518 on TWC???? Yeah Right!

[John L]

I do hope I am wrong, but I would be surprised that once WB18 starts broadcasting in HD that TWC will catch on and make it available to TWC subscribers.

I guess you could say I am apprehensive about TWC, the way they do things etc.

Granted, you are all probably right that the house I live in could be wired a bit properly.  Obviously the original installer of cable did a poor job of how they went about bringing the cable in.  Rather than bringing it in to the downstairs and spliting it off, the guy came in from the outside wall located behind the TV, thus shooting a hole from the outside into the family room and going from the box into the TV.  Most proffessional contractors would normally go thru the basement and split it off.  The past 2 TWC technicians that were at my house were not pleased as to the way it was wired.

Last year the Firehouse across the street was torn down and rebuilt.  When they had TWC come in and run a cable to their firehouse, TWC ran a orange coax cable on the ground to the road, dug under the road and over to the firehouse.  Thus the cable lays on the grass and has to be moved each time we mow the lawn.  You would think they would dig a trench and bury the cable.  I guess we will have to call them about it.

It seems as thou people at TWC don't think very well.  I doubt they are aware about Sinclair's plans to offer HDTV via WB18 and UPN24.  It will be interesting to note how long once WB18 starts broadcasting some of its programs in HD before TWC finally gets around to carrying it.

-John L.

[summerfun]

I guess I am a little more optimistic.

As our local TWC carries every local HD (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS) and cable HD (HBO, Showtime, TNT, Discovery, FOX Sports, INHD, HNHD2, HDnet, HDmv). Everything except ESPN HD and that is a national issue.

Just look to some other communities that have almost no HD. I think we are in pretty good shape here and have no issue with the local TWC. You can't think cable installers, which may very well be sub contractors have anything to do with programming choices.

[borghe]

remember that there is always carriage issues that have to be worked out. Yes TWC carries all local HD, but they DIDN'T carry all (or any?) of them at launch of their OTA signal. It is a guarantee that TWC will carry WB18... what is in question is how long it will take. I would have to say that likely it won't be immediately, but it certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for it to be just a week to a few weeks after the HD signal goes live.

[Joseph S]

Sinclairsucks.com

Oh yeah, wasn't their other motto
"We must be paid to show our DTV on cable."

Then there was, "We can't meet the deadline because..."
"We'll have a schedule next week, I mean next..."
"LG/Zenith has new HD receiver that can get everything but Sinclair HDTV."

The ESPN thing with TWC is a joke, but there will never be a day I could support $inclair against anything or anybody.

Used car dealership over the FCC mandate = No Concern for Viewers in Milwaukee, the USA, the World...

[gparris]

Originally posted by Joseph S
Sinclairsucks.com

Oh yeah, wasn't their other motto
"We must be paid to show our DTV on cable.

Used car dealership over the FCC mandate = No Concern for Viewers in Milwaukee, the USA, the World...

Reading Tim C. of the Journal/Sentinel article from yesterday, I realized you might be right about the Sinclair thing.
Looks as though the TWC subscribers will have to put up an antenna to get WB in HD, now that it is finally broadcasting in HD.

If TWC can't get the contract issues worked out for Sinclair on a national level, TWC subscribers are going to be without HD from both WB and UPN, just like ESPN-HD (with Disney).

Which brings the HDTV set owner in Milwaukee to think:

"Why do I have cable for my HD needs?
Is it because "INHD 1 & 2" are so important to me?"

TWC: Maybe not.
 And if you think that HD DVR is the "new toy on the block"
-it may be the cheaper HD DVR vs. the HD Tivo,  but what with all the pixilating, picture-ripping mess I am getting lately, hardly the value I expected over the Pioneer 3510HD box's performance.

Not if you can't get ESPN-HD and the HD feeds from Sinclair's station. :mad:

TWC: I am going to wait until September, see what happens, then rethink my ideas about having HD Cable-only, at the very least.
If TWC can't get HD from WB and UPN, that is going to be a very bad thing, especially when OTA is difficult (for some) of us.
Bad for me, bad for ALL  HDTV set owners subscribing to TWC HD packages and renting their wonderful cable boxes.

As for Sinclair:
Since you cannot work with TWC and if I have to try to put up an antenna to get HD OTA, it is NOT going to pick up YOUR WB and UPN stations:
IT will be the CHICAGO ones!

:mad:

[AndrewP]

"As our local TWC carries every local HD (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS) and cable HD (HBO, Showtime, TNT, Discovery, FOX Sports, INHD, HNHD2, HDnet, HDmv). Everything except ESPN HD and that is a national issue."



What about StarsHD, CinemaxHD, MovieChannelHD, EncoreHD,
BravoHD.
BTW, all available on Voom. I am not even asking about Voom HD exclusives.
BTW, Voom standart OTA antenna picks up all locals for me, even Fox6.

VaVaVoom rocks!

Andrew

[borghe]

Glad Voom is working out for you... I've been thinking about supplementing my D* with just the Voom exclusives (I know it will only be a matter of time for D* to get the other premiums)

I was not aware that TWC and Sinclair were a national carriage issue.. Umm.. that could be bad. I take back my post about it only being a week or two tops. I sure hope they can work things out soon, well, for your sakes.

As for my thoughts on local Sinclair, to be honest they are pretty good right now. They are putting out a strong signal, actively working to get consistent HD feeds on the air, and providing feedback to the community. They may or may not be playing hardball with TWC, but remember.. it takes TWO to play hardball... TWC "could" be just as much at fault as Sinclair.

Although admittedly I have ALWAYS been an OTA fan.. especially HD. To get stations for free over the air is something of a miracle to me. And for those stations to be 1080 lines of resolution, DD5.1 audio, extended data services, etc.. That is just cool. For free. OTA. It is too bad the growing pain of tuner adoption hasn't made that a reality for many people. Though that is changing with more and more integrated tuners and prices coming down dramatically (you can ebay an OTA tuner now for around $100).

[Hophead]

As far as D*TV getting more HD, I've heard they are basically out of bandwith and it will be very difficult to add more HD programming, I also read that they were launching a new satellite to add some more bandwidth but it will not be significant.  Voom on the other hand is already capable of unlimited HD, their goal is to be broadcasting 80 - 100 HD channels by the end of the year and they are introducing an HD recorder this fall.

I live in Racine and get all the OTA's, I do have some issues occationally with Fox and CBS, but I called Voom and they are upgrading my antenna at no charge.  I'm Vooming and I love it!!  :bow:

[borghe]

umm.. your information is a little wrong.

first Voom has nowhere near unlimited bandwidth. on the contrary they only have 13 transponders total on Rainbow one meaning giving them enough room for about 39 stations using 8PSK and assuming 15Mbps for each channel. Bottom line is they are pretty near tapped out already with their 21 originals and 14 HD premiums.. not to mention the SD channels they carry. Expect to see some of the originals start going soon as more channels go to HD and Voom decides to carry them.

DirecTV just freed up something like 4-5 transponders at 101°. Technically that is enough to carry around 10 HD channels (and no more locals are going on 101). What are they doing with all this bandwidth? BravoHD starting next week, TNT-HD soon to follow, up to 9 games every sunday in HD on Sunday Ticket, and the remaining movies channels (Starz and Cinemax) once they can work out carriage deals (both providers want directv to carry other channels as well as the HD ones, a move that I am personally a little happy about).

So I'm not knocking Voom.. It's good for what it is. A way for early adopters to get LOTS of HD.. and some of their channels certainly appeal to me (MonsterHD in particular). But don't kid yourself, without even being a fanboy, DirecTV has a LOT more transponders and a TON more money to add HD than Voom does. And with the rest of locals this year going onto a COMPLETELY separate satellite (72.5), when Sunday Ticket ends in January DirecTV will have the room for up to 10 additional HD channels on 101. Oh, and I didn't even mention spaceway which goes up next year nor the other two spotbeam sats which go up early 2005 and early 2006 respectively.

good times, good times.

[gparris]

quote from borghe:
"DirecTV just freed up something like 4-5 transponders at 101°. Technically that is enough to carry around 10 HD channels (and no more locals are going on 101). What are they doing with all this bandwidth? BravoHD starting next week, TNT-HD soon to follow, up to 9 games every sunday in HD on Sunday Ticket, and the remaining movies channels (Starz and Cinemax) once they can work out carriage deals (both providers want directv to carry other channels as well as the HD ones, a move that I am personally a little happy about)."

Where did you get your information? Just wanted to know to make me more irritated at TWC due to the "Sinclair Issue"!:(

I saw a display for TWC in a nearby Circuit City store recently that  had all the HD channels they offer and it included Bravo HD+ logo (and of course, not the ESPN-HD one, God forbid!)

Next week for Bravo HD+ on Directv? Freed transponders?
Do you have an "insider scoop" at Directv or are they emailing their subscribers (of one I am not)?:blush:

Then there is the Starz! HD  and Cinemax HD thing...are they going to have them, too, (soon) and by "carrying the other channels", did you mean by that, the other SD channels Directv has neglected to offer that cable has for Starz! and Cinemax?

Your statements got me really curious and I am certain others, too, who have Directv are wondering.

Maybe Directv should do what cable has done in the past to dish subscribers in the past: offer a killer system for free, like triple LNB, HD Tivos (just dreaming here) and a "Square Shooter"  for OTA all in one setup call-all you do is show your reciept for returned cable boxes!!!!;)

[borghe]

ok, will work my qay from the top.

all of my info is from avs and dbstalk by people either known to get good info from D* employees or are known themselves to be D* employees.

BravoHD+ is a guven with the new contract D* just signed with NBC (press release states it). The date is from a D* insider and coincides with the end of the Olympics (also NBC based).

Freed transponders correspond with the last of the CONUS locals being moved over to 7s. This is supported by the fact that, well.. the locals are gone from 101. They are now all on spots on 7s. There are currently no locals on CONUS any more. All are on spots. This freed 4-5 transponders that were being used for those locals. Each transponder is around 30Mbps or 2 HD channels. So around 8-10 channels.

Starz and Cinemax were from sources at D* (not mine). They stated that both are in the works but Starz wants like 3 more SD channels carried and Max wants 3 or so more SD Max channels carried.

[gparris]

In the TWC system we have 8 Cinemax vs. 3 Cinemax for Directv, if my counts are right, and 5 Starz! (Directv has 4 plus 8 Encore).
So maybe that IS a win-win for the Directv subscriber (like you)!;)

As for TWC, if it can't get its act together with Sinclair Broadcast Group, we will never get WB and UPN in HD on cable, just like their stupidity with ESPN-HD with Disney.
TWC: Charge what Directv does-$10.99 and add ESPN-HD and say that INHD channels are a "cable extra").

You don't need a doctorate in marketing to do that!

Do they ever think that maybe, just maybe, the subscriber might want to pay more (like we are already, anyway?)

TWC has been adding IControl SD channels and other junk (IMO).

I have asked for years for them to add the NASA channel, especially since TWC prides itself with "cable in the classroom",
another BS line from them...:mad:  (I used to get it on Directv when I had it.)

They have the bandwidth, they are large in scope, so why don't they just get it together???

Sometimes, like 7S and its "brothers"  next year, Directv will offer more ability to delivery HD, perhaps even HD for locals and the like to match cable.
Cable is getting too complacent and cocky-again...at least TWC is.

Thanks for the update, borghe, I can hardly wait to see what Directv will offer in HD in the coming months!

Let's see...Bravo HD+, Cinemax HD and Starz! HD, has ESPN-HD already...Directv is back!;)

[John L]

The fact that WVTV, ch. 18 is a local station I would think TWC should be required to also broadcast thier HD signal as well.

Thanks for Tim Cuprisin for making HDTV subscribers aware of their HD programming.  Now if TWC doesn't get their act together soon, they can expect a lot more loss of subscribers.

I was reading in the Business Section of the JournalSentinel a couple days ago that cable companies are losing subscribers to satellite services.

Its time for TWC-Milwaukee to consider making cuts, layoffs, etc and lower prices and offer more like WB18 HD and ESPN-HD, etc.  this is what they can do to help save themselves.  

This keeps up, cable TV may end up being a thing of the past.  But then I probably won't have to worry about programming a public access channel in my community anymore either since that also will be gone.

-John L.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by John L
This keeps up, cable TV may end up being a thing of the past.  But then I probably won't have to worry about programming a public access channel in my community anymore either since that also will be gone.

-John L.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.  My guess is cable TV will exist for the remainder of our lives.

[borghe]

DTV is currently no mandated under must carry AFAIK. So while it certainly would be in TWC's best interest to carry it, it still must be negotiated like every other channel. As I understand it right now, Sinclair wants money in return for carriage, ala cable channels. Now before you go off on Jimboy or anything, understand that this is mandate from corporate head honchos, not individual stations. So Sinclair wants TWC to pay them to carry their DTV stations, TWC doesn't want anything to do with that, and without an FCC mandate the government doesn't hagve anything to do with it (yet). Once DTV must carry goes into effect all of this will change.

gparris - you reminded me of some stuff I forgot to touch off. So as we all know both DirecTV and NDS have come forward and said DirecTV is going to NDS as an alternate vendor for an HD DVR. Not to replace the Tivo, but as a cheaper less capable DVR. This box will have MPEG4 built into it though the current rumor is it won't have OTA built into it. The boxes should go out by sometime next year. The goal is that by the end of 2005 DirecTV will replace the top 30 markets (no, we miss it by 3) with these scaled down non-OTA DVRs.. why would they do that? Easy, when your plan is to deliver HD locals to those markets by the end of 2005 (also in D*'s year end press conference). Then of course roll out additional markets across 2006 and beyond. No need for two OTA tuners in the box when you are grabbing your HD locals from satellite. So what about all of us dropping $1000 on an HD Tivo? Well, until non-Top 30 markets are added our units will still work fine (the rumor expands with for now only locals will be MPEG4.. non-locals will continue to be MPEG2 for the time being).

So there you have it. Top 30 markets will have HD locals, people with Tivo's will never end up screwed (until we have to give up our beautiful hackable boxes for scaled down TWC-like ones ) and D* will begin their migration over to MPEG4 next year.

And most of this info is public from D* (HD locals 2005, NDS, MPEG4, etc). The rest of the blanks were just fille din by insiders usually on DBStalk or AVS.