TWC-Brookfield Severe Picture Breakup Due to Storm

[Jack 1000]

Several channels are HEAVILY pixiated to the point of being unwatchable or are out as of 3:15 am this Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 due to the storm.  We could have cable transmission problems throughout the day into tomorrow because of the storm.

Jack

[oz]

I hope it's fixed before Lost is on. And I hope they end their weather warnings by then.

[troyriley]

I hope it's fixed before Lost is on. And I hope they end their weather warnings by then.

I would suggest getting an antenna ready, just in case. Otherwise, Lost is available online at abc.com . You would have to wait until tomorrow to watch online though. New episodes are not added to the site until the next day.

[Jack 1000]

A quick scan of channels a few minutes ago seemed to show things were OK.  But this could still change later tonight when we are supposed to get the bad stuff.

Jack

[leprechaunshawn]

I thought cable doesn't have weather related outages.

BTW - My D* dish is about 75% covered in snow and I haven't lost one bit of picture quality.

[troyriley]

I thought cable doesn't have weather related outages.

BTW - My D* dish is about 75% covered in snow and I haven't lost one bit of picture quality.

Yeah, isn't that what the cable commercials say? No problems whatsoever on Dish Network either. According to Time Warner, Charter, etc., we satellite customers were supposed to be without TV all day.

[techguy1975]

In all my time spent in WI, and having TWC, I've NEVER had a weather related outage..  Sure I've seen some stations break up, but that was more likely due to the storm interfering with the dishes at the cable head end.    And even that was few and far between.  When I've been to places that had a dish, a good heavy rain would knock the thing out...

[Tivoman44]

TWC also says they are the home of free HD.  How so??  You either need an HD cable box or a cable card.  While they don't charge for the Tuning adaptor, they charge for the card.  Even though that is only 2 to 3 dollars (assuming its an Mcard), well that's $24.00 a year.  With a cable box, I have heard those are anywhere from $8.00 to $11.00 a month, so on the low end $96.00 a year on the low end, not counting DVR and the remote.  So yea free HD huh?  I'm supprised no one brought that to the FCC or state Attorney General for false advertising.

[WITI6fan]

TWC also says they are the home of free HD.  How so??  You either need an HD cable box or a cable card.  While they don't charge for the Tuning adaptor, they charge for the card.  Even though that is only 2 to 3 dollars (assuming its an Mcard), well that's $24.00 a year.  With a cable box, I have heard those are anywhere from $8.00 to $11.00 a month, so on the low end $96.00 a year on the low end, not counting DVR and the remote.  So yea free HD huh?  I'm supprised no one brought that to the FCC or state Attorney General for false advertising.

But you pay for a box even if you just have a digital standard package without HD.

[techguy1975]

TWC also says they are the home of free HD.  How so??  You either need an HD cable box or a cable card.  While they don't charge for the Tuning adaptor, they charge for the card.  Even though that is only 2 to 3 dollars (assuming its an Mcard), well that's $24.00 a year.  With a cable box, I have heard those are anywhere from $8.00 to $11.00 a month, so on the low end $96.00 a year on the low end, not counting DVR and the remote.  So yea free HD huh?  I'm supprised no one brought that to the FCC or state Attorney General for false advertising.

The free part refers to the fact there are no additional charges.  You have to subscribe to their cable service to get HD channels.  Its in the fine print, therefore their ass is covered, and there is nothing the FCC or AG can do.. They are up front and honest about the fees

[troyriley]

I think the cable companies' loophole is that they can legally say they offer "free" HD, but in reality they apparently just charge an outrageous amount for the SD to compensate for that. It's really the total cost of the service to be considered. Is anything in life really free?

[Jack 1000]

I think the cable companies' loophole is that they can legally say they offer "free" HD, but in reality they apparently just charge an outrageous amount for the SD to compensate for that. It's really the total cost of the service to be considered. Is anything in life really free?

Right,

The cable companies claim of "Free HD"  SHOULD just say "included with packages at no additional cost."  For Dish, (not sure about U-Verse) there is like a $5- $10/month extra charge for HD.  However, all the cable companies do is just raise the cost of the Basic Tier to compensate for the HD technology.

There's no "Free."  What's missing is the extra $10 surcharge on your bill by having cable include HD in all packages.

Jack

[Tivoman44]

Basically it's misleading.  

And no nothing is truely free.  Even my "free" HD TV i get through rabbit ears, i still have to pay WE energies for the electricity to watch.  It's just the principle of saying home of free HD.

Whatever happened to the cable competition bill in the state assembly and senate about two years ago.  Basically it was going to change franchise fees where cable companies would simply get one through the state of WI rather than each individual city, town, village, township etc.  

I realize that more competition is out there, but could you imagine having a choice between Charter, TWC, Uverse, Verizon, Cox cable, comcast, Dish, Direct TV??