellite companies make from monthly lease fees on these devices, we’d like to hear from people who have had to go toe-to-toe with their pay-TV provider over their set-top boxes. [More]
cable
Final FCC Set-Top Box Proposal: Free Apps And Integrated Search For All
By 9.8.16
Remember how earlier this week the rumor mill had it that the FCC’s long-awaited final set-top box proposal was due out this week? The gossips were right; chairman Tom Wheeler’s office circulated it today. [More]
Time Warner Joining The Hulu Crowd, Buying 10% Of The Streaming Service
By 8.3.16
In an era when everybody and their grandmother seems to be launching their own proprietary subscription streaming service, something about Hulu seems almost quaint. The platform is jointly owned by three giant media companies, and therefore is almost a pre-bundled service that actually carries programming from all of them. And eventually — but not quite yet — you can make that four. [More]
Cable Lobbying Group’s Set-Top Box Plan: App That Doesn’t Do The Things You Want
By 7.25.16
It’s been nearly six months since the FCC first proposed doing something about the cable set-top box market. Since then, the White House and Congress have both had their say about it, while all along the cable industry has been lobbying and complaining incessantly. But behind all that, the FCC and the industry are at least talking to each other to try to hash out what the future could look like. Unfortunately, if industry gets its way, that future could leave a lot of consumers’ favorite features behind their TV providers’ big fat “pay me” gates. [More]
ESPN Reportedly Working On Streaming Service Without Sports You Actually Want To Watch
By 7.12.16
Last year, Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested that one day ESPN could go the way of HBO Now and other premium cable channels by offering a streaming option available outside current cable packages. That day is reportedly coming sooner rather than later, but it might not include anything you actually want to watch. [More]
Comcast: FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal’s Impossible. FCC: Nuh-Uh. Who’s Right?
By 7.7.16
The FCC’s got a proposal in the works right now that Comcast doesn’t like. This is not a shock; Comcast has generally not liked any headlining proposals from the FCC in recent years. Some of the cable giant’s complaints are undoubtedly just sound and noise, signifying nothing other than “we like profit, don’t screw with our thing.” But maybe some of its technological complaints have merit. [More]
5 Times The Cable Industry Embarrassed Itself During Today’s Senate Hearing
By 6.23.16
As mentioned in the earlier story about Sen. Claire McCaskill’s customer disservice call to her pay-TV provider, the Missouri senator and others on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing today to talk to cable industry executives about their bad billing practices. Not surprisingly, the cable suits did a bang-up job of proving that these companies deserve their poor reputation. [More]
Comcast Hopes Fans Of The Olympics Will Like Its Voice-Controlled Remote So Much They Won’t Cut The Cord
By 6.20.16
Faced with a future where people can watch as much content as they want without a cable subscription, Comcast is getting ready to launch a product during the Rio Olympics it hopes will keep customers from pulling out those scissors and cutting the cord. [More]
Walmart Urging Customers To “Cut The Cable” With Promo
By 6.13.16
While cutting the cable cord might seem like a way to stick it to multibillion-dollar companies like Comcast and DirecTV, cord-cutting is also a potential goldmine for retailers eager to sell you the tools you’ll need to snip that traditional pay-TV umbilical. That’s why Walmart is pushing this new generation of products with a “Cut the Cable” promotion.
Survey Says: You Still Hate Your Cable Company, But Maybe A Little Less Than Before
By 6.1.16
A major annual consumer satisfaction survey is out, and it’s a mixed bag for the cable and telecom sector and all of us who use it. The bad: pay-TV, broadband, phone, and wireless companies still pretty much really suck, and most of us are very dissatisfied with them. The good: year over year, most of them are finally starting to suck less than they used to! [More]
Cable’s Top Lobbyist Is Sick And Tired Of All This “Troublesome,” “Distressing” Regulation And Competition
By 5.17.16
Our old friend Michael “Regulation Is Bad” Powell, former FCC chairman and now top pro-cable lobbyist, is at it again. [More]
Does Cord-Cutting Always Automatically Save You Money?
By 4.29.16
For the past several months we’ve been working our way through real customers’ pay TV bills one by one, and one piece of reader feedback keeps bubbling up again and again: Why pay for TV at all? This is the age of the cord-cutter, right? Just ditch cable already! [More]
From “Yay” To “Boo” To “Shrug,” Here’s What Everyone Had To Say About FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal
By 4.26.16
When the FCC voted in February to consider new rules for your cable box, that kicked off a multi-month cycle of public comments, where anyone and everyone can have their say. The deadline for the first round struck at midnight Friday, which means most of the comments are just rolling onto the internet for all and sundry to have a look at. [More]
Google Adding Live TV Listings To Search Results
By 4.21.16
Although your binge-watching brain might not remember a time when television shows and movies were anything but on-demand, live TV is still around. Soon, if you want to find out what’s on and when, Google search results will include listings for live TV. [More]
The Cable Industry Is Either Incredibly Stupid, Or Thinks You Are Really Gullible
By 3.23.16
The Comcast-connected faux grassroots group created to protect the cable industry’s $20 billion annual revenue stream of set-top box rental fees is now claiming that it caught FCC Chair Tom Wheeler in a real “gotcha” moment, proving that there is indeed no need for competition on these devices. But either this group has no idea what it’s talking about, or it thinks the American consumer is incredibly gullible. [More]
Amazon Really Does Sell Everything, Opens Cable Store To Resell Comcast
By 3.21.16
Someday, you will be able to buy your house and everything in it from Amazon, much like Sears a century ago. Perhaps to prepare for that day, Amazon is now selling Comcast’s Xfinity bundles in its new Amazon Cable Store, and the store setup implies that they’ll be adding carriers in other areas soon. [More]
Canada Begins Phasing In Government-Mandated À La Carte Cable Today
By 3.1.16
It’s been almost two and a half years since we last checked in with our northern neighbors in Canada about how their nationwide implementation of à la carte cable is going. Today is when the real test of unbundled TV begins: cable companies will be required to offer basic plans for $25 as of today, and even more radical unbundling will happen by the end of 2016. [More]
