HD Movie Package

[gb4fan92]

Cable and Satelite operators hear me:  What we (I) really want is an all HD movie Package (2 HBOHD's, 2 ShowtimeHD's, CinemaxHD, StarzHD & anyone else broadcasting HDTV)  Just the HDTV channels skip all the others that you get when you order a package.(14 HBO's, 7 Showtimes, ect). I really think there would be a market for this type of package. I would much rather have this type of package than an HBO package full of channels I don't watch. Is anyone else interested in this type of package?

[tschinner]

I'd be there with you.

[summerfun]

Sign me up.

I never watch the 99 analog and 600 digital channals on TWC I get but I don't want. I only watch the 14 HD channels 100% of the time. I would love to buy an HD only package. I would pay the same money, so no lost revenue to them. Just swap out the channels I don't want for more channels I do want.

[borghe]

unfortunately it will never happen.. Warner, Starz, and Viacom will never allow their premium channels to be packaged with each other. Well, let me rephrase that.. They would allow "offshoots" or special repackagings of those channels to be packaged together, but you will never see the proper main channels packaged together...

But I do hear you on seeing a better value in these so called HD packages.. I have no problems paying DirecTV $11/month for an HD package, but then do like Voom is andf at least add another 5-10 channels in it...

[StarvingForHDTV]

I'm all for buying HD channels only.  SD is not worth spending any money to see.  JMHO.

Starving

[gparris]

I would just line up my HD receiver (HD DVR if it ever arrives...)
to the 500 channels on TWC, with the exception of 507 which TWC lamely inserted a month or so ago as an SD channel irritation for WMLW instead of 7 or 107 (or whatever).:p
This is so Kenoshans can get Channel 7 in Chicago, so they say.

Some of the premium channels aren't so bad as these are delivered digitally, but I do watch the Sci-Fi channel and The Weather Channel, also...too bad these don't come in HD or at very least appear in the digital tier for better picture.
No wonder why Directv is adding subscribers as I watched them on a neighbor's house on an HD capable set and the picture looked better than my cable version and if memory serves me, when I had both, it did (last year at this time).

[The Law]

That's the question

too bad these don't come in HD or at very least appear in the digital tier for better picture.

That begs the question.  Should we begin to expect channels moving from the Analog Tier to the digital tier?  At would point would a firm like TW start thinking to increase the rate for basic analog cable and decreasing the cost of the digital package (to keep pricing in line)?  I imagine they'd have to look at how many people have basic vs. digital and juggle how many analog customers would upgrade if their fav. channel was no longer on the analog tier.

A channel such as Sci-Fi begs to be at least digital (if not, HD).

[borghe]

a friend who only has Standard analog cable just had her box replaced with a digital box. When she asked why her box needed to be replaced the tech said they were removing all analog boxes.

I always knew this was coming, I mean TWC is basically wasting ~1000 SD channels or 98 HD channels worth of bandwidth on 98 SD channels (that look awful when DVR'ed). It is/was only a matter of Time before TWC is all digital.

mhz40 hopefully can shed some light on this, but just guessing out of my a**, I would guess sometime over the next two years we will see analog cable disappear from the milwaukee area. I would have originally guessed longer, but with my friend getting her box swapped out unprompted (only analog, never called about a possible service change, etc) it sounds like things may be going ahead starting now.

Of course two questions remain.. What happens to the analog service straight to TVs without a box, and why would TWC go through the hassle of moving to digital boxes when they could just move everyone (including analog TV subs) to HD boxes. You can still get a down converted HD signal on an analog set, and I believe even over RF (at least on DirecTV HD boxes you can). You would just think that when TWC starts the move off of analog they would move everyone to HD boxes.. seems like it would make the most sense.

[gparris]

If satellite subscribers have to use STBs for service, why not cable subscribers? I don't see satellite subscriptions falling anytime soon: satellite subscriptions are going up. So it isn't going to scare away cable subscribers if they all have to get boxes (or digital sets with cablecards in them),  at all.

IF it means that cable customers get the analogue channels to go away for more HD and SD availablity, so be it.  Make the boxes $4.99 each like satellite has to mirror the subscription instead of $7.95 - roll the box fees down even it the cable sub spends something down (like sat customers did until the 3 rooms free,etc. thing came along) or make it part of a package.
Then it will all be equal, boxes for cable and satellite subscribers as a requirement, at least until the cablecards and newer TVs are bought. The old analogue boxes were for older TVs that weren't analogue "cable ready". What's the difference?
I really don't see anyone running from cable service it that happens in the interim at best: what are they going to do? Put up an antenna for a few stations: you can't get your cable favourites OTA or premiums, either. Even if you do the wireless cable thing or Wifi or whatever, you have to have a STB of some sort...correct me if I am wrong.
:eek:

Free up the analogue cable bands...these are wasteful and unnecessary in the digital age. :guns:

[borghe]

the main problem as I see it is this:

a) marketing. cable can market service on TVs without boxes. It is a bullet point in the advertising war with satellite.
b) low adoption of digital. digital subscribers across all cable systems is still pathetic to this day. That tells me that either cable subscribers are uninformed about digital services or don't care about digital services. It also leads me to believe there are a ton of subs out there running a cable to their cable-ready TVs.

I agree completely. kill analog. it is a waste of 98 6Mhz-wide frequency bands that could be much better utilized in other ways. Unfortunately it seems doing so will be a major disadvantage. You said it yourself, satellite is already doing the same thing. So now a guy is forced to have a digital box at each of his TVs, this is even less of a retention incentive for him to just hop on a 4 rooms free deal at best buy.

just interesting back and forth really.. we'll see what happens. though again, I feel the writing is on the wall if in fact TWC is going around changing out analog boxes for digital ones.