I have TCI Cablevision and I’m fried with the way they split up the stations. To economize, I buy the inexpensive two tiers, having discovered that Basic gives you just enough prime tome to keep you from going nuts too loudly. If you want something better, you buy the next tier along with it, including two special channels.
Now digital is here.
The cable company charges a fortune for digital set ups. When hardly anyone bought into it, they ‘adjusted’ the cable channels.
Now, without digital, you get crap. After midnight, you get infomercials and reruns of the days programming, the psychic networks, worn out Disney (Cripes! I’ve seen Steamboat Willie 100 times!), and news, weather, wrestling (the pabulum of the lower class) and political discussions.
All of the good programming has been moved to digital cable! Like Connections! The Sci-fi channel and so on. I can’t take anymore cheap Japanese Anime at night! Where did the great MTV weird cartoons go? Jackass is for jackasses and the current rap or pop videos annoy me. They all sound the same and pretty much look alike. My brother gave in and got the digital and pays a small fortune for it.
So, I got this AT&T cable thing. They offer basic and digital cable at a reasonable rate. (They do, however, stick you with a service charge to be able to order pay-per-view movies, which you pay for anyhow when you order them.) I’m thinking of getting it.
Anyone here have the AT&T cable and is it cool, or crap? Think it’s going to do like TCI, that is, start jacking up prices once they get a large chunk of the market?
I’m in Texas and TCI/AT&T are the same thing. Anyway, I’m using AT&T digital cable and haven’t had a problem with it. I only pay like $40/month, but I don’t have any premium channels. I had to get digital because it included like 4 ESPNs, 4 Fox Sports, and 5 or 6 other sports channels. Ever watch Swedish hockey? I can’t understand what they’re saying, but it’s entertaining.
I should also probably add that, at least with the box I got(free installation), the menus are very clear and very easy to navigate. I was visiting my parents, who have to use Charter Cable, a couple of weeks ago and their menus sucked. When I was able to read them, I couoldn’t get them to work correctly. All in all, I’ve been happy with it.
I would go with a Sat Dish before going to digital cable. There are better channel selections, Lower cost per month, etc etc etc.
I’d agree with going Satellite if it is an option. Here in the Atlanta area anyway, AT&T bought out the local cable company (MediaOne, or as we liked to call it, MediaNone). Great promises of grand service were issued forth as digital was spread through the city. It would appear that it has not improved, and complaints of poor service are still abound. I cite http://www.clarkhoward.com on the message boards for general proof.
I’m paying $80/month right now for Dish network, which gets me 150 basic cable/music channels (love the commercial free music), 7 HBO’s, a bunch of Showtimes, Cinemaxes, and Starzes. Also included are the local networks (ABC, NBC, CBS), and 7 or 8 versions of WB/UPN networks around the country (NY, Boston, Denver, etc).
Of course there are times where it still seems like there is nothing on but informecials, but then there are times when GOOD (in my simple mind) anime movies are played on the Action Channel.
It doesn’t work that way with ATT here in Seattle. I just got the fiber optic upgrade last year, and I love it. I get the extended basic package, and I get SciFi, TLC, History, Disney, Cartoon, Comedy, ESPN2, Bravo, etc. No box, no digital. We have digital, but it runs over $50 per month, so I’m out. I lose Sundance and the Independent Film Channel, but I’ll live.