CBS kicked off Time Warner Cable

[gdippel]

Here in NYC there's no CBS on cable. I'm in the process of hooking up the rabbit ears (which I already had due to frequent cable outages, don't get me started!) to Sage. I had them hooked up directly to the TV but found myself trying to pause and rewind! TV just isn't TV without Sage. I'm thinking of keeping the antenna as a permanent feed to my Hauppauge 1850 which I previously used for clear QAM.

[KryptoNyte]

They dumped the local NBC affiliate here. I'm not a fan of Time Warner, but I'm not entirely sure who the bad guy is in this ordeal. The local NBC affiliate was basically trying to double their fee to Time Warner (allegedly).

I suppose if you get back to fundamentals, I lean towards Time Warner being the source of the problems - they are a company that struggles to deliver media reliably (which should be their primary function), and has "created" out of thin air a business of hardware rental, essentially forcing long time customers to pay out many times over the actual cost of the equipment.

If I lived in a position where I could get television some other way, I would surely do it.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by gdippel

Here in NYC there's no CBS on cable. I'm in the process of hooking up the rabbit ears (which I already had due to frequent cable outages, don't get me started!) to Sage. I had them hooked up directly to the TV but found myself trying to pause and rewind! TV just isn't TV without Sage. I'm thinking of keeping the antenna as a permanent feed to my Hauppauge 1850 which I previously used for clear QAM.

I guess I am lucky, I still have CBS and NBC out on Long Island.

Pick youself up an HDHR (non prime) and hook your antenna to that then you don't loos the capture on the 1850, unless it's an extra device.

[pjpjpjpj]

Relating this to all of the "TV is changing" threads...

I feel like Time Warner may inadvertantly be hurting themselves way more than they know here - or maybe CBS is blatently making a move to try to break their stranglehold. CBS is the #1 most-watched network, with quite a lot of top shows that many people will not do without. So what will this do? It will make a LOT of people analyze their TV habits. Way more people than would have done so on their own, with no motivating factor.

So all these people who have been paying for cable for years without thinking twice - viewing it as a necessary evil - will suddenly discover they can get CBS for free with rabbit ears. And, waddaya know, that same antenna gets them Fox, ABC, and CBS. And, waddaya know, they just realized that 90% of what they watch is on those channels and they can get all the other stuff they like via streaming options (Hulu, Roku, Apple TV, whatever). Suddenly, a LOT of people just discovered they can buy a $99 box and drop cable. And even if TW sees this and decides to renegotiate with CBS, there's a good chance those people won't return.

The only stumbling block to this theory is, what about OTA DVR capability? There are a few out there, I suppose. Too bad Sage isn't still available.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

The only stumbling block to this theory is, what about OTA DVR capability? There are a few out there, I suppose. Too bad Sage isn't still available.

Once Aereo expands markets and supports Android/Google TV, it may be a viable alternative for some. ~$150 a year for 60 hours of cloud DVR may not be that bad when you factor in how much some of us spend on our DVR setups. Now, if you could only purchase HBO Go and Showtime Anytime for ~$15 a month without having to subscribe to cable/sat., and find a way of getting Bravo, etc., for the wife without paying ~$2.00 per episode.

Too bad Google Play doesn't offer ad supported TV for a much lower cost. I don't like ads, but I also don't like paying for crap programming.

[BobbyDing]

The whole cable/networks/Aereo squabble should be interesting to watch. I'm afraid that if Aereo continues winning the court battles, the networks will decide to compromise the OTA signals (goto mono, SD or double the commercials) to ensure the cable feeds keep bringing in $$$.

Bobby

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

The whole cable/networks/Aereo squabble should be interesting to watch. I'm afraid that if Aereo continues winning the court battles, the networks will decide to compromise the OTA signals (goto mono, SD or double the commercials) to ensure the cable feeds keep bringing in $$$.

Bobby

CBS has already threatened to stop broadcasting OTA completely and become a strictly Cable channel if they can't get their retransmit fees.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Tiki

CBS has already threatened to stop broadcasting OTA completely and become a strictly Cable channel if they can't get their retransmit fees.

I think that was Fox.

If this Aereo business screws things up for us OTA users I am going to be extremely pissed...

[BobbyDing]

I'll bet TW considers this a win-win strategy.

On one hand if Aereo wins out, the networks might neuter their OTA broadcasts in some way, making cable the better (or only) option for receiving quality (full HD & sound) broadcasts and making it less desirable to be a cord cutter, as he will no longer enjoy better quality that OTA can bring.

On the other hand if Aereo looses, the cable companies loose an up and coming competitor. Giving cord cutters one less option and/or reason to drop their cable.

I understand now why TW is purposely promoting Aereo during this thing. They want to stur the pot and turn up the heat

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

I understand now why TW is purposely promoting Aereo during this thing. They want to stur the pot and turn up the heat

I'm not sure if Aereo's strategy could easily be implemented by a cable co. Yes, they could set up an antenna array, but they would need to distribute a different STB to handle the per-customer, per device, feed. And for all the threats from networks of pulling off OTA, I doubt it would happen. I guess I have trouble seeing the upside of Aereo for Cable, and i don't believe that castrated broadcast would be a winning strategy for either party.

The problem is, of course, that broadcast networks make far too much off retransmission fees. Aereo, or similar services, could bring that back into check, returning these networks to pure advertizing revenue, and encouraging them to offer better streaming services with forced advertizing (like Hulu, but with live streams as well) to compete against paid services like Aereo.

[pjpjpjpj]

I can't imagine OTA going away, because I don't think the networks want to deal with the public backlash of "political incorrectness" they'll receive from taking away free TV from the poor. The poor already feel entitled to a cellphone, how do you think they'll handle losing TV? They'll surely feel TV is an even more basic right.

It's possible they could reduce the quality (as suggested above). But even that, I can't imagine. The poor (at least in America) somehow all seem to own an HDTV. Take away quality signals and they'll all complain about how they spent all their hard-earned (yeah right) money on that TV and now it's no better than the old tube they used to have.

PR nightmare, if you ask me.