My Damn Cable...

[GL]

Apparently, my cable provider yesterday decided that it would be a good idea to take away all my XM stations that they broadcast as part of my subscription and instead replace it with a brand-new music provider without telling me. As if that wasn't enough, the Metal station of the Sirius/XM package had a ton of great programs on there I'm now losing for free because they came with my cable (I lose four quality broadcasts, including a full, uninterrupted hour of Black, Death, Gore and Grind that was considered can't miss viewing) and instead of getting all the wonderful Metal music they had, I now get crap like P.O.D., Rage Against the Machine and modern radio rock on the same station that plays Slayer, Testament and Overkill, among others, and worse, it's censored!!!!! It's all edited, despite being rated for a 'Mature' audience. Half the music I liked is taken away, and replaced with crap instead.

I'm just really, really pissed at this development, so I might be in a foul mood for a while because of this, so I'm just taking the time now to apologize upfront if it spills over onto here. I try to separate the two, but if it happens, know it's just because of this.

[Leatherface]

Wow. Can't you get them back?

[abraxas]

I'm Anti-cable

[CT]

That sucks GL, I hate the way they remove stuff from cable packages randomly. Probably a backroom deal with Satelite radio to get cable subscribers hooked and so they pay for a subscription when it gets pulled from the cable package.

[GL]

Well, I shouldn't say I've been surprised at this, because there's been four change-overs in the decade+ I've had cable, and I actually still remember all the change-overs in the music carrier being provided-

The first one was Music Choice, which I liked since every Monday was an unofficial hour of Death and Black Metal I dubbed Death Metal Mondays at the time, which introduced me to such groups as Hecate Enthroned, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon, Mayhem, Marduk, Dawn of Relic, Meridian, Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed, Beherit, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, Beheaded, The Berzerker, Disinter, Wormed, and a whole host of others too many to name. Basically, I credit this with introducing me to Extreme Metal, as before then I was pretty much strictly on a Judas Priest/Iron Maiden/King Diamond and old-school Thrash exclusive diet, so they get a lot of credit for my tastes as they are today.

I didn't get mad, though, as the next one was XM, before the merger, and that was awesome. Great DJs, an impressive song selection and this time two awesome shows dedicated to my tastes, a weekly Death/Black Metal show and then one showcasing Underground Thrash and early Death Metal following immediately after that on Fridays, so there was three-hours of great stuff on display. I even got Eddie Trunk's show every Monday, so that was always pretty cool.

Then came the Sirius/XM merger, and I was just starting to get into the DJs on that one, but most importantly, they had another Death/Black Metal show on, merged with Gore and Grind, of course, as well as hearing Ian Christe's show every weekend, and that was always fun, and they kept Eddie's show so I was pretty happy with it.

Now the fourth change and I lose all the DJs, the Death/Black Metal shows, and even uncensored music all at once for a station that thinks Rage Against the Machine belongs next to Slayer and Overkill. I've been listening to the channel for two days, and instead of the 2/3 songs would be from groups I liked on the older formats, this one goes into a 1/5 ratio, and it's pissing me off due to that. I've sent a complaint in, but I haven't heard anything yet.

[Kevin]

You should look at getting XM/Sirius. My parents and I have it and it is really a much better alternative to terrestrial.

[7]

Why pay for something you can get for free, Kevin?

[Kevin]

I find the quality to be quite better. And almost zero commercials.

[7]

That may be so, but I personally would prefer to save myself $150 dollars a year and listen to worse quality music, and with a decent reception the quality of terrestrial radio isn't that poor, at least not $150 dollars a year poor.

[HNT]

Generally I agree 7thSeal, which is why I don't have satellite radio personally. THat said, I think that if you were willing to forego downloading music or buying CD's in exchange for paying for radio it might actually be a savings. Just depends on how you look at it. Then again, I still pay out the ass for cable television and haven't stopped buying DVD's and Bluray so I guess it isn't so easy

[7]

I hear you on the outrageous price of cable, HNT. I got so fed up with that shit not so long ago that I just completely canceled it and now watch things solely on my computer streamed from the internet. I must add that my main gripe wasn't necessarily with the price the cable company charges, but the complete lack of respect and customer service they bring to their business.

I regret sometimes not being able to melt into my couch and throw on the television, but all in all I guess I don't really mind not having my cable and television anymore.

[HNT]

My gripe is w3ith the whole business model. The prices are artificially high becuase there is absolutely no competition. You get whatever cable company serves your area and there are no competing companies to go with. It is a true monopoly in that sense, and it is incredibly costly. You can tell it by the "deals" that they offer to entice you to sign up. why exactly does it initially cost $10 per month for HBO and then suddenly get raised to like $40? It isn't as if the value of the product went up in that time. Nor is it like they weren't clearly making a profit at the introductory rate. It is just a scam. And satelite is not real competition. I live in the city. My building won't allow me to put a dish outside (with good reason. It would look horrible if every single tenant did that) and even if I could living on the 1st floor I am confident it would be stolen. Ultimately, Comcast can charge me whatever they want and I have to pay it because I have no other options. They can add channels I don't want, take away the channels that I do and restructure their pricing at will and I don't have any real recourse. Somebody should file a lawsuit. Hmmmmmm

[7]

You're completely right, HNT. Hey, you're the legal expert here on the boards, so if you draft up the suit I'll be right there with you!

It is true, it's the same as the telecommunications companies. Aside from the initial cost of setting up the infrastructure they also have no overhead except paying their employees and the things that stem from having employees. Once the cables are laid they really only need to be expanded and repaired every so often.

[Kevin]

You guys dont have the triple play deals near you? My parents pay thirty dollars each a month for phone high speed internet and cable. And the cable as well as the internet is amazing, at least with verizon FIOS. I know that it has to be in your area though.

[7]

I have all that stuff in my area, but Kevin that still adds up to over one thousand dollars a year, that's not small change, especially just to watch television. I love to travel for instance, it's my life - I'm almost always on one trip or another. A year's worth of all those things could get me a ticket to central Asia, and to me that's worth more than a year of television. I don't have a phone and communicate almost exclusively by email and other internet correspondence and even the traditional paper and pen route (call me a romantic) and it doesn't bother me much. If I want to watch a film, I just watch in on my notebook.

If you're big into television and things, then I'm sure it's worth it to you to pay $90 a month for such things, but to me the cost to benefit ratio just doesn't pan out - especially when I am in Poland, which is my headquarters of sorts. The national company Telekomunikacja Polska really rips people off when you take their rates into consideration when compared with cost of living in Warsaw and other parts of Poland.

I don't know, it's just not worth it to me.