Comcast to leave Detroit market

[Hermod]

One of the things people complain about having to pay for "unnecessary channels" is the way the system is structured. If Coleman Young Cable wants MSNBC for Detroit, the reach a cost agreement with MSNBC and ar told that we will sell it to you at that price, but in addition you have to carry Jewelry Network, Obscure Viennese Musicians Network, and Watching the Paint Dry Network. Since adding the crap networks costs the cable company little if anything, you get MSNBC and all of the junk. Essentially, there is zero cost for the junk channels.

[Zacha341]

I ditched cable years ago opting for the ROKU streaming with Netflix and the free channels they offer. Nothing is live which I miss. And for sure nothing is sports oriented live. I have to admit I do like somethings on the Comcast line-up when I can see it. I prefer the Comcast remote over Uverse...

The only two cable services in my area are DISH Network [[which we currently use) and Comcast. I guess I'm screwed as far as competition in the area goes.

I'd seriously drop cable in 2 seconds for some sort of Netflix/streaming option.

[Zacha341]

Depends where you live. ATT has been pushing it on me for a few years and I live not too far from WSU.

So is Uverse not available in Detroit....

[Zacha341]

Yep, you're not forced to use their ISP email. I have ATT and ditched [[ignore) the stupid email they gave me and they communicate with me to an email of MY choosing.

Please explain how it ties you down to their service. Can't you use gmail for example and not use the ISP email?

[canuck]

One of the things people complain about having to pay for "unnecessary channels" is the way the system is structured. If Coleman Young Cable wants MSNBC for Detroit, the reach a cost agreement with MSNBC and ar told that we will sell it to you at that price, but in addition you have to carry Jewelry Network, Obscure Viennese Musicians Network, and Watching the Paint Dry Network. Since adding the crap networks costs the cable company little if anything, you get MSNBC and all of the junk. Essentially, there is zero cost for the junk channels.

What do you.mean junk, Hermod?
Don't you appreciate the finer things like "The moonshining midget lesbian.mob wives of New Jersey?
I love the smorgasbord of contemporary TV...and the ads...

[Scottathew]

Dish TV is coming out with a $20 streaming package that has some channels, including ESPN and CNN. It's an interesting concept.

I'd like to see the cable companies offer a 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 channel package. For example, you pick the 20 channel package, and then you get to pick which 20 channels.

They really just need to trim the stupid crap that nobody watches. Cable would be so much cheaper that way.

I figure cutting the cord is the ultimate F.U. to the cable, and I'm happy to be able to do that.

I posted on my Facebook page about all the stuff I was doing to cut cable, and people have been very interested. Perhaps some of my most-commented posts of all time have been on this subject.

[Jimaz]

I remember when we only had channels 2[[CBS), 4[[NBC), 7[[ABC) and 9[[CBC).

It's amazing how jumbled the TV channel list has become. They come and go without notice.

We get one "local" channel that broadcasts Deutsche Welle. Go figure.

[mtburb]

I remember when we only had channels 2[[CBS), 4[[NBC), 7[[ABC) and 9[[CBC).

It's amazing how jumbled the TV channel list has become. They come and go without notice.

We get one "local" channel that broadcasts Deutsche Welle. Go figure.

I didn't know we had a local station that was an affiliate of a German network.

[rb336]

I didn't know we had a local station that was an affiliate of a German network.

is that on one of the WTVS sub-channels? I know it's the english language edition, and I have enjoyed watching it. [[that, the BBC and CBC all beat the crap out of US stations)

There are a lot of German people who work here for OEMs

[mtburb]

is that on one of the WTVS sub-channels?

Nope. WTVS only has two subchannels.

[Hermod]

Dish TV is coming out with a $20 streaming package that has some channels, including ESPN and CNN. It's an interesting concept.

I'd like to see the cable companies offer a 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 channel package. For example, you pick the 20 channel package, and then you get to pick which 20 channels.

They really just need to trim the stupid crap that nobody watches. Cable would be so much cheaper that way.

I figure cutting the cord is the ultimate F.U. to the cable, and I'm happy to be able to do that.

I posted on my Facebook page about all the stuff I was doing to cut cable, and people have been very interested. Perhaps some of my most-commented posts of all time have been on this subject.

Cable has a cost to the company to run and maintain a line to your home. That is the basic cost. The number of channels that line can carry is very large. Technically, it costs the cable company the same if you get 10 channels or 100 channels. What adds to the price of cable are the fees the individual channels seek from the cable company to carry their signal and programming.

When the cable company is negotiating a deal to carry a package of popular channels, they very often push the cable company to include a bunch of crap channels that are supported by commercials or by on-line sales [[Jewelry Channel). In other words, the various channels are not equal in cost to the cable company [[costs to be passed on to the subscriber). If there was a la carte pricing, the costs of the desirable channels would be high and you really wouldn't save money.

Remember cable began as "community antennas" where the cable compnay took the broadcast signals, amplified them, and piped them out to the subscribers. At that time, the broadcast stations [[and their advertisers) were happy to get their signal clearly into more homes. Then as cable became a big business, the broadcast stations decided that they wanted cable to pay for their programming. It was decisions like these that caused the dramatic increases in cable prices.

[Scottathew]

When the cable company is negotiating a deal to carry a package of popular channels, they very often push the cable company to include a bunch of crap channels that are supported by commercials or by on-line sales [[Jewelry Channel). In other words, the various channels are not equal in cost to the cable company [[costs to be passed on to the subscriber). If there was a la carte pricing, the costs of the desirable channels would be high and you really wouldn't save money.

I get that. There are 4 or 5 major content providers. Even if I got my "20 channel package" and then got to choose 4 channels from each of the major content providers, that would be awesome. I would expect to pay about $20-$30 for said package.

It would force efficiency. It would cause them to drop a lot of infrequently requested channels.

The alternative is that cable companies and content providers are going to start getting less money as more and more people refuse to have cable subscriptions.

[Hermod]

I get that. There are 4 or 5 major content providers. Even if I got my "20 channel package" and then got to choose 4 channels from each of the major content providers, that would be awesome. I would expect to pay about $20-$30 for said package.

It would force efficiency. It would cause them to drop a lot of infrequently requested channels.

The alternative is that cable companies and content providers are going to start getting less money as more and more people refuse to have cable subscriptions.

You aren't paying now for the crap channels. The cable company is giving the bandwidth to the content providers so that they can get the good stuff. If you went through the klist and told the cable company "I don't need this" your cable bill would go down very little [[it might well go up to pay for the admin complexity of individual choice).