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bgooch

03-22-06, 05:51 AM

MAP Queries FCC on Possible Rule Violation

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/20/2006 4:08:00 PM

Media Access Project (MAP) has written the FCC to ask its General Counsel whether the commission has violated ex parte rules in its consideration of the Adelphia acquisition by Time Warner and Comcast.

The letter stems from a press conference Friday in which FCC Chairman Kevin Martin talked to reporters about a variety of subjects. MAP says a number of press accounts, including B&C's, reported that Martin "implied that he had been asked to defer action on the Adelphia matter at the request of certain parties."

B&C 's characterization that Martin suggested the delay in the merger decision "was the product of conversation with the parties involved" stemmed from the following exchange:

Reporter: "The Adelphia deal with Comcast and Time Warner. I think the clock is up to over 250 in terms of the days of review. What makes this deal harder to work through than, say the bigger mergers, uh, the telecom mergers of last year? Is there just not a consensus among the commissioners to get the order out the door and you need a fifth? What's the hold-up here?"

Martin: "I don't talk about the details or the individual merits of any of the proceedings that are in front of us.

"But the commission has had a variety of transactions that we dealt with last year. And we're going to have additional transactions we're dealing with this year, and some of those that are in front of us. And in each case, we work closely with the parties that are in front of us on the timing of when, you know, of how important it is to try to get it through to the parties themselves and I think that we work very closely with the parties to try to be responsive to their concerns and the time frames they end up having."

MAP says that any communications relating to merger timing are "presentations" and should show up on a list of disclosed communications about the transaction. If such exist, MAP can't find them and wants access to them "in sufficient time for other parties to have a meaningful opportunity to comment on any previously undisclosed communications."

Such communications are allowed in so-called "permit-but-disclose" proceedings, including the Adelphia deal, but the "disclose" part requires a summary of those communications be placed in the public record.

MAP represents several groups with concerns about the merger.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6317284.html?display=Breaking%20News

joe221

03-23-06, 10:47 PM

Now A* has started using color bars to blackout NBA games on InHD. The Golden St. game is out tonight. :confused:

jasonvr

03-23-06, 11:19 PM

Now A* has started using color bars to blackout NBA games on InHD. The Golden St. game is out tonight. :confused:

I noticed that too. Odd thing though is that I couldn't see any channel that is playing that game. Shouldn't they only be blacking it out if it is playing on another channel? Also, neither is a local team....

kyleki

03-24-06, 12:39 PM

I'll make sure to post an update here once it's done (March 4th). Since I was a previous Dish Network customer, I've still got 2 Dish500 sat. dishes on my house that are just missing the LNBs. I've asked them to replace them with a single SuperDish sat. dish and they said they'd most likely do that for me. We'll have to see how cool the installer is when he comes out. :)As promised, here's an update (a little late, I know) on my switch from Adelphia to Dish Network.

Pros:
* Their ViP622 receiver (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/userguides_manuals/receivers/ViP622_DVR/index.shtml) is heads and tails better than the Moxi!
* 320 GB hard drive! I haven't worried about having free space at all.
* Free disk space is revealed (http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/menus/622/myrecordings.shtml). I now know how much recording time is left (HD & SD).
* I can watch all my recorded programs and manage timers from my bedroom (1 ViP622 serves 2 TVs)
* This box has more options than you can shake a stick at. You may feel this to be overwhelming, but they've done a wonderful job of keeping things simple. I feel like I'm finally in control.
* The IR commands are EASY to learn! My Pronto remote works very well with the ViP622. It was sluggish and hit-and-miss with the Moxi.
* The ViP622 is FAST! Navigating the menus, changing channels, getting programming info is all very responsive.
* The USB ports are active and allow me to connect my digital camera to it and view my pictures on the TV!
* HD locals are now available through the satellites - no more Off The Air antenna required to get these channels (this was the main reason I went to Adelphia a year ago and left Dish Network).
* It comes with a pre-defined "Favorite" channel list named "All Sub" which automatically filters out all the channels you aren't subscribed to (the Moxi required you to do this manually).
* Additional "Favorite" channel lists are configurable (i.e. "Kids", "Movies", etc.).

Cons:
* My kids miss the free On Demand service from Adelphia (Backyard Safari episodes)
* The initial installer didn't aim my satellite dish quite right, so a second visit was necessary (free of charge)
* The ViP622 requires a phone connection to stay away from an extra $5 per mo. fee. (not a big deal for me since running a phone cord through the attic was easily done).

All in all, I'm very happy with my decision to drop Adelphia. It's a real pleasure to watch TV again. ;)

Here's a link to an interactive ViP622 site that lets you navigate through the menus to get a feel for what it can do (click the "Interactive Menus" link on the left of the page):
http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/receiver/622.shtml

Pagey

03-24-06, 01:44 PM

As promised, here's an update (a little late, I know) on my switch from Adelphia to Dish Network.

Wow, I've been waiting for someone to post something like this, because in the North-East San Gabriel Valley, Adelphia is just not doing it for me.

Thank You for that great post.

motoman

03-24-06, 05:54 PM

Thanks.. Glad you posted that update and it's very good to hear. I'm leaning towards Dish also. Since we haven't had any new HD channels added in my area it's looking even better.

Thanks,

Jim

Penton-Man

03-24-06, 06:09 PM

As promised, here's an update (a little late, I know) on my switch from Adelphia to Dish Network.

Nice report. :)

How about any differences in picture quality between Adelphia vs. Dish?

Have you noticed anything or is it difficult to recall without a actually doing an A/B comparison with both on site to be fair?

kyleki

03-24-06, 07:56 PM

How about any differences in picture quality between Adelphia vs. Dish?To be honest, it is difficult to say for sure without having 2 TVs side-by-side. However, I'm a pretty picky guy when it comes to PQ and I've been VERY happy with my picture. I watch a lot of HD, and, to be honest, I have had my picture break up pretty bad a few times. But this isn't anything new and I was dealing with this same issue with the Moxi. I actually believe most of these issues are the fault of the broadcasters as they're still figuring out how to do this HD thing.

One definite improvement is the local channels. Dish sends everything digital - even the locals, so they actually look better with Dish.

Now, to be fair, the ViP622 is new hardware and does have a few kinks to work out. These few kinks are extremely bearable and when I measure the pros with the cons, I'd much rather be in the ViP622 camp than the Moxi one.

Another good thing is that there's no middle man. When Dish fixes something and spools new firmware, it goes directly to the customers. Whereas when Moxi fixes something, they have to send it through the cable companies first. Then the cable companies get to determine who gets what (usually much, much later. 3.2 was released by Moxi around 1 year before I saw it on my box!).

Oh, and did I mention that my monthly bill is lower? Yup, with combining their HD Gold Package (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/gold/index.shtml) and DSL from DSLExtreme (http://www.dslextreme.com), I'm actually paying less now than with Adelphia. Sure, my DSL is a little slower than Adelphia's cable modem, but I went for the 2nd tier speed (1500-3000/384-512kbps) which DSLExtreme is offering at a promotion for $17.95/mo. for the first 12 months. This is enough for me and my family.

So, do I have some issues with Dish? Sure. But I'll take these issues over Adelphia/Moxi any day.

twitchee3

03-26-06, 12:44 AM

motoman

03-26-06, 01:24 AM

twitchee3

03-26-06, 04:35 AM

I called about more HD stuff for our area two weeks ago and the CS rep said we would have all the new HD stuff in about two weeks. I called today to cancel some services in light of the recent price increases and she knew nothing of any new HD packages on our area. I was told by a local tach about six months ago that no new HD could be added to the system as it stands now till it's upgaded to add more bandwidth.

As always when dealing with Adelphia you'll get two or three versions and none of them are usually right.

Jim
I agree, adelphia service in this area is horrible. I'm in camarillo so i would guess we're serviced by the same branch of Adelphia, but they have by far the worst customer support out of any company i have ever dealt with. We ordered 2 HD DVR (Moxi) boxes (separately) early this year and each time it took them 3 weeks to install. It sucked getting an HDTV but not being able to watch HD content on it until you had had it for a couple weeks, but now that i've got it's great.

I had heard something a while back about free HBO for a week or something like that but nothing ever seemed to come of that????? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

jrg70

03-27-06, 10:13 PM

I know we bag on NFL Network in this forum for the lack of HD content, so this is good news.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2386175

There will be three games on Thanksgiving, the new late game will be on NFL Network.
"The Broncos-Chiefs match will be the first live, in-season game on NFL Network, which will show eight prime-time games from Thanksgiving through the end of the season. Those games will be on either Thursday or Saturday nights."

Let's just hope that it's in HD. Wouldn't that be classic if they...should I even go there?

mugwump88

03-27-06, 11:20 PM

Any PQ differences between the HD box and the Moxi box? I'm interested in the quality of the picture more than any DVR features. From what I understand, the HD box offers a better SD output.

Sheesh, so many acronyms, but I just stumbled across this forum, and I think it's amazing that there is an Adelphia, Los Angeles one -- thanks for the useful info here!

revgen

03-28-06, 12:19 AM

I just upgraded to HD (through Adelphia) and I'm currently watching the channels and I'm absolutely unimpressed. :mad:

There are ugly blocks everywhere on the screen. I'm convinced that Adelphia is probably recompressing the original streams to lower bitrates.

I've watched HDTV from an OTA station at a party in LA and this stuff never happens.

Does anybody know if Dish Network or Direct TV does this too.

twitchee3

03-28-06, 01:56 AM

bgooch

03-28-06, 07:09 AM

03/28/2006 1:00 AM MST

By The Denver Post

Cable TV assets of bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. will be sold to Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. by the end of July, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.

Comcast and Time Warner won U.S. antitrust approval from the Federal Trade Commission in February to buy assets of the Greenwood Village-based cable company.

The Federal Communications Commission also must approve the sale.

The cable assets are worth more than $12.7 billion, according to the SEC filing.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3645853?source=rss

revgen

03-28-06, 11:22 AM

What kind of HD Set Top Box do you have? I also have Adelphia HDTV in SoCal, and we have 2 Moxi boxes and i don't have trouble with viewing live HDTV at all.

I have a Motorola box (Moxi?). Some programs are better than others. Nature programs (Discovery HD) and other highly detailed material looks the worst. There are also highly annoying pixel crap between scene changes. Perhaps my eyes are more sensitive.

The bitrate of a 1920x1080i stream should be about 20 Mbit/s. I'm curious whether Adelphia may be downgrading the original stream to save bandwith.

joe221

03-28-06, 11:25 AM

I have a Motorola box (Moxi?). Some programs are better than others. Nature programs (Discovery HD) and other highly detailed material looks the worst. There are also highly annoying pixel crap between scene changes. Perhaps my eyes are more sensitive.

The bitrate of a 1920x1080i stream should be about 20 Mbit/s. I'm curious whether Adelphia may be downgrading the original stream to save bandwith.

A MOXI box says MOXI on the front, and is a recording device. You should know that.

jeffs471

03-28-06, 12:40 PM

I agree, adelphia service in this area is horrible. I'm in camarillo so i would guess we're serviced by the same branch of Adelphia, but they have by far the worst customer support out of any company i have ever dealt with. We ordered 2 HD DVR (Moxi) boxes (separately) early this year and each time it took them 3 weeks to install. It sucked getting an HDTV but not being able to watch HD content on it until you had had it for a couple weeks, but now that i've got it's great.

I had heard something a while back about free HBO for a week or something like that but nothing ever seemed to come of that????? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

I'm in camarillo too and agree that adelphia is horrible. Techs absolutely hate coming to my house because they cannot get my analog channels clear and the crappy internet service is always slow. When I called about the extra HD channels they said there was nothing in the future for my region even though my stb received the message they would be available on feb 19. I'm glad they decided to keep the 5 porn channels instead of adding some hd channels :rolleyes:. That along with how many ppv channels involving sports and movies. Get rid of the 100 music channels. I would be interested to see some data on who actually uses some of these supposed "features" adelphia is wasted bandwidth on.

joe221

03-28-06, 12:52 PM

I'm in camarillo too and agree that adelphia is horrible. Techs absolutely hate coming to my house because they cannot get my analog channels clear and the crappy internet service is always slow. When I called about the extra HD channels they said there was nothing in the future for my region even though my stb received the message they would be available on feb 19. I'm glad they decided to keep the 5 porn channels instead of adding some hd channels :rolleyes:. That along with how many ppv channels involving sports and movies. Get rid of the 100 music channels. I would be interested to see some data on who actually uses some of these supposed "features" adelphia is wasted bandwidth on.

I agree, one thing I've noticed is I hardly ever watch any of the channels above 100 so I'm considering eliminating that tier. I'd love to ditch the music too but I don't think they actually charge for that. I already have XM don't need MC. I do watch the HD channels (ne NFL although they get content this fall!)

revgen

03-28-06, 02:17 PM

A MOXI box says MOXI on the front, and is a recording device. You should know that.

I'd normally be upset at such a rude remark. But since you're a "grumpy member" I'll let it go. ;)

joe221

03-28-06, 02:31 PM

I'd normally be upset at such a rude remark. But since you're a "grumpy member" I'll let it go. ;)

I did forget my winky, sorry ;) :D

markt170

03-28-06, 05:17 PM

xSm0ker

03-28-06, 07:02 PM

I just upgraded to HD (through Adelphia) and I'm currently watching the channels and I'm absolutely unimpressed.

I have Adelphia in Moorpark with 2 MOXIs. I do not have any problems with ugly blocks. The quality is not noticeably different than OTA or satellite. I'm overall, pretty satisfied with Adelphia in Moorpark. Be glad you don't live down the hill. They only get about half of the HD programming we get.

I think in order to get the premium packages and the HD package, they made you subscribe to the digital package.

I was able to cancel digital cable and keep all of my HD programming.

joe221

03-28-06, 07:42 PM

I think in order to get the premium packages and the HD package, they made you subscribe to the digital package (the 100 series channels). Wife will sometimes watch Style, but the rest go unwatched, and most I've deleted from the channel lineup -- yes, even the Logo channel.

I called and asked, she said yes I can remove the digital tier and keep the HD and HBO seperately. It would save me about $10 and another $6+ for my Replay's tuner, just keep the Moxi.

revgen

03-28-06, 07:44 PM

mugwump88

03-28-06, 08:14 PM

A 24" Dell computer monitor to watch broadcast tv? I believe there's your problem.

The monitor's resolution is 1920 x 1200, so it has to take the broadcast signal and significantly enlarge it. I don't believe there is much of a scaler in there to do this.

How's the signal on a regular tv?

revgen

03-28-06, 10:35 PM

Nope. The monitor is not the problem. I've watched captured 1080i .ts streams from other sources and they look fine.

The signal on regular TV is also pretty blocky using the the component output. But, this doesn't surprise me since it's lower resolution. However using S-Video does significantly reduce the blocks. Unfortunately it's at the cost of lower resolution.

twitchee3

03-29-06, 02:20 AM

Hmm... I don't have a Moxi.

Perhaps they process the stream better than the Motorola. I guess I'll try and contact adelphia again and see how much it costs.

I use a 24" Dell FW2405 PC monitor that happens to come with a component connector. I can only imagine that the blocks would be larger on a bigger screen.
The Moxi is also made by Motorola, although the internal "Moxi" software is designed by digeo, and that, i believe, is who creates the digital video interface of the box.

tiberius

03-29-06, 01:43 PM

twitchee3

03-29-06, 06:32 PM

Folks,

I'm a newbie here and I currently have a moto SD STB in Redondo Beach. I'm soon to get the new Sceptre 42" LCD.

I heard that Adelphia and others have to offer HDTV to those who do not have a STB. Is this true and does Adelphia offer this ? If they do what would be the channels.

Cheers

Tiberius
If you mean that they have to offer HD service without requiring the rent/purchase (depends on cable co., most, like Adelphia, do no allow purchasing) of a set top box, then you are correct. Adelphia, and other cable providers, offer what is called the CableCard. This is a card that is inserted into compatible TV's or select stand alone boxes (things like TiVo-although i don't believe current TiVo's offer this feature) and allows the device to decode the cable companies digital channels (i.e. channels above 100 and HD channels). The limitations are that with a CableCard you cannot receive the interactive program guide or the video on demand features offered by your cable company. I also own a Sceptre TV (30" LCD) and i checked on the 42" model and neither of the Sceptre 42" TV's support CableCard interface. They DO however have integrated QAM tuners, which means that if you buy an antenna, you can receive FREE over the air HDTV and DTV broadcasts, depending on what channels are available in your area. Usually the major networks.

If Adelphia offers UN-ECRYPTED HD programming in your area, then the QAM tuner integrated into the TV WILL allow you to receive those channels, but if their HD signals are encrypted, the only way you can view them is with either an HD set top or with a CableCard enabled TV/Device. Adelphia usually charges about $3/mo. or so for CableCard service.

HDTV availability depends on your service area. Where i am, in Camarillo, Adelphia offers us only the major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX), PBS, ESPN, HBO, and Showtime in HD. The selection is VERY limited, and as we don't subscribe to any of the movie channels and ESPN HD is also an extra, we only get the major networks and PBS, kind of a drag with two brand new HDTV's (30" LCD and 42" Plasma)

jonathanR

03-30-06, 06:33 PM

Anyone serviced by Adelphia in the Ventura County area know when Adelphia is planning to go completely digital and offer channels 1-70 (or so) in digital format for those of us with set top boxes (2 Moxis)? Would love to have the picture improvement. And also, anyone serviced in this area have any idea when more HD programming will be offered. Currently all that is available is CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, HBO, Showtime, and ESPN. Would love to have more HD available.

Hey Twitchee:

I'm over here in Santa Paula, I've had the new HD channels for about 2 weeks. All I did was go into my local branch during lunch, where you pay the bll and had the CR take off my $1.50 ESPN-HD channel and add on the new $5.00 HD package. Was on when I got home.

Everyone:

What do you guys think about most of the adelphia programing? I don't subscribe to the 100's-199's. I've been doing the ala cart 2 premium package, HBO & Stars....(though I had Show for a while when they were broadcasting "Masters of Horror". I switched back to stars.....now having seconds thought.....damm on-demands are extra....agh! :confused: Showtime HD has maybe 2 good movies a week.

Also, have the highspeed internet, serious thinkng about jumping back to verizon for $14.95 (6mo) vs. adelphia's $45+. But wife uses it for work, I enjoy the quicker download speed. I really think $45 to $50 is way too much! :mad: We definitly need more competition. Wish I had all HD channels +2 premiums , on-demand & high speed at $100 / mo tag or less. I could live w/ that. Seems like Adlephia and other cable companies trying to screw us. Come on..... $1.95 for for first set-top box and if we have (4) other tv's besides the first w/ cablecards.....they charge $4.95 after the first one for each one! BS!

Jonathan

apao

03-30-06, 07:19 PM

twitchee3

03-30-06, 07:49 PM

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone has run into the same problem w/ their Moxi. I have the Moxi connected to my plasma via a dvi->hdmi cable. It works well except for the fact that each time I turn my TV on, it takes some time before it will synch w/ the Moxi. The screen goes from blue screen to static to real picture and goes back and forth before finally "locking". After locking, this is never a problem during actual viewing/changing of channels, etc. Anyone have this happen and find a way around it?? Thanks!
We have 2 Moxis. How long is this "static" staying on your screen. I find that when switching between SD and HD channels, most TV's show static for a second or two when changing resolutions. This is most likely being caused by your TV and there is really no way to change settings on the Moxi to get rid of this, it's just the function of the TV.

revgen

03-30-06, 09:09 PM

Okay, I've done some research. I just bought a Firewire cable and captured the .ts streams to my computer and played them back with VLC player. The video looks great and is definitely not recompressed like I originally thought. The only possible explanation is that Motorola's video processor stinks.

Judging by the recommendations on this forum, it looks like I'll have to ask for the Moxi instead.

twitchee3

03-31-06, 12:07 AM

alaindelon

03-31-06, 01:23 AM

Well,after a couple of months there is no more Discovery HD for us quam users.Adelphia has started to scramble this channel now-i guess they include it in the HD package and will only continue with broadcast channels on clear quam(that they HAVE to do).

revgen

03-31-06, 10:43 AM

You will not be able to capture video from the Moxi to your computer. Firewire content is encrypted by digeo on this Model box.

Not even the OTA channels?

I can only get the OTA channels from the Motorola box over firewire.

twitchee3

03-31-06, 06:19 PM

Not even the OTA channels?

I can only get the OTA channels from the Motorola box over firewire.
Have not personally tried with the Moxi yet, will do that in a week or two, but have talked extensively with someone who has and he has informed me that the other Motorola series boxes (6400 series) IS capable of sending digital A/V to a computer, but that with the Moxi, a firewire connection to the computer will only allow the changing of channels and control of the panel via add on software. Motorola also manufactures the Moxi, but it is Digeo, creators of the Moxi software, that are in charge of content and A/V systems within the box. In other words, Digeo designed it, Motorola only constructs the actual hardware.

From what i have heard, even over the air channels cannot be recorded to a computer through the Moxi's firewire ports.

mugwump88

04-06-06, 11:36 PM

Does Adelphia offer Color Bars to adjust the color and brightness settings? Some cable providers offer a color bar feed at some point to run the adjustments.

twitchee3

04-07-06, 04:35 AM

Does Adelphia offer Color Bars to adjust the color and brightness settings? Some cable providers offer a color bar feed at some point to run the adjustments.
You mean like a channel with a test screen?
If so, not to my knowledge.

apao

04-07-06, 02:43 PM

Does Adelphia offer Color Bars to adjust the color and brightness settings? Some cable providers offer a color bar feed at some point to run the adjustments.

If you have HDNet, they run a test pattern program once a week. Get it on your Moxi or other PVR and you're set.

bgooch

04-10-06, 09:08 PM

Time Warner Sees Adelphia Deal on Track
By TSC Staff
4/10/2006 4:52 PM EDT
URL: http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/media/10278470.html

Time Warner (TWX:NYSE) said it expects its acquisition with Comcast (CMCSA:Nasdaq) of bankrupt cable operator Adelphia to close on schedule.

Adelphia agreed to the deal last April. The court overseeing the company's Chapter 11 case and regulators need to approve the $17.6 billion deal, which also involves a cable asset swap between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons told CNBC Monday afternoon that there is a chance approval will fall into the third quarter, but he said he is confident the deal will meet its July 31 deadline.

Sources close to the large media company note that cable valuations are down since the time the agreement was negotiated, so any hang-ups aren't likely to draw in better bids.

As part of the swap, Time Warner will get Comcast's Dallas/Fort Worth cable system. Dallas is a popular satellite market with over 40% penetration. Time Warner Cable has strong cable subs in a number of other Texan cities, such as San Antonio, Waco and Austin. Entering the Dallas market would fit with Time Warner's so-called cluster strategy and allow it to sell triple-play services to more Texans.

DJRobX

04-10-06, 11:29 PM

twitchee3

04-11-06, 01:09 AM

Over in Comcast land, what I notice is that the Motorola boxes leave white "pixel boxes" in different spots on the screen, particularly when there's a fade-to-black (very commonly seen when a movie goes to credits). It's definitely a decoder issue, and not in the source MPEG. Been the same for every box since the 5100 through the 6412.
I don't notice this at all with my Moxi, which is technically a Motorola STB, but is built quite differently as it was designed by Digeo.

By the way, i may just be missing it, but what does this exactly have to do with Southern California Adelphia HDTV service?

bgooch

04-11-06, 12:15 PM

'GET BIGGER OR GET OUT,' PARSONS SAYS

Bloomberg

April 11, 2006 -- Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, may get rid of smaller units to help fund an expansion of its main businesses, Chief Executive Officer Richard Parsons said.

Parsons, who will already reap more than $1.5 billion by selling a book-publishing unit and a stake in the AOL Web division, said he wants Time Warner's larger units to remain in the No. 1 or No. 2 spots in their respective industries.

"When you're a small player and the buzz is consolidating, you need to get bigger or get out," Parsons said in an interview at the cable industry's annual National Show in Atlanta yesterday.

"We have to keep performing, do some smart things around trimming the portfolio."

Parsons is looking to jettison more units after agreeing to cut costs by $1 billion to end a six-month battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

At the same time, Parsons plans to consider acquisitions for the Time Warner Cable unit, the second-largest cable-television provider in the U.S., after integrating assets from Adelphia Communications Corp.

"I'm a one-step-at-a-time kind of guy," Parsons said. "Let's get the Adelphia deal done, folded in and operating properly."

The Adelphia transaction may close next quarter, rather than this quarter as planned, he said.

Adelphia, based in Greenwood Village, Colo., last week won court approval to file a plan to exit bankruptcy that would allow the proposed asset sale to Time Warner and Comcast Corp. before a July 31 deadline.

Shares of Time Warner, down 10 percent last year, rose 26 cents to $16.88 yesterday. The stock is down 3.2 percent this year.

The cable-TV unit, Time Warner's fastest-growing business for two straight years, is adding subscribers with packages of services, Parsons said at a separate panel yesterday. He said phone operators aren't ready to compete in the video market.

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/business/66778.htm

bgooch

04-12-06, 02:27 PM

The Associated Press/GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.

APR. 12 11:16 A.M. ET Cable television provider Adelphia Communications Corp. said Wednesday it has modified a reorganization plan to try to resolve a dispute among some creditors that has delayed its exit from bankruptcy protection.

Under the terms of the compromise plan, creditors could accept the proposed settlement or vote for a plan to postpone the dispute for future settlement, which would allow Adelphia to finalize its acquisition by Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., Adelphia Chief Executive Officer William Schleyer said.

Adelphia, the nation's fifth-largest cable television company, remained out of the disputes between creditors at the direction of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court but proposed the plan with court permission after some failed to agree to terms, Schleyer said.

"We continue to expect the transaction to close on schedule and look forward to the cooperation of all interested parties," he said in a statement. "To maximize the value of the Adelphia estate, it is essential that we complete the sale of the company's assets by July 31."

Comcast and Time Warner, the nation's two largest cable television companies, agreed last year to acquire Adelphia in a $17.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. The revised plan reflects a 4 percent overall reduction in the estimated value of the proposed acquisition, the company said.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002 after disclosing $2.3 billion in off-balance-sheet debt. Founder John Rigas and son Timothy have been sentenced to prison after being convicted for their roles in the company fraud. Another Rigas son, Michael, was sentenced in March to 10 months home confinement after pleading guilty to a charge of making a false entry in a company record.

Adelphia, based in this Denver suburb, has more than 5 million customers in 31 states and Puerto Rico.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8GUHJT07.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

bgooch

04-12-06, 02:46 PM

Time Warner Plans to Offer Replay Service
From Bloomberg News
April 12, 2006

Time Warner Inc.'s cable television unit is developing a service that will allow viewers to replay TV shows after they have aired, heightening competition with digital video recorders from companies such as TiVo Inc.

Stamford, Conn.-based Time Warner, the second-largest U.S. cable company, may start its "Look Back" service next year, said Peter Stern, executive vice president of product management.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-briefs12.2apr12,1,7679157.story

bgooch

04-12-06, 02:47 PM

Time Warner urges all TV networks to go on demand

By Kenneth Li and Yinka Adegoke Wed Apr 12, 4:09 AM ET

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc. Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Bewkes said on Tuesday he thought all television networks should be put on its cable video-on-demand service to give viewers easier access.

The move, which would be free for viewers and supported by advertising, would be one way for the cable industry to compete against the Internet and new technologies, which have been siphoning TV viewers by offering instant gratification.

"Maybe I have a dream. We should take all the networks...a day, a week...and put it on video on demand for free," Bewkes said at a panel discussion at the annual cable show sponsored by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

Bewkes' idea would be to put entire programming schedules on demand, rather than offer specific shows only. He said this would be an ideal model to give viewers what they want, when they want it.

He urged the cable industry to do this by next year, but noted that licensing issues were a major hurdle. TV networks could find it difficult to obtain video on demand licenses and rights for programs they do not own, he said.

Bewkes called on the media industry to create new business models so that all parties involved would be compensated.

Because the video on demand service would be free for viewers and supported by advertising, it would be important for the networks to preserve the ads by not letting viewers fast forward through them.

In less ambitious ways, Time Warner Cable has been testing such ideas. It has disabled the ability to fast forward ads on its Start Over service, which lets viewers start shows from the beginning while they are airing.

By next year, Time Warner Cable plans to let viewers catch shows they miss from longer time periods in a feature call Look Back.

Comcast Corp. Chief Operating Officer Stephen Burke agreed to the idea of a comprehensive video on demand service.

"There's no question in my mind that if every network did that, it would be the right thing for the network," Burke said. "If Time Warner starts, other people will look at it."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060412/media_nm/media_timewarner_dc_3

twitchee3

04-12-06, 06:52 PM

Anyone know which of the two cable co.'s is going to take over for Adelphia in SoCal? I'm hoping we get Comcast.

yarrumc

04-12-06, 07:44 PM

Anyone know which of the two cable co.'s is going to take over for Adelphia in SoCal? I'm hoping we get Comcast.

I have heard it is Time Warner.

twitchee3

04-12-06, 07:51 PM

I have heard it is Time Warner.
What a drag, i've heard much better things about Comcast, not that i've heard really anything GOOD about ANY cable co. :rolleyes:

joe221

04-12-06, 08:29 PM

TW gets the West, Comcast gets the East. Comcast in the West becomes TW too, I believe and TW in the East becomes Comcast. It's all so synergistic!

bgooch

04-18-06, 04:13 AM

RCN Calls for Adelphia Conditions

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/17/2006 7:50:00 AM

Cable operator RCN has joined the chorus calling on the FCC to close the so-called terrestrial loophole.

Because of the way the program access rules are written, cable programmmers are only required to make their satellite-delivered programming available to other multichannel video providers, while landline-delivered services, such as many regional sports networks, are exempt from the access requirements.

In February, a group of 19 house members in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, called for bringing terrestrial delivered nets into the fold, specifically making that an FCC condition on approval of the Comcast/Time Warner deal to divvy up bankrupt cable operator Adelphia.

The FCC has been considering the deal for over six months, with no decision yet, likely due to a combination of the lack of a full complement of FCC commissioners and the timing of Adelphia's emergence from bankruptcy.

That call for closing the loophole was joined earlier this month by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and committee member Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who also sent a letter to Martin suggesting the FCC explore putting on such conditions, sighting concerns about Comcast withholding sports network programming from DBS competitors in Philadelphia and Time Warner in Charlotte, N.C.

Comcast's very public battle with Orioles owner Peter Angelos over rights to the Orioles and Washington Nationals, the subject of a House hearing two weeks ago, has also put the Hill spotlight on Comcast and sports programming.

RCN, in a letter last week to Martin, asked the FCC to condition the Adelphia deal on agreements by Comcast and Time Warner to make its landline-delivered nets available to competitors, again citing the sports network issue. In addition, RCN wants the two companies to disclose programming contracts at government request, and make program access disputes subject to arbitration, similar to a condition the FCC placed on the merger of News Corp. and Hughes' DirecTV, according to RCN.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6325229.html?display=Breaking+News

twitchee3

04-19-06, 08:20 PM

I contacted Adelphia over the weekend to inquire about a few things and i thought i would share what the CSR explained to me. First of all i inquired about any new HD programming that Adelphia would be offering in the near future, and he explained to me that there is no information on any speicfic HD channels that will be added in the future, or dates of implementation, so basically new HD programming is far off in the future. So for now, those of us with HDTV's will be stuck with CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, ESPN (which is $1.50, but we think it's worth it), HBO (about $4 more for the whole HBO package if you have an advantagepack), and Showtime (can be added for the same price as HBO). In my opinion the HBO HD channel is not all that great compared to other HD programming we receive. It is broadcast in 1080i, but the quality isn't all that spectacular, and i'm betting they are using a computer to upscale the movies to HD resolutions, since most of thier movies and programs were not initially shot in HD. Because of this process, the movies are not "true HD" persay, but upscaled SD. To convert a movie shot in SD to HD, they must clean the entire film, then scan each frame into a computer with VERY HIGH DPI, and then put the frames together in a HD resolution. This has nothing to do with Adelphia, but rather how HBO delivers their "HD" content to the Adelphia head end for transmission. I understand why they are not implementing this process, but i just thought i would let everyone know it's not TRUE High Definition, but it still looks pretty darn good compared to SD. For comparison, it looks about the same as an SD DVD run through an upconverting DVD player through component, or HDMI/DVI. This is not welcome information, as we have 2 brand new HDTV's and would like to receive more HD programming. Adelphia here in SoCal offers a total of 8 channels in HD, and DISH Network offers well over 20 channels in HD, although some of it is slightly compressed "HD Lite" programming. I have heard the new DISH Vip 622 HD DVR is GREAT with a 350 GB hard drive and many unique features. Satellite is not a valid option for us however since we run more than DISH's maximum of 4 TV's per house, and we also rely on analog PCI TV Tuner cards for 3 of our PC computers to record analog programming for later viewing and editing.

Also, we have two of Adelphia's HD DVR Moxi STB's. We have a BMC 9012, and the newer BMC 9022D model (got this one in my room ;) ) and for those of you who are familiar with the system, Digeo (creators of the Moxi system) offers a smaller "Moxi Mate" standard definition set top box which can be setup in any other room of the house. This "satellite" box can connect to the main Moxi (this is only compatible with the BMC 9022D model) through the house's pre-wired coaxial cable, so no additional installation is necessary. The Moxi Mate has access to all DVR recorded content, all guide data and digital channels available through the main box, as well as VOD (video on demand). It can also access and play DVD's/CD's from the main unit's built in media drive. The satellite unit has ALL the functionality of the main box, except HDTV. It can access HD channels and recordings, but they are downscaled for viewing on the SDTV. Now that the background is out of the way, the Adelphia CSR informed me that the order of Moxi Mates to Adelphia in SoCal has been postponed indefinately, so if we ever see these units, it will be quite a ways off in the future. This discourages me as Adelphia has these Moxi Mates implemented in many other markets throughout the country.

Overall, i still enjoy the features and functionality Adelphia offers, but they need to get their act together and start offering us the latest and greatest technology. I wonder how things will play out with new HD programming and the Moxi Mate once Time Warner Cable takes over. Perhaps they will offer us digital phone service, which i know they offer in many of their current markets.

xSm0ker

04-19-06, 08:34 PM

So for now, those of us with HDTV's will be stuck with CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, ESPN (which is $1.50, but we think it's worth it), HBO (about $4 more for the whole HBO package if you have an advantagepack), and Showtime (can be added for the same price as HBO).

And:

DISC
ESPN-2
InHD
InHD2
HDNet
HDNetMovies
CMAX

twitchee3

04-19-06, 08:42 PM

And:

DISC
ESPN-2
InHD
InHD2
HDNet
HDNetMovies
CMAX
These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)

jasonvr

04-19-06, 08:46 PM

These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)

Funny, I am in Anaheim and I have everything that xSm0ker mentioned as well as what you mentioned twitchee, regardless of what is on the website.

octavian

04-19-06, 09:21 PM

These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)

Those channels are offered in most of SoCal by Adelphia. For us unlucky few that have the older 750MHz systems, we will not get any of the new HD channels until they upgrade to the 850MHz (or better) systems. :(

My Adelphia head-end used to tell me that they were upgrading the system, but now they they're telling me that TWC might upgrade the system when they take over. Until then I am out of luck. :mad:

Sorry to be the deliverer of bad news.

bruce73

04-19-06, 09:51 PM

These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)
I, too, have all of these in Los Feliz out of the Eagle Rock office.

As for the quality of HBO movies: I'm no expert, to be sure, but I was under the impression that most film is a higher resolution than HiDef, so whether or not the film was "shot in HD" is kind of irrelevant, no? I can't speak to whether or not HBO upconverts everything or not, since I have no idea what sources they use, but generally speaking I'm more than satisfied with the PQ on my 50" DLP.

My gripe with HBO is that they crop nearly all of their material. For this reason, I prefer Showtime, which not only shows almost all OARs but also states whether or not the film is upconverted.

Arvy

04-19-06, 09:55 PM

Arcadia also has what xSmOker mentioned as part of a new HD package deal for $5/mo.

twitchee3

04-19-06, 10:18 PM

They really need to hire some new CSR's i suppose since what he told me seems to be COMPLETELY wrong. It is a shame that we are using the old systems and are not able to receive HDNet, Disc, and ESPN-2. I sure hope Time Warner upgrades the system, or i will become one unhappy camper, as they should at least make an EFFORT to provide us with this programming that is available in other areas of SoCal. Those who have the upgraded systems, who was your cable provider before Adelphia took over? We had GTE Americast when we first moved to our house, and Adelphia took over shortly thereafter, i believe it was about 1999-2000 or somewhere around there.

I suspect maybe the false and or misleading information, meaning the info on their site and what the CSR told me, may be due to the fact that they don't want us to know that this other HD programming is available. Perhaps it is because if we are aware that we have out of date systems in our area, many will complain and hassle them until we receive the upgrade. Instead of being forced to upgrade their equipment by angry customers, they probably want to be able to upgrade whenever THEY want to. This makes me mad because they are essentially lying to us, as i would NEVER have found out that Adelphia offers these other HD networks had it not been for this board. No Adelphia paperwork, webinformation, or employee i have had experience with mentioned ANYTHING of the availability of these networks in other areas of SoCal. All i can say is that we better get this upgrade soon.
I, too, have all of these in Los Feliz out of the Eagle Rock office.

As for the quality of HBO movies: I'm no expert, to be sure, but I was under the impression that most film is a higher resolution than HiDef, so whether or not the film was "shot in HD" is kind of irrelevant, no? I can't speak to whether or not HBO upconverts everything or not, since I have no idea what sources they use, but generally speaking I'm more than satisfied with the PQ on my 50" DLP.

My gripe with HBO is that they crop nearly all of their material. For this reason, I prefer Showtime, which not only shows almost all OARs but also states whether or not the film is upconverted.
High Definition IS better quality than film, that's the whole point of it. It's resolutions are similar to that of high quality movie film, but slightly greater and there is the huge advantage of HD being digital video. HBO DOES upconvert their movies that are shown on the HBO HD channel, although movies and or shows actually produced by HBO may have been shot in HD.

bgooch

04-20-06, 12:21 AM

joe221

04-20-06, 03:00 AM

These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)

Yes they do! I have them. (but only HBO on the premiums, for me)

twitchee3

04-20-06, 03:01 AM

Adelphia may not upgrade your system before the TWC purchase but perhaps they could be persuaded to drop some of the east coast time feeds of the multi pay channel packages on your lineup to make room for the HD networks that have already been added to the other So Cal Adelphia systems.
I doubt it, Adelphia will rarely jump through hoops for a customer. Anyway, i doubt getting rid of those few channels would free up enough bandwidth for several more HD channels.

joe221

04-20-06, 03:06 AM

High Definition IS better quality than film, that's the whole point of it. It's resolutions are similar to that of high quality movie film, but slightly greater and there is the huge advantage of HD being digital video. HBO DOES upconvert their movies that are shown on the HBO HD channel, although movies and or shows actually produced by HBO may have been shot in HD.

HD is NO WHERE NEAR the resolution quality of film. Get your information in order. As digital video gets better and better, filmed material can be recaptured and will look better and better.

bruce73

04-20-06, 09:10 AM

IceTBC

04-20-06, 12:35 PM

Funny, I am in Anaheim and I have everything that xSm0ker mentioned as well as what you mentioned twitchee, regardless of what is on the website.

Out here in the Inland Empire in Ontario/Chino we do NOT have those extra HD channels. I called Adelphia about a month and a half ago when I heard they first started offering the "extra" HD channel package and all they could tell me was they weren't available out here in my area yet and I would be informed if and when they were available. At this point in time I've given up on getting them. :(

cctaximan

04-20-06, 06:48 PM

Penton-Man

04-20-06, 08:35 PM

Hi Board
I want to hook up the BMC9022D to my Sony TV through the HDMI input. Before I buy a DVI to HDMI adapter cable I was wondering whether the DVI out works on these new Moxi boxes? I believe I read some where that the DVI output
on the SoCal Moxi boxes dont work properly and need some kind of software update. Has any one out there tried to use a DVI to HDMI hookup? And if so does it work properly and is the PQ better or worst than the component hookup?
Yeah it works.
I just got my 9022D on Monday and am using component and DVI. I HIGHLY doubt that DVI will be worse (PQ wise) than component................whether it will be significantly better, THAT is probably VERY display dependent and you may have to do an A/B comparison on your own unless you can find somebody on this forum with your TV and the Moxi 9022D.

twitchee3

04-20-06, 09:11 PM

Hi Board
I want to hook up the BMC9022D to my Sony TV through the HDMI input. Before I buy a DVI to HDMI adapter cable I was wondering whether the DVI out works on these new Moxi boxes? I believe I read some where that the DVI output
on the SoCal Moxi boxes dont work properly and need some kind of software update. Has any one out there tried to use a DVI to HDMI hookup? And if so does it work properly and is the PQ better or worst than the component hookup?
The DVI does work, and HD will look better, but SD probably won't look all that good as DVI does not support SD's native resolution of 480i and the Moxi will upscale SD, which it does a bad job of, to 720p or 1080i to transmit over HDMI/DVI. The most convenient video interface for HD STB's remains the component, as it will transmit all standard resolutions: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i.

twitchee3

04-20-06, 09:14 PM

HD is NO WHERE NEAR the resolution quality of film. Get your information in order. As digital video gets better and better, filmed material can be recaptured and will look better and better.
Have the specs for standard movie film resolutions?

Although VERY high grade films can be used to capture images at up to 6,000 dpi, usually motion picture studios do not use this caliber of equipment. The standard HD resolution is 1920x1080 dpi, although this is the DOWNGRADED digital resolutions that are used to transmit via coaxial cable to home receivers. You cannot compare the HIGHEST grades of film capture with the type of digital and HD transmissions available in your home. Very soon movies will be captured through digital means, and i assure you when you go to the movie theaters you will not be able to tell the difference.

I will admit that i may have been quick to proclaim that HD has a slightly higher resolution than film, however similar quality can be attained, and i would have to say since you did not post a rebuttal but simply a "you're wrong" type of statement, it seems perhaps you did not have your "information in order" any more than i did. just kidding. ;)

cctaximan

04-20-06, 09:21 PM

bgooch

04-20-06, 09:24 PM

Bondholders Threaten Adelphia Deal

By Mike Farrell 4/20/2006 4:25:00 PM

A group of Adelphia Communications Corp. bondholders made moves to throw a wrench into the cable company’s efforts to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and execute a $16.9 billion sale to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., sending a letter to Adelphia’s board of directors criticizing its latest reorganization plan.

Adelphia’s ACC holding-company bondholders said they’re dissatisfied with a plan released earlier this month that Adelphia had hoped would speed up the bankruptcy process.

Holders of Adelphia’ Arahova operating-company notes would receive $1.04 for every $1 of debt they are owed, and ACC holding-company debtors would receive 14 cents-43 cents for every dollar owed.

“We will vote against the so-called settlement plan filed with the bankruptcy court last week,” the letter stated. “Thus, the settlement plan will not be approved by our class and cannot take effect. This outcome should have been obvious to you when you approved the filing of the settlement plan.”

The letter was signed by 11 separate noteholders, including major hedge funds Highfields Capital Management LP, Tudor Investment Corp. and Fortress Investment Group LLC.

Adelphia is under the gun to settle the four-year-old bankruptcy case due to a provision in its deal with Time Warner and Comcast that sets a deadline of July 31 to seal the transaction.

While it is unlikely that Time Warner and Comcast would walk away from the deal if they believed progress was being made, the deadline still looms.

To counter the possibility that bondholders would never agree, Adelphia also proposed in the amended reorganization plan that in lieu of a settlement, the bankruptcy court invoke a “hold-back provision” that would allow the company to be sold while the bondholders negotiate how the money will be dispensed separately.

In the April 17 letter, ACC holding-company bondholders asserted that the amended reorganization plan “panders” to the Arahova noteholders, whom, the holding company noteholders claimed, are junior to most other debtholders.

The ACC holding-company bondholders also claimed in the letter, though, that they have been open to an earlier hold-back provision, which they said would allow the sale to Time Warner and Comcast to go through.

That earlier hold-back provision would appear to push the Arahova bondholders to the back of the line in terms of getting paid.

The holding-company bondholders said they were the only class to accept the hold-back plan disseminated last fall.

“We remain supportive of that plan and believe that your full attention should be devoted to its confirmation,” the letter stated. “Since the settlement plan cannot be confirmed, we urge you not to divert further precious time and resources to it.”

Adelphia officials declined to comment.

A vote on the reorganization plan is scheduled for May 14, although executives familiar with the bankruptcy said that given the fact that the voting date has already changed several times, it could be pushed into early June.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6326720.html?display=Breaking+News

twitchee3

04-20-06, 09:36 PM

Thanks for the info guys. I'am probably going to save some money and keep using the component hookup. I've been out pricing some of those DVI to HDMI cables and most of them cost close to a 100 dollars.
Here's a tip, ebay. I needed a 10 foot HDMI to DVI cable and i purchased a gold plated product that works FLAWLESSLY on ebay for less than $11 shipped and taxed. Look for a power seller with a great approval rating who sells a lot of A/V equpment, and or cables. And make sure you check the shipping and tax before you order. Just because they are "Monster Cables" doesn't mean they are better than generic cables, and i can personally attest to this.

Penton-Man

04-20-06, 10:28 PM

Have the specs for standard movie film resolutions?

Generically?............4000-6000 lines of resolution.

However :) .........even though film negatives can capture details equivalent to 4000-6000 lines of resolution, negatives for major motion pictures are too valuable for telecine mechanical/optical conversion to tape or hard drives.

So film prints of varying quality are used for telecines. While telecines can capture good details from prints, especially with machines operating at 4k (roughly double 1920X1080 resolution), more often the 1080/24p master tapes are captured at about 1920X1080.

So.......... while the HD D5 tapes often used can store non-sampled test pattern and computer-generated images resolvable at 1920X1080 equivalents, sampled telecines from your average feature film deliver less detail.

Penton-Man

04-20-06, 10:29 PM

Ooops, :o
I see you edited after I read, while taking time to eat dinner, and were making a rhetorical question.

Twitchee3, that’s not nice to sandbag. ;)

twitchee3

04-20-06, 11:16 PM

Ooops, :o
I see you edited after I read, while taking time to eat dinner, and were making a rhetorical question.

Twitchee3, that’s not nice to sandbag. ;)
Sorry. ;)

mugwump88

04-23-06, 12:56 PM

At the very top of this page, click on the MonoPrice.com sponsor box for the cheapest of high quality cables. Arrives within days, too.

yarrumc

04-24-06, 07:06 PM

These HD channels are not offered by Adelphia in SoCal. See for yourself: Adelphia SoCal HDTV (http://www.adelphiasocal.com/hdtv/)

Most of SoCal does get the HD tier package now. I have had it since day one (march 1st). I am in the Glendora area.

twitchee3

04-24-06, 08:24 PM

Most of SoCal does get the HD tier package now. I have had it since day one (march 1st). I am in the Glendora area.
My local office has not even mentioned this, nor do they show up on our program guide.

twitchee3

04-24-06, 10:34 PM

motoman

04-25-06, 11:07 AM

Anyone in Ventura County, or Camarillo (??) know when the HD Tier package (HD Net, Discovery HD, HD Net Movies, etc.) will be available around here? We just bought 2 brand new TV's, got 2 Moxi's, and ordered HBO and ESPN HD to get all the HD content we can, but we can't justify ordering Showtime, and this HD Tier package sounds great, as we really don't have a LOT of HD content that we actually watch.

Anyone have any info, or perhaps a legitimate Adelphia SoCal contact?

I've called CS numerous times asking this and they keep telling me a couple of more weeks. I was told last year by a tech we are on the old 750mhz system and no more HD can be added till they upgrade this area. I know when calling the CS line they have no idea what's really going on. I was hoping they might drop some channels like the east coast feeds on some of the premium channels and free up some space for more HD.

It is very frustrating when somebody in the next county over has all these extra HD channels but we can't get them.

Jim

xSm0ker

04-25-06, 05:03 PM

Anyone in Ventura County, or Camarillo (??) know when the HD Tier package (HD Net, Discovery HD, HD Net Movies, etc.) will be available around here?

It is very frustrating when somebody in the next county over has all these extra HD channels but we can't get them

It's not all of Ventura County. I get them in Moorpark.

motoman

04-25-06, 06:08 PM

It's not all of Ventura County. I get them in Moorpark.

Now don't rub it in :)

jeffs471

04-26-06, 03:29 PM

I've called CS numerous times asking this and they keep telling me a couple of more weeks. I was told last year by a tech we are on the old 750mhz system and no more HD can be added till they upgrade this area. I know when calling the CS line they have no idea what's really going on. I was hoping they might drop some channels like the east coast feeds on some of the premium channels and free up some space for more HD.

It is very frustrating when somebody in the next county over has all these extra HD channels but we can't get them.

Jim

I just talked to a tech in camarillo last week and he said no set date but who knew ojai had it and moorpark.

Don't hold your breath it will be anytime soon. Maybe a few more price increases and we'll see them.

bgooch

04-27-06, 06:13 PM

April 27, 2006
By Rocky Mountain News http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4655350,00.html

Adelphia Communications Corp., the bankrupt cable operator, won court approval to pay $1.23 billion in interest to unsecured creditors under its proposed plan to exit bankruptcy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in New York said the interest payments were fair and appropriate for creditors who
have waited to get paid since Adelphia filed for bankruptcy in June 2002. Several creditor groups opposed Adelphia’s proposal, arguing the company was either paying too much or too little.

The interest will be paid provided Gerber approves the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy. The centerpiece of the plan
is Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Adelphia’s proposed $17.6 billion asset sale to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp.

twitchee3

04-29-06, 03:38 PM

Penton-Man

04-30-06, 08:56 PM

Has anyone in SoCal with a Moxi from Adelphia received the latest update with the 480p resolution enabled.
Not me, twitchee.

joe221

05-01-06, 02:29 AM

Not me, twitchee.

Nor me.

BTW anyone know where MoxiGuy is? I hope all is OK! :confused:

jasonvr

05-01-06, 11:08 AM

Nor me.

BTW anyone know where MoxiGuy is? I hope all is OK! :confused:

I'll "third" the not me sentiment. I keep checking and hoping ever since MoxiGuy reported that the former employee in Santa Monica (?) had received the update.....

dagware

05-01-06, 07:20 PM

Has anyone in SoCal with a Moxi from Adelphia received the latest update with the 480p resolution enabled. Many other users around the country, and the Digeo rep, have said that there is a new 480p update being released for the Moxi that will supposedly improve the display of SD content.
Yes, I have it. I live in Placentia (north Orange County). I got it when my Moxi died a little while ago because of a power failure. (It got stuck in and endless reboot cycle.) I tried the 480p setting, and it looks terrible compared to the job my InFocus SP4805 projector does. It looks blurry. Of course, YMMV.

-Dan

bgooch

05-01-06, 09:00 PM

Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4663008,00.html

Digital video recorder can share videos, music on two TVs

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
May 1, 2006

Adelphia, whose bankruptcy court proceedings have dragged on nearly four years, was one of the last major cable operators to offer customers a digital video recorder.

But when Greenwood Village- based Adelphia finally made the devices, which allow users to pause and rewind live TV, available to Colorado Springs subscribers, it decided to go big.

The company last year began offering the Digeo Moxi Media Center, which boasts a graphically rich interface - as opposed to the text-heavy approach of most channel guides - on top of the standard DVR functions. Last month, Adelphia added Moxi's multiroom version, which also includes a DVD player and the ability to share videos, photos and music on two TVs in the same home.

"This is more like dealing with a personal computer than a set-top box," said Doug Ike, Adelphia's vice president of advanced video engineering.

Adelphia, the nation's fifth-largest cable operator, filed for bankruptcy in 2002 amid an accounting scandal under the Rigas family's leadership.

The bankruptcy filing came at a time when major cable operators were investing billions to introduce services such as video on demand, high-definition TV and DVRs. Court oversight of Adelphia's finances has hampered the new management's ability to match the spending of its colleagues, putting the company months behind and forcing it to abandon plans for Internet-based phone service altogether.

But that lag also put Adelphia in the unique position of waiting for the set-top box models to better showcase its recently added technology, Ike said.

Digeo was started in 1999 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen with the intent of creating a user-friendly box, loaded with network logos and photos and the ability to scroll by categories like "high definition," "movies" or "kid's programming" instead of just by schedule. The company, based in Kirkland, Wash., has an office in Longmont that develops silicon.

"We really try to make it simple for the consumer," said Mike Fidler, Digeo's chief executive. "They just want to be able to pick up their remote and use it."

The Moxi also separates "video on demand" programming into another category, which helps viewers break the tether to a TV schedule, said Scot James, Adelphia's vice president of marketing for the Western region.

Compared to major set-top box manufacturers like Scientific Atlanta and Motorola, Digeo is a niche player. Its media centers are in about 330,000 homes; Scientific Atlanta shipped 556,000 DVRs in just the second quarter. Aside from Adelphia and Charter Communications, which is also owned by Allen, Digeo's five other cable customer clients are regional operators like Sunflower Broadband and Eagle Communications.

About 10 percent of Adelphia's 5 million subscribers nationwide have taken the Moxi single room, ahead of the cable operator's expectations, James said. The company doesn't have figures yet for the newly introduced multiroom media center.

The perks come at a premium. Adelphia offers the one-room Moxi, which also serves as an HD tuner, for $13.90 per month, compared with Comcast's $9.95 monthly charge for a DVR/HDTV box. The two-room Moxi costs $20.85 per month; Comcast doesn't offer a two-room DVR.

Digeo, in turn, promises cable operators that the Moxi will help generate more revenue and reduce customer defections to rival satellite- TV operators.

Comcast and Time Warner have agreed to buy Adelphia's assets for $17.6 billion as part of its plan to exit bankruptcy. Digeo has had discussions with both companies about keeping the Moxi after the merger and perhaps rolling it out further, Fidler said.

davisj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2514

twitchee3

05-01-06, 10:14 PM

marcsorel

05-03-06, 02:58 AM

Does anyone else with the new HD channels (inHD, inHD2, HDnet, HDnetMovies) and a Moxi have a problem with the channels being mislabled? On my Moxi, the channel labeld inHD is actually HDnet, and inHD2 is actually HDnetMovies. Likewise, HDnet is acutally inHD, and HDnetMovies is really inHD2. Is there any way I can fix this, or is it an Adelphia thing?
(I'm in Beverly Hills)
thanks!

Armysoldier

05-03-06, 03:30 AM

I Have All Of The Hd Channel's Currently Offered By Adelphia Socal.

joe221

05-03-06, 01:21 PM

Mine are correct. Check the MOXI thread here it looks like a simmilar problem to someone in The OC.

jasonvr

05-03-06, 07:49 PM

No problem in Anaheim, everything is labeled correctly.

bgooch

05-03-06, 08:47 PM

Adelphia deal should be done by end of July
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

The sale of Adelphia Communications Corp. to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. is on track for a conclusion by July 31.

That assessment was offered Wednesday by Dick Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX).

The Adelphia deal has a total value of $16.9 billion. Terms call for Time Warner is to take control of Adelphia's operations in upstate New York, including the Buffalo area franchise and its call center operation.

Parsons made the comment in a conference call on Time Warner's first quarter report. The company reported a 59 percent increase in earnings to $1.46 billion, or 32 cents per share, compared to profit of $915 million, or 19 cents per share, last year. Revenue improved to $10.46 billion from $10.36 billion the previous year.

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/05/01/daily32.html?t=printable

Penton-Man

05-04-06, 09:02 PM

twitchee3

05-04-06, 10:37 PM

Twitchee – I see you posted on the Dish 622 thread.

Are you planning on getting the service?
I would like to hear from any SoCal adelphia subscribers doing an A/B comparison between the Moxi and the 622.

If I recall correctly, seems to me that someone on my display thread mentioned they just purchased a 622 and they love it because they aren’t seeing any of the nasty MPEG2 artifacts commonly associated with the dark scenes in 24.
No sorry, I'm not planning on getting a Vip 622 anytime in the near future, I just know a bit about pretty much all cable, sat, and stand alone DVR's and am trying to help out. I would like the 622, but because of current DISH rules pertaining to # of receivers, their pure digital programming (we rely on analog for PCI TV tuner cards in 3 PC's), equipment fees, VOD, PPV, and internet, cable is really the only practical way for us to go at this point. The only way i can see myself getting a 622 in the near future is if we were to have dual cable/satellite service, but that would be an additional $100/month or so, and that's not including the equipment fees.

Penton-Man

05-05-06, 10:46 AM

No sorry, I'm not planning on getting a Vip 622 anytime in the near future, I just know a bit about pretty much all cable, sat, and stand alone DVR's and am trying to help out.
Well you're doin a good job at it. :)

rovision

05-06-06, 06:24 PM

jasonvr

05-06-06, 06:40 PM

Question about this HDPlus channels: are you paying an extra fee to get these HDNet/ESPN HD channels?
I currently have the GoldPack with HBO/ST in HD, DiscHD, PBSHD, etc. and want to add these hew HD channels.
Thanks,

Yes, the HD package is $5/month (at least in my area). It includes ESPN/ESPN2 HD, inHD, inHD2, HDNet, HDNet Movies and NFL HD. Some areas may not have the package available.

joe221

05-06-06, 06:58 PM

Question about non-Moxi HD boxes in LA area. What box does A* provide and does it have HDMI available. Thanks if you know!!

Arvy

05-06-06, 11:32 PM

A* gave me a Motorola DCT6200. It has component, S-Vid, composite, and DVI out, but no HDMI.

joe221

05-06-06, 11:49 PM

A* gave me a Motorola DCT6200. It has component, S-Vid, composite, and DVI out, but no HDMI.

Thanks for the heads up. BTW did they charge you to come out an install it or was there an option to pick it up and self install?

Arvy

05-07-06, 01:00 PM

joe221

05-07-06, 01:42 PM

Yes, they charged $25 to install the box and gave me a set of high quality componet cables (maybe Monster, I didn't look closely). What ticked me off about the charge, and probably will you too, is that I asked to install it myself. The reason home users can't is the installer calls the central office to activate the box. Whatever. I let the guy do his thing and pulled the components out replacing them with a DVI->HDMI cable and split the incoming coax to the STB and TV. I'm not sure anyone wants to split the line. Although HD PQ isn't degraded noticeably by a split, PQ without an STB is horrible. I only keep it there now because the DCT6200 is a single tuner activated, unlike the 6412, and when my ReplayTV records from the 6200, I watch analog. Finally, it took some acrobatics (splitting the RCA audio outs to ReplayTV and TV) before the sound worked. Having A* install my HD STB... priceless.

They're not Monster. I got them with the Moxi. That was installed for free, my CableCard was $25 but they were late so it was -$20. All they did that I couldn't do was Nextel to the CO and talk in the numbers from my TVs CC menu option. Grrrr. I have a DVI->HDMI cable that I'll be using too. I still think any reason that prevents me from doing a self-install is reason enough for a free install. I can't wait for the phone companies to get involved! Watch the prices and fees droppppppp! Thanks!!

Penton-Man

05-07-06, 03:29 PM

Thanks for the heads up. BTW did they charge you to come out an install it or was there an option to pick it up and self install?
Joe,
the 6200 I used to rent (back in Feb. of last year) also had firewire so, if you need that, I would assume there are alot of those units with that particular port floating around.

joe221

05-07-06, 03:49 PM

Joe,
the 6200 I used to rent (back in Feb. of last year) also had firewire so, if you need that, I would assume there are alot of those units with that particular port floating around.

Thanks for the info, I'll ask for that! It may come in handy.

twitchee3

05-07-06, 04:49 PM

Arvy

05-07-06, 06:14 PM

Penton-Man, I don't think the Firewire port is enabled. Same with the USB and front AVs. It also kind of sucks that there are two or three tuners in the box and only one is active. This is a real bummer for me.

bgooch

05-07-06, 06:25 PM

May 6, 2006
Saturday Interview With Glenn A. Britt
Fighting Off Satellites and the Bells
By KEN BELSON

THE last year was rough for cable companies. Everyone from Hollywood to New York predicted the industry's demise as satellite providers continued to steal cable customers, as the Bell companies geared up to sell television and as Disney, CBS and other networks started distributing shows over the Internet.

But the outlook for cable companies may be turning. Comcast, Cablevision and others are adding basic subscribers once again, and they are signing up record numbers of broadband and digital phone customers.

More change is on the way. By midyear, Time Warner Cable and Comcast hope to complete their purchase of Adelphia Communications and its 4.9 million subscribers.

As part of the deal, Time Warner Cable will also, for the first time, be publicly traded, increasing the spotlight on Glenn A. Britt, the company's decidedly low-profile chief executive. Mr. Britt has spent more than three decades in the Time Warner universe, working at Time Inc. and HBO before Time Warner Cable.

In an interview this week, Mr. Britt discussed the company's prospects. Following are excerpts:

Q. Time Warner Cable reported strong first-quarter earnings this week. Are satellite customers returning to cable?

A. The triple play — the combination of video, phone and broadband — is really, really popular with consumers and they tend to vote with their feet. The satellite companies have done a wonderful job making themselves look cheaper than cable. Some introductory packages are cheaper. But their average revenue per customer is about the same as cable. So the reality is that what people pay for satellite is about the same.

Q. Most cable stocks are up this year, but analysts remains wary. Why?

A. Wall Street has two concerns about cable. They are both going to be proven wrong. The first is the phone companies are going to crush the cable companies. But the reality is that it will take them many, many years to build out the whole country. When they get to where we are today, we'll be selling all these new things.

The second thing is whether all television is going over the Internet. The answer to that is not anytime soon. The Internet as it exists today is not capable of delivering hundreds of channels to millions of homes. The second reason is we gather an audience and guarantee revenue back to the networks, and they use the money to make more programming. Networks aren't going to put their content on the Internet unless there is a replacement.

Q. But Disney is now putting some of its shows on the Internet free. Isn't that a threat to your business?

A. Media companies are under pressure to experiment with putting a few shows on the Internet. It's a valid experimentation and if something takes off, people will do it. What I don't want to say is that there will not be a lot of video on the Internet. There's a huge amount of consumer-generated video. But that's a lot different than networks putting video on the Internet free.

Q. What will the acquisition of Adelphia Communications do for Time Warner Cable?

A. The really important part of the deal is that we'll be able to consolidate the Los Angeles market. We will go from having 15 percent of the market to having 85 percent.

Q. Time Warner and other cable companies are working with Sprint to develop wireless products. When can consumers expect to see them?

A. We will be in test markets later this year and those products will be fairly rudimentary. The things we really want to do are across platforms, like getting all your e-mail in one box or being able to get your Internet service on your cell. There isn't that big of a rush. It isn't clear what will be popular.

Q. Some consumer and religious groups want cable companies to sell channels on an à la carte basis. How likely is this?

A. The underlying economics of the television business and what it costs to produce the array of television in this country are what drives this phenomenon of big packages. We could offer à la carte technically. But if we offered à la carte, it would introduce all sorts of other costs. Think about being a new subscriber to cable. The average customer service phone call is five minutes. But with à la carte, operators would have to explain all the different channels. It might take half an hour and we would have to pass that cost along. It would not be cheaper but more expensive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/06/business/media/06interview.html?pagewanted=print

Penton-Man

05-07-06, 07:56 PM

Well, the one I had (and I didn’t get any special consideration – just went thru the typical consumer channels to rent one) had an active port, as I hooked it up to the i.LINK on my Qualia and got a fine picture – just no menus, of course, but I wasn’t concerned about that at the time, I was more concerned with the filtering of the signal in my display in regards to using i.LINK vs HDMI input for the best possible P/Q.

rovision

05-08-06, 12:05 PM

Yeah i also think it's lame Adelphia does that, they wouldn't let us self install either of our Moxi's either. ALL the guy does is radio in the serial # of the box to the HE. Could have called that in myself. I agree, if we don't have the option of doing it ourself, it should be free. I mean if you think about it, they're charging US to add MORE money to our monthly bill. I believe next time i call and they quote me $25 for an install fee and won't let me do it myself, i'll just say "really, well if you don't want me to add more to my monthly bill, i'll just switch to DISH who installs an entire system for free." See what their response to that is. My bet is the CSR will drop a load in his pants when he hears DISH mentioned. Also, you sould ask for his name and let him know you will remember that when asked why you left Adelphia. :rolleyes:

I've ordered a Moxi Saturday, and went through the regular channels: equipment upgrade, charged $25 for this install/phone call (true though, they'll pick-up my old HD box, so I don't have to drop it at their location), then programming change to add the HDPlus package for $5/month. At the same time I inquired about current promos for existing customers, transferred to another rep. who gave me 3 months of reduced rate Digital Cable from $37 to $25. This would offset a little the extra charge of $16/month for the Moxi+HDPlus.

Couple of questions for the existing Moxi users:
- are all boxes capable of uploading/showing photos via memory card/reader?
- since these Moxi boxes are pretty much self-standing computers, are there any hacks to increase the HD capacity in order to store more recordings? Like adding external HDs?

kenwebb

05-08-06, 02:49 PM

Does anyone know why Fullerton adelphia cable on their HD cable box only has 5 HD channels even if got HD package, I get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS no sub channels and all networks locally have at least one or more subs, also if use an antenna i get like 30 local HD channels, and subs. Before you ask, yes i have tried a split to the TV and box but adelphia only has the networks and no subs on basic cable so i only still get 5 channels or so, and the few extra HD signals are either music or 4.3

bruce73

05-08-06, 06:50 PM

Anyone having problems with HDNet channels (931 & 932)? They were off for a time yesterday, but then came back in. I scheduled a recording of "Bonnie & Clyde" overnight (it's a great-looking transfer, BTW), but found only a blank screen with the "This channel will be back soon" message this morning and no recording.

I'm in Los Feliz out of the Eagle Rock office.

twitchee3

05-09-06, 01:57 AM

I've ordered a Moxi Saturday, and went through the regular channels: equipment upgrade, charged $25 for this install/phone call (true though, they'll pick-up my old HD box, so I don't have to drop it at their location), then programming change to add the HDPlus package for $5/month. At the same time I inquired about current promos for existing customers, transferred to another rep. who gave me 3 months of reduced rate Digital Cable from $37 to $25. This would offset a little the extra charge of $16/month for the Moxi+HDPlus.

Couple of questions for the existing Moxi users:
- are all boxes capable of uploading/showing photos via memory card/reader?
- since these Moxi boxes are pretty much self-standing computers, are there any hacks to increase the HD capacity in order to store more recordings? Like adding external HDs?
We also got the 3 month "discount" after adding the second Moxi to our account, although we had to push the CSR to give us a price cut, given the fact we pay them almost $150/month!

As for the Moxi units questions, Adelphia DOES NOT offer the photos, jukebox, games, telephone, or pc link options in SoCal at this time. It's possible that your unit may have some of these features (not the PC link or telephone features, that's a given) but i doubt it. It could be that just our specific market does not include these options, however i strongly suspect that all Moxi's in SoCal are programmed identically by Adelphia. We even have one of each of the two models of Moxi's, a BMC 9012 and a BMC 9022D. These boxes are Linux based "computers" and are VERY resistant to hacks. The units come equipped with 2 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel of the unit which will supposedly be activated in the near future for add on hard drives, however there is no ETA for this feature and it cannot be "hacked." Basically you get what they bring to your house, and that's all. You really have no say in the matter, it's quite the CABLE BUMMER!!!

mugwump88

05-09-06, 02:35 AM

Make sure the HD box is setup the way you want.

An Adelphia weekend installation dude installed the Moto HD cable box, and he really had no clue how to do the box settings.

On my new Panasonic plasma display, I find that the best image has 16:9 content output as 1080i, with 4:3 stretching set as None.

To get to the cable box settings, I believe you turn the box power "off" and then push the "menu" button on the remote. You can then arrow down and right/left to change the settings. Try some out with a good channel and pick what's best for your display.

rovision

05-09-06, 11:55 AM

Basically you get what they bring to your house, and that's all. You really have no say in the matter, it's quite the CABLE BUMMER!!!

Thanks for your reply. Are there any market available HD-DVRs that allow more flexibility, or have these features enabled? Phone connection (even if I don't think I would use it), photo viewing, maybe the possibility to upgrade the HD or add an HD.

twitchee3

05-09-06, 06:39 PM

Thanks for your reply. Are there any market available HD-DVRs that allow more flexibility, or have these features enabled? Phone connection (even if I don't think I would use it), photo viewing, maybe the possibility to upgrade the HD or add an HD.
The phone capability is only available if your cable company provides digital phone services, and there are really only 2 other HD DVR's available for consumer purchase. Other than the STB's available from your local cable company (Adelphia offers ONLY the Moxi for HD DVR in SoCal), you can get either the LG LST 3410a or the Sony DHG 250/500. Both of these HD DVR units are discontinued but still available through many channels, including certain Best Buy and Circuit City retailers, online retailers, and ebay. They are a bit pricey, and only the Sony offers CableCard compatibility. The Sony is available with either a 250 or 500 GB internal hard drive, while the LG has only a 120 GB internal HDD, BUT the LG, unlike the Sony, has active firewire ports so that content can be transferred to a DVHS recorder (possibly a PC, i haven't heard of anyone trying it with this unit). As far as photo viewing, i'm not positive whether either unit has this functionality, and i believe either one or both of them may have the option to add an external drive, but it's also quite easy to replace the internal drives in these units, unlike STB's leased from the cable company.

Unlike the Moxi, however, neither of these units have dual tuners. The first stand alone HD DVR with dual tuners (HD/digital/analog) will be the TiVo Series 3, which is due for release later this year.

rovision

05-09-06, 07:29 PM

Thanks again for all the info. I guess I'll have to stick to whatever the cable comp. is offering for now.

gotmoxi

05-10-06, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by motoman
I've called CS numerous times asking this and they keep telling me a couple of more weeks. I was told last year by a tech we are on the old 750mhz system and no more HD can be added till they upgrade this area. I know when calling the CS line they have no idea what's really going on. I was hoping they might drop some channels like the east coast feeds on some of the premium channels and free up some space for more HD.

It is very frustrating when somebody in the next county over has all these extra HD channels but we can't get them.

Jim .

I just talked to a tech in camarillo last week and he said no set date but who knew ojai had it and moorpark.
Don't hold your breath it will be anytime soon. Maybe a few more price increases and we'll see them.

I called yesterday and they said Oxnard should have the new HD channels by the end of the month, but I have little confidence that the CSR had a clue. It seems that any of the old GTE Americast customers have the older system at the head-end and are out of luck.

twitchee3

05-10-06, 05:10 PM

I called yesterday and they said Oxnard should have the new HD channels by the end of the month, but I have little confidence that the CSR had a clue. It seems that any of the old GTE Americast customers have the older system at the head-end and are out of luck.
Seems that way, our here in Camarillo we had GTE Americast as well, and i have yet to hear when, if at all (!!!!), we will be getting the HD Tier channels.

For those who have the HD Tier channels, who was your cable provider before Adelphia came around?

tnili

05-10-06, 08:51 PM

Does anyone in the Santa Monica area get ESPNHD? Zap2it.com lists ESPNHD for 90405 but the Adelphia CSR says it is not available.

WeHoMyke

05-11-06, 01:53 AM

For those who have the HD Tier channels, who was your cable provider before Adelphia came around?

In West Hollywood, we had Century Communications Cable.

Aww memories, when it rained or was a windy day, the cable would go out in half the city. When Adelphia took over they had to rebuild the entire system. :rolleyes:

joe221

05-11-06, 02:26 AM

Seems that way, our here in Camarillo we had GTE Americast as well, and i have yet to hear when, if at all (!!!!), we will be getting the HD Tier channels.

For those who have the HD Tier channels, who was your cable provider before Adelphia came around?

Yeah, before A* it was Century before C* it was Group W before it was GW* it was Theta before T* we were cavemen. :p

Nimo

05-11-06, 02:40 AM

In West Hollywood, we had Century Communications Cable.

Aww memories, when it rained or was a windy day, the cable would go out in half the city. When Adelphia took over they had to rebuild the entire system. :rolleyes:

Here in WLA in 1971 it was the Z Channel in the 80's they started Select TV, ON TV and Prime Ticket.

bgooch

05-11-06, 10:50 AM

L.A. Story for Time Warner Cable
By Mike Farrell 5/10/2006 6:10:00 PM

Time Warner Cable trotted out a handful of executives at its first Investor Day meeting with analysts in New York Wednesday, offering some additional insight into its integration plans for Adelphia Communications Corp.

This was the third time the MSO has held an investor day. The first was in 2001, shortly after Time Warner Inc. completed its merger with America Online Inc., and the second was in 2002 to unveil its new plans for the AOL online service -- the first devoted exclusively to Time Warner Cable.

The timing is crucial -- Time Warner plans to spin off Time Warner Cable as a separate publicly traded entity after the Adelphia transaction closes, expected by July 31. With a new pure-play cable currency, courting Wall Street analysts is essential.

While a handful of executives made presentations -- president and CEO Glenn Britt, chief operating officer Landel Hobbs, chief financial officer John Martin and executive vice president of product management Peter Stern -- touting Time Warner Cable’s strong financial performance and focus on innovation, one of the more interesting ones was made by Los Angeles region executive VP Roger Keating.

Time Warner Cable already has about 350,000 subscribers in the Los Angeles market. With the addition of 1 million subscribers in Los Angeles from Adelphia and another 750,000 from Comcast, it will control about 75% of the Los Angeles footprint with 2 million customers. Charter Communications Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. control the other 25%.

Keating said that by consolidating the once-fragmented Los Angeles market, Time Warner Cable will be able to sell more services like telephone and high-speed data, as well as consolidating advertising sales in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has the highest direct-broadcast satellite penetration in the country at 28% (versus the national average of 23%) and one of the highest digital-subscriber-line penetration rates in the nation at 30%. Keating said that for every two cable-modem customers in Los Angeles, there are three DSL customers.

And voice-over-Internet-protocol telephony is virtually nonexistent -- while Time Warner does have some VoIP customers in the market, Adelphia and Comcast have not yet rolled out the service there.

That, Keating added, presents a huge opportunity for the company.

Aside from the ability to expand its digital-phone offering in the market, Keating said there are also opportunities to recapture video customers, particularly by offering ethnic channels and tiers.

“One-third of the homes in L.A. are Hispanic and about one-half of them are Spanish-dominant,” Keating said. “We plan to have the most robust Spanish-language offering -- more linear channels and a lot of on-demand Spanish-language content. Satellite won’t have that. We also see the opportunity to go back to many of the customers who left cable over the intervening years in the acquired footprint. We think we can win many of them back.”

Keating pointed to the success Time Warner Cable has already had in the market -- it has had three straight years of video-subscriber growth, and it added 35,000 digital-phone customers in its first full year of deployment. The Los Angeles operation had 13% revenue growth and 10% cash-flow growth in 2005, he added.

Keating added that the integration of Los Angeles will occur in four phases, the first of which will involve rebranding the systems under the Time Warner Cable name.

Phases two and three will occur over seven or eight months -- gradually moving the Time Warner product slate onto the acquired systems and building the Time Warner brand through a series of advertising campaigns that stress the cable operator’s innovation, customer care and local presence.

Phase four will entail using the mass media to drive the triple play and acquire new customers.

Keating said that in order to serve the Los Angeles market -- which has 23 truck centers, 63 cable stores and 120 franchise areas -- Time Warner Cable’s goal is to keep management as close to the customer as possible. To that end, the region will be split into three separate operating divisions, all with their own president and management teams.

The MSO announced those three division in November -- North (Ventura County and northwest Los Angeles County), Metro (city of Los Angeles) and South (Orange, western San Bernardino and Riverside counties).

Former Rochester division president Jeffrey Hirsch will head up the Metro division, former southern Los Angeles VP and general manager Fred Stefany will head up the South division and former Comcast senior VP for southern California Debi Picciolo will head up the North region.

All of the appointments are subject to the successful close of the Adelphia deal.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6333721.html?display=Breaking+News

joe221

05-11-06, 11:14 AM

Here in WLA in 1971 it was the Z Channel in the 80's they started Select TV, ON TV and Prime Ticket.

I worked for On for about 3 days! ;)
Ah the pre-cable memories! A documentary was made about the guy who created Z Channel! I think it plays on Sundance every so often. Forgot the title.

xSm0ker

05-11-06, 12:53 PM

Valuepac

05-11-06, 07:28 PM

Does anyone in the Santa Monica area get ESPNHD? Zap2it.com lists ESPNHD for 90405 but the Adelphia CSR says it is not available.

I get espn HD in Santa Monica, but we dont get Discovery, cmax, hdnet, or indemand-HD

kenwebb

05-11-06, 07:37 PM

Ya my cable adelphia does not have NGEO, DISCOVER, HISTORY, or ESPN even with HD package $5 extra month, what you get is the HD box and ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, and PBS with no subs on box channels, 902, 904, 907, 911, 928

mugwump88

05-12-06, 02:53 AM

I'm getting to the point where I'm only watching the HD content.

Is it possible to remove all other channels except for those? :D

tnili

05-12-06, 12:37 PM

I get espn HD in Santa Monica, but we dont get Discovery, cmax, hdnet, or indemand-HD

How much more do you pay for ESPNHD? I talked to Adelphia 2-3 different times and they said it was not available. Do you think they are all clueless? How do you suggest I proceed?

xSm0ker

05-12-06, 02:26 PM

How much more do you pay for ESPNHD? I talked to Adelphia 2-3 different times and they said it was not available. Do you think they are all clueless? How do you suggest I proceed?

ESPNHD should be available in all parts of SoCal Adelphia. Many do not get ESPN2HD. Does it appear in your channel lineup? Before the HD Package, they were charging $1.50/month for ESPNHD. Just keep trying. Tell them your neighbor has it.

bruce73

05-12-06, 08:26 PM

I'm getting to the point where I'm only watching the HD content.

Is it possible to remove all other channels except for those? :D
Before I upgraded to the new HD tier, I chose not to have Digital Basic or Digital Premium and saved about $17/mo. I was able to keep the basic HD channels plus I added HBO-HD, SHO-HD and ESPN-HD.

With this new HD tier, the extra HD channels were added. I just realized a couple of weeks ago that the Digital Basic/Premium channels are now available again, so I guess they were added back with that package, the total cost of which is less than what I was paying before without them.

Honestly, these packages change so often, I'm not sure if you can break one apart and pick and choose. You might end up paying more that way. Best to call and find out for sure.

bgooch

05-13-06, 12:59 PM

Hey, Time Warner: Walk Away From Adelphia
The price tag on the deal is just too high
By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/15/2006

The sale of Adelphia Communications to Time Warner Cable has dragged on for months. The deal breezed through antitrust review long ago, but bickering among Adelphia's many creditors and gridlock at the Federal Communications Commission threaten to push the deal perilously close to its July 31 drop-dead date. The cancellation deadline gives Time Warner Cable a chance to do something that makes a lot of sense and would make many people on Wall Street happy: Walk away.

Time Warner does not need this deal. One major justification—Time Warner Cable's need to get bigger to compete with giant telephone companies—is overblown. The financial gains from bringing Adelphia's relatively weak properties up to Time Warner Cable's standards could be far smaller than expected, a problem best demonstrated by Time Warner's partner in the Adelphia bid, Comcast. Comcast bought AT&T Broadband in 2002, orchestrated a remarkable turnaround yet got no apparent reward in its stock price.

If Time Warner scuttles the deal now, breach-of-contract lawsuits will commence. But if the creditor mess extends past the drop-dead date, Time Warner could walk without penalty and—under some circumstances—even pocket a breakup fee.

Some Wall Street executives believe that the company would do better buying back more of its own stock, waiting for a better set of cable systems to come on the market, or beefing up its TV programming or film portfolio.

“Strategically, it did not make sense for the preeminent content company in the world to be buying distribution assets,” says Morris Mark, CEO of hedge fund Mark Asset Management.

Nonetheless, Time Warner executives aren't wavering. “We remain confident that the value that drove this transaction in the first place is still there,” Time Warner Cable Chairman Glenn Britt said at an investor conference last week.

The deal would be far more attractive if Time Warner were getting a fire- sale price. Time Warner and Comcast bid $17.6 billion, with Time Warner Cable putting up the bulk of the cash and all of the stock in the transaction. That's $3,500 per subscriber—hardly a bargain price in this market.

The deal calls for Adelphia to receive $12.7 billion in cash and 16% of the common stock of Time Warner Cable, whose shares will start trading publicly. Time Warner Cable and Comcast will divvy up Adelphia systems serving 5.2 million subscribers scattered across 31 states. The two cable operators will further swap systems from their existing portfolios to create stronger geographic clusters.

The deal will also allow Comcast to fulfill its promise to regulators to unwind its 21% ownership of Time Warner Cable, something inherited in a past deal.

At the end of the day, Time Warner will grow from 10.9 million subscribers to 14.4 million.

To Time Warner executives, that extra size is critical. One exec argues that the company is facing an “onslaught” from telephone companies. “Verizon, all by itself, is bigger than the entire cable industry,” the executive says. “We need to be bigger.”

But Time Warner's increase in size wouldn't be all that dramatic. The company is already the second-largest cable operator, behind Comcast's 21 million subscribers. Comcast got that large when it acquired AT&T Broadband, nearly tripling in size.

“I just don't see the big advantage in Time Warner going from 11 million subs to 14 million,” says Morgan Stanley media analyst Richard Bilotti. “Local concentration is important in cable, but national size is not.”

The deal does give Time Warner one lucrative local cluster: Los Angeles. Today, the company is a fairly small player in Southern California. Snagging Adelphia and Comcast's systems will give it 75% of the market, a perfect match for the company's dominance of New York City.

Otherwise, the deal will primarily bolster Time Warner Cable's clusters in upstate New York by adding Buffalo; in Ohio by adding Cleveland and a host of smaller cities; the Carolinas and Maine.

That's not nearly as tantalizing as a deal everyone would cheer: Cablevision Systems' lucrative cluster that surrounds Time Warner's New York City systems. Turmoil among Cablevision's Dolan family will send those properties on the market sooner or later.

Time Warner executives also tout the gains they expect from turning the company around. The scandal-plagued company was miserably run even before founder John Rigas and his sons were chased out. New CEO Bill Schleyer and COO Ron Cooper were having trouble for a while but have lately shown remarkable strength, improving operating cash flow and completing a major rebuild of the long-neglected systems.

Time Warner hopes to raise the cash-flow margin on the new systems from 32% to 38%, invigorate Adelphia's high-speed Internet business, and launch telephone service.

There is little doubt that Britt and COO Landel Hobbs can hit their mark. The problem is, Wall Street may simply not care. Comcast achieved an even more dramatic turnaround with the AT&T Broadband systems, lifting margins from the mid-20% range to 40% a year ahead of schedule. But the company hasn't realized much financial gain as a result. As senior Comcast executives frequently lament, they've performed magic with AT&T yet their shares are trading at a lower price and lower multiples than they fetched before that deal.

A last major justification is untangling Comcast's ownership interest. Antitrust regulators frowned on such a significant link between the two largest cable operators—a legacy of the AT&T deal. As part of the various system swaps, Comcast will give Time Warner that stock back.

Fine, but that's Comcast's problem, not Time Warner's. Without the Adelphia deal, Comcast can simply sell its stake to the public. Time Warner should let 'em at it. It's not elegant, but there's little hazard for the company.

Time Warner should keep its powder dry. There will be other, more valuable deals down the road.

E-mail comments to jhiggins@reedbusiness.com
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6334530.html?display=John+Higgins&referral=SUPP

bgooch

05-15-06, 10:14 PM

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4700478,00.html
By Rocky Mountain News
May 15, 2006

Adelphia Communications, the Greenwood Village-based cable operator that has been operating under bankruptcy protection for the past four years, posted a wider first-quarter loss on higher expenses and increased competition from satellite operators.

Adelphia posted a net loss ot $171.6 million, or 68 cents a share, compared to a loss ot $83.3 million, or 33 cents, in the year earlier. Revenues surged 7.4 percent to $1.15 billion.

Adelphia, the nation's fifth-largest cable operator, said basic video subscribers fell by 2.1 percent to 4.9 million although digital video subscribers increased 4.1 percent to 2 million.

Adelphia last year agreed to be purchased by Time Warner and Comcast as part of its plan to exit bankruptcy. The purchase is slated to close by July 31.

kelliot

05-16-06, 12:45 AM

The phone capability is only available if your cable company provides digital phone services, and there are really only 2 other HD DVR's available for consumer purchase. Other than the STB's available from your local cable company (Adelphia offers ONLY the Moxi for HD DVR in SoCal), you can get either the LG LST 3410a or the Sony DHG 250/500. Both of these HD DVR units are discontinued but still available through many channels, including certain Best Buy and Circuit City retailers, online retailers, and ebay. They are a bit pricey, and only the Sony offers CableCard compatibility. The Sony is available with either a 250 or 500 GB internal hard drive, while the LG has only a 120 GB internal HDD, BUT the LG, unlike the Sony, has active firewire ports so that content can be transferred to a DVHS recorder (possibly a PC, i haven't heard of anyone trying it with this unit). As far as photo viewing, i'm not positive whether either unit has this functionality, and i believe either one or both of them may have the option to add an external drive, but it's also quite easy to replace the internal drives in these units, unlike STB's leased from the cable company.

Unlike the Moxi, however, neither of these units have dual tuners. The first stand alone HD DVR with dual tuners (HD/digital/analog) will be the TiVo Series 3, which is due for release later this year.

I returned a Sony DHG 250 open box to BB in TO about a week + 0.5 ago. It was $449 when I got it. i'm going to get a cable card for a second one I had picked up at the Oxnard BB. I've got an LG3410 for sale on the AVS for sale page.

bgooch

05-16-06, 04:13 PM

May 16, 2006

Los Angeles, CA - Employees at four Adelphia locations in Los Angeles have voted to decertify the Communications Workers of America (CWA) as their union on Friday, May 12, 2006. The vote was a significant loss for CWA which represented the same work group through four changes in ownership over a period of thirty years. However, the news was welcomed at Time Warner Cable (TWC) which is expected to assume ownership of Adelphia and Comcast franchises in the region by August.

After months of wrangling that pitted Adelphia and CWA against each other in bankruptcy proceedings and bitter contract negotiations, employees grew disillusioned by the constant uncertainty over the future of their jobs. “In many ways, Time Warner is regarded as a knight in shining armor.” According to CWA 9000 President T Santora, “Our members were simply worn out by worry.”

The contentious relationship between CWA and Adelphia ends just in time for TWC to take over the beleaguered cable company without having to negotiate a union contract. CWA believes the timing is no coincidence. In fact, CWA filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Adelphia after TWC representatives made presentations to Adelphia workers days before the representation vote. The presentations made in what Santora describes as “captive audience” meetings were supposedly about what cable workers could expect from their new employer.

CWA contends the TWC meetings were far from innocent. “The message delivered was clear; lose the union or lose the pension, 401(k) and tuition aid plans.” Santora says he doesn’t blame the workers. “If you worked for a bankrupt, poorly managed company with the worst reputation in the business and someone comes along to buy the business, promises to replace the managers and offer better benefits, what would you do?” Apparently, it worked. Workers voted against CWA by a 2 to 1 majority.

TWC maintains they did nothing illegal. Adelphia claims they are not responsible for TWC actions. CWA’s charge against Adelphia is now pending investigation by the NLRB. Previously, five prospective witnesses backed out of being interviewed by the NLRB for fear of being exposed. “Retaliation is a reality in this industry.” explains Santora.

TWC isn’t counting their chickens just yet, however. Several NLRB charges filed around the country are still under investigation including the one here in Los Angeles. In addition, the Los Angeles City Council is looking into the union’s allegations and discussing the adoption of new protections for cable workers. CWA is also attempting to add worker protections to the controversial new state franchise legislation introduced by Speaker Fabian Nunez.

http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=9658

Valuepac

05-16-06, 06:13 PM

How much more do you pay for ESPNHD? I talked to Adelphia 2-3 different times and they said it was not available. Do you think they are all clueless? How do you suggest I proceed?

$1.50... I live in the center of town, right off of Santa Monica blvd

twitchee3

05-16-06, 06:18 PM

$1.50... I live in the center of town, right off of Santa Monica blvd
I'm in Ventura county and i also pay $1.50 for ESPNHD. ESPNHD SHOULD be available EVERYWHERE Adelphia offers HD service in SoCal, since we DO NOT receive the expanded HD tier yet, and we still have the networks, ESPN, HBO, and Sho in HD.

rovision

05-17-06, 02:37 AM

twitchee3

05-17-06, 03:38 AM

I've got my Moxi box today. Some questions please:
- the box fan seems to be noisy; is this a general issue?
- the IR sensor seems to be very narrow angled and requires direct line-of-view with the remote; any way to enlarge this angle? The installer mentioned some device available in stores that can be attached to the top of the tv and address this issue. Anyone heard about this?
You might get more responses in the HDTV>HDTV Recorders>BMC Moxi 90xx thread, as it's more specific to the Moxi itself.

Anyway, yeah the fan is <a bit> noisy. It's not LOUD or anything, but if you're in a completely quiet room, you can probably hear it from 10 feet if you listen closely. And yeah, the remote sensitivity is not all that great, but it's not necessarily due to the box, the remote is also a bit weak. Performance can be increased (not DRASTICALLY, but a bit) by using a good universal remote (you'll need a learning remote which will "learn" functions from the original Moxi remote). The remote isn't great, but either a universal remote or the origianl Moxi remote aren't that difficult to use in my setups, and this bug doesn't bother me to a great extent.

kelliot

05-17-06, 11:28 PM

audiofox

05-18-06, 11:13 AM

Anyone know if TW has pushed the latest firmware to their SA HD boxes? THis is in reference to the apparent incompatibility of the SA HDMI interface with switching receivers by Denon that cannnot pass the cable box signal through when using HDMI between the source and the monitor with the receiver in the middle. I have TW igital cable in the South Bay area. TIA.

xSm0ker

05-18-06, 03:26 PM

Its too noisy for the bedroom.

I have one in my bedroom. It is 15 - 20 ft. from my head. In complete silence I can't hear the box if I try.

rovision

05-18-06, 04:09 PM

Mine is about 10-12ft. away and even if the noise is far less now that I took it out of the cabinet, I can still hear it when silence. In comparison, my former handbuilt PC, had a fan that I couldn't hear from 3ft. away.

mikeap

05-19-06, 04:16 AM

Arvy

05-19-06, 12:28 PM

The HD, non-DVR bos is a Motorola 6200. The non-HD is a Motoroal 5100 if I recall correctly.

jeffs471

05-19-06, 01:55 PM

I love how you goto adelphiasocal and they advertise the hd plus tier. I goto adelphia.com and type in my area code "93010" and it shows I should be getting all the channels. I call to order "sorry sir there are no plans at this time....blah blah blah. Why does your website show my area having it even when I type in my area code? Well sir the website isn't accurate? Why bother even having those tools on the website then if its not accurate? Well sir I can't comment on that"

They advertise in my bill, on my stb, on their webpage, in channel lineups on their webpage, yet when I try to order its not available.

twitchee3

05-19-06, 06:57 PM

I've been reading this thread for a while. I'm in Westwood and am looking at starting HD DVR with Adelphia. I also want a digital cable non dvr box. I've read some people say Adelphia only does Moxi in So Cal but others have said they got a Moto box? So in W.LA, what box will I receive when they arrive?
Also, do you know what kind of digital non HD box I will get?

Thanks guys.
HD DVR is Adelphia SoCal land is Moxi only. Usually a BMC 9012 with an 80 GB hard drive, but if you get lucky like me and your area is running low on Moxi's, you may get a BMC 9022D with a 160 GB hard drive. You can try to request a specific unit, but i doubt they'll listen to you if you request the 9022. Only the non-DVR HD box is a Motorola DCT series box (the 6200).

Randu

05-19-06, 09:39 PM

dlt21

05-20-06, 11:49 AM

Quick Question
FSW Prime Ticket is showing Dodgers-Angels in HD is Adelphia or any other cable outlet in LA showing in HD ? D* did not last night

dlt21

05-20-06, 11:54 AM

Quick Question
Did time warner televise Dodgers-Angels game onFSN Prime Ticket in HD last night? Do you get any Dodger games in HD ? D* had Ducks game onHD special Channel

joe221

05-20-06, 12:36 PM

Quick Question
FSW Prime Ticket is showing Dodgers-Angels in HD is Adelphia or any other cable outlet in LA showing in HD ? D* did not last night

A* doesn't have FSW-PT in HD.

motoman

05-21-06, 04:23 PM

I called yesterday and they said Oxnard should have the new HD channels by the end of the month, but I have little confidence that the CSR had a clue. It seems that any of the old GTE Americast customers have the older system at the head-end and are out of luck.

I called yesterday and was told there are no new HD tier services available in my area. He said the service should be available in about one month. I was told the same thing the last two times I called. I call at least once a month and seem to always get the "In one month" line.

Jim

twitchee3

05-21-06, 05:47 PM

I'm wondering if us users in Ventura County may in fact get this new HD Tier soon. Things that lead me to believe this are the fact that Adelphia JUST started advertising this HD tier on their SoCal website, although others in SoCal (with Adelphia) have had these channels for some time. Also, about a week or two ago, Adelphia cut service for almost 4 hours, and it happened at my friends house also which was 4 miles across town, so they actually did SHUT OFF the service. When i called, there was a recording that said they knew service was unavailable in my area, and it would be back soon, as if this outage was planned. I though about it and the reason we do not get the HD tier was supposedly that we are all on the old 700 mhz system, so i though perhaps they had upgraded the head end to the 850 mhz system, the one we needed for these new HD channels, and that's why the service was temporarily cut. Also, i've noticed in my Moxi program guide that 4 new channels were added (in the low 500's) and stated to be TBA channels. Nothing is currently on them, but i though perhaps they will use these to carry HD programs they may add, although i do know that current HD channels come in the 900 range, so i don't know. I shot them an email and they've been pretty good in the past about calling me back on these things, so i expect to hear from them by tomorrow and i'll be sure to let you all know what they say.

bluebaron

05-21-06, 06:53 PM

twitchee3

05-21-06, 07:15 PM

Can anyone in Thousand Oaks tell me if you get ESPNHD and ESPN2HD? I just tried to order HD with the DVR. The Adelphia rep said that ESPN is not available in my area yet!!

It showed up on the web site when I entered my zip code.
ESPN HD should be available everywhere in Adelphia SoCal, however ESPN2 HD will only be available in areas with the newer 850 mhz system, but read my previous post and be hopeful!! What head end are you service out of? Newbury Park perhaps? If so, ESPNHD should DEFINATELY be available for you, because we are serviced out of the Newbury Park head end and we subscribe to ESPNHD.

What kind of Set Top Box do you have and does ESPNHD show up in the channel guide?

mikeap

05-21-06, 08:32 PM

twitchee3

05-21-06, 09:04 PM

What can those on this board tell me about the signal quality of my picture from adelphia. More importantly, how will it compare to DISH.
A bit of background, I live in the 850mhz area because the rep says I can get ALL HD channels, including ESPN2, NFL NetworkHD, HDNET, etc.
Second, i have internet with them and have a very strong signal because I easily got 6.5Mb down, 800k up.
How will the picture quality look on the digital channels (those with high numbers only available with a box).
How about HD and regular analog?
Mike
PQ is pretty good, especially on the more popular digital tier channels and the HD channels, which are GREAT. The analogs, in my opinion are alright, nothing special, but they do the trick, i've had no problems. Depending on how much bandwidth DISH used for their 2-99 channels (equal to the basic cable channels w/ A*), you may notice a slight PQ downgrade with A* since Adelphia doesn't simulcast digitally, at least they don't in my area and i haven't heard of any other area in SoCal where they do this. Because your basic cable channels are coming in analog, instead of digitally with DISH, it may not look quite as good, but i really don't mind it at all.

joe221

05-21-06, 09:27 PM

twitchee3

05-21-06, 09:41 PM

In my area the PQ of all the digital and HD channels is as good as I can expect. I've compared what I can to OTA locals and A* doesn't seem to be compressing much if at all. As for the 2-99 channels a good number of them are now digital if going through a box or cablecard. (I can tell by them being out of audio sync from one TV to another) and the PQ is decent, but HDTVs gennerally look piss poor on those channels anyway. I had HSI with A8 for a year and I had to always reboot the modem, that got old. I went to V* for DSL and it may be slower (3K/768) but it's been months since I had to reset the modem.
The Moxi is the main strike on A* it's a "joy" at best. Almost anything is better.
Are you saying that Adelphia is digitally simulcasting the basic cable channels in your area? If by "them being out of audio sync from one TV to another" you mean that while watching an analog only SDTV and watching the same channel on a different TV through the box, you notice the feed coming from the box is delayed, then your interpretation is incorrect. It does not have to do with it being digital, but the fact that the box must process the analog signal to digital form (if you are using a DVR- and if you are not, it still takes time to process the analog signal through the STB) and then output it to your display or audio receiver. Our 2-99 channels are also delayed when watching through a box compared to a regular SDTV, however i know for a fact Adelphia does not simulcast digitally in my area, and the difference between digital SD and analog SD programs is quite pronounced.

Please correct me if i did not understand your explanation correctly.

joe221

05-21-06, 10:44 PM

Are you saying that Adelphia is digitally simulcasting the basic cable channels in your area? If by "them being out of audio sync from one TV to another" you mean that while watching an analog only SDTV and watching the same channel on a different TV through the box, you notice the feed coming from the box is delayed, then your interpretation is incorrect. It does not have to do with it being digital, but the fact that the box must process the analog signal to digital form (if you are using a DVR- and if you are not, it still takes time to process the analog signal through the STB) and then output it to your display or audio receiver. Our 2-99 channels are also delayed when watching through a box compared to a regular SDTV, however i know for a fact Adelphia does not simulcast digitally in my area, and the difference between digital SD and analog SD programs is quite pronounced.

Please correct me if i did not understand your explanation correctly.

Through the cablecard FoxNC remains in sync and many others do not. Also I notice and assembly of the picture on many channels, ie boxing, hence digital. I do not think I am wrong but ... maybe.

twitchee3

05-22-06, 01:00 AM

Through the cablecard FoxNC remains in sync and many others do not. Also I notice and assembly of the picture on many channels, ie boxing, hence digital. I do not think I am wrong but ... maybe.
Gotcha, sound like it could be digital, but i wouldn't say it DEFINATELY indicates this much. Usually you can tell the difference in PQ, but i don't know..................

tnili

05-22-06, 04:01 AM

Is it possible to get the HD-Plus channels using a CableCARD? I don't see why not, just wanted to hear some first-hand accounts.

jeffs471

05-22-06, 10:11 AM

joe221

05-22-06, 11:36 AM

Is it possible to get the HD-Plus channels using a CableCARD? I don't see why not, just wanted to hear some first-hand accounts.

Absolutely, I am.

twitchee3

05-22-06, 03:57 PM

Is it possible to get the HD-Plus channels using a CableCARD? I don't see why not, just wanted to hear some first-hand accounts.
Yes, you can get EVERY channel offered by Adelphia, except VOD service, via a CableCard and CableCard compatible device.

twitchee3

05-22-06, 04:01 PM

twitchee3, just to let you know I'm in camarillo and call just about every other day. Still nothing conrete in terms of dates, most reponses are "there are no plans at this time". I just looked and I see those "tba" channels as well. Previous posters have mentioned that losing the hbo east feeds is a good sign, which has not happened yet for my moxi.
Darn, well that's not good news. We have not lost our HBO east coast feeds either, but i will probably hear from Adelphia SoCal headquarters today and we'll see if they can further enlighten me.........

tnili

05-22-06, 04:06 PM

Can anyone in Thousand Oaks tell me if you get ESPNHD and ESPN2HD? I just tried to order HD with the DVR. The Adelphia rep said that ESPN is not available in my area yet!!

It showed up on the web site when I entered my zip code.

I was in the same situation in Santa Monica with ESPNHD. When I called the 800 number they told me it is not available, eventhough it appeared on their website and the program guide. So finally, I decide to go to the local office and they happily added it for $1.50 per month. It made my day since it means I get to watch more World Cup games in HD.

twitchee3

05-22-06, 07:53 PM

I just spoke with an Adelphia representative, and according to him, the HD package should be available in Camarillo, and he SPECIFICALLY mentioned "Camarillo," within the next 2-3 months. He referenced that Time Warner Cable would be taking over and said they were eager to move forward with improvements, and he was confident we would have the new HD package within this time period. This call was in addition to another representative from Adelphia who left a message earlier today and also quoted "within the next 3 months" as the time frame for us here in Camarillo receiving the new HD package. I'm confident in these estimates, although not completely convinced, and will be looking forward to paying an extra $3.50/ month for 6 new HD channels, which appear to be pretty nice.

joe221

05-22-06, 11:24 PM

Gotcha, sound like it could be digital, but i wouldn't say it DEFINATELY indicates this much. Usually you can tell the difference in PQ, but i don't know..................

One more thing, my TV can do P&P (PiP). But can only do two analog or one digital and one analog. When mixed the digital has to be on the left. I can only see channels 8 and 10 on the right side from the 2-13 group. They all show up on the left side. They're digital! The HD channels are still aboeve 900. I'm sure eventually they'll find their way to the lower numbers as they all convert.

jeffs471

05-23-06, 12:38 AM

twitchee3

05-23-06, 01:14 AM

sounds great but no offense to you, I'm not going to be holding my breath. :)

At least they called you back.
If you are a current customer and you fill out the form on their website for contacting them, they will respond within one buisness day. They have been EXTREMELY consistent with this anyway. Yeah, i'm not holding my breath either, but the way this guy said it, he sounded like he KNEW what he was talking about, not the random BS i usually get when i make a call to a CSR. This guy seemed to have a definitive answer and he knew as much as i did, even about the TWC takeover. I will not hold my breath, but will remain optimistic.

bgooch

05-23-06, 09:47 PM

New cable TV franchise coming

MORENO VALLEY: The City Council meets tonight to discuss the transfer from bankrupt Adelphia.

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, May 22, 2006

By DAN LEE
The Press-Enterprise

MORENO VALLEY - A proposed agreement could end years of litigation and pave the way for a new company to provide cable television service to Moreno Valley residents.

Adelphia Communications Corp., which provides cable television service in Moreno Valley, filed for bankruptcy four years ago and is being sold.

The Moreno Valley City Council is expected tonight to consider transferring the cable TV franchise as part of a complex transaction involving the two companies that are buying Adelphia's assets, Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.

"At the end of the day ... Time Warner will be the franchise-holder instead of Adelphia," interim Administrative Services Director Angela Rushen said by phone.

The city's decision would affect cable viewing in the La Sierra area of Riverside and in parts of Perris because of a wiring quirk that brings the same viewing to those areas.

It is unclear if a change would mean different programming or added services, Rushen said.

Riverside City Councilwoman Nancy Hart, who represents part of the La Sierra area, said she had not heard about her constituents getting Moreno Valley programming.

It is unlikely those viewers would get more Riverside programming just because of changes in Moreno Valley's provider, Rushen said.

If approved, the most visible change Moreno Valley's 27,000 cable subscribers would notice is the signage on trucks and in billing, she added. Despite Adelphia's financial difficulties, it did make improvements to the cable TV system in Moreno Valley, Rushen said.

"Our complaints have dropped significantly," she said.

The council approved the franchise agreement with Adelphia in December 2001. Adelphia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2002, and founder John Rigas and two of his sons subsequently were arrested and indicted on charges of securities and wire fraud.

Moreno Valley officials complained that Adelphia failed to live up to its franchise agreements, including upgrades to digital cable and Internet service. They sued Adelphia in November 2002, claiming the cable company tried to transfer the franchise to Comcast without Moreno Valley's approval as required by federal law.

Under the proposed settlement agreement, Comcast would acquire the franchise with the understanding that it would transfer the franchise to a Time Warner subsidiary within 120 days of Adelphia's sale.

Reach Dan Lee at (951) 567-2410 or dlee@PE.com
http://www.pe.com/localnews/morenovalley/stories/PE_News_Local_S_mcable23.12fd620b.html

bgooch

05-24-06, 02:13 PM

All-Digital Ad Insertion for Adelphia in L.A.
5/24/2006 1:22:00 PM

Ad insertion within Adelphia Media Services' Southern California coverage area is now all-digital following an upgrade by Adelphia Communications Corp. and Los Angeles interconnect Adlink.

The operator also consolidated 25 dispersed headends into four headend clusters.

The two parties said the digital upgrade eliminates analog switching of commercials and will provide consistently higher quality for the MSO’s advertisers.

Adelphia Media Services is Adelphia’s ad-sales arm.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6337615.html?display=Breaking+News

bgooch

05-26-06, 11:50 PM

Doubts over whether the deal can close by its July 31 deadline.

Adelphia to restructure assets acquisition

MAY. 26 4:23 P.M. ET Adelphia Communications Corp. has agreed with Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. to restructure their acquisition of Adelphia's assets so the $16.9 billion deal can proceed while Adelpha's creditor groups continue to battle in bankruptcy court.

Under the new plan, filed with the court Friday, the deal would be decoupled from the bankruptcy process, allowing it to move forward even while the creditors continued to fight.

The spoils in the battle would become a big pot of cash rather than the cable company's assets. But some creditor groups may oppose the new plan, which would have to win bankruptcy court approval.

Lawyers representing some creditors have already said they would be opposed to allowing the deal to go through before their dispute is settled.

Adelphia -- the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based cable TV provider that has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law protection for four years -- last year agreed to sell itself to the two cable companies Time Warner and Comcast.

But fighting among creditors has raised doubts over whether the deal can close by its July 31 deadline.

Adelphia filed for Chapter 11 after the Rigas family was forced to give up control of Adelphia in 2002.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HRM7TO0.htm?sub=apn_home_down&chan=db

Adelphia asks court to allow quicker asset sales

Fri May 26, 2006 3:16 PM ET

NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters) - Bankrupt cable operator Adelphia Communications Corp. (ADELQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it will ask the bankruptcy court to let it proceed with a speedier sale of its cable systems to rival operators Comcast Corp. (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Time Warner Cable.

The cable operator said it was working closely with Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) cable unit and Comcast to find the "swiftest path" to accomplish the sale.

Adelphia said it was seeking authority from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to proceed with the asset sales without first confirming a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. If the court grants the motion, it said, it would increase the likelihood of the sale being completed in a "timely manner."

Adelphia said it anticipates a hearing to approve certain amended bid protections to be held on or about June 8, followed by a hearing to approve the sale. Adelphia also expects a plan of reorganization related to its joint ventures with Comcast on or about June 27.

Based on previous statements from the three parties involved, the cable industry has been expecting the transactions to be completed by the end of July.

The closing of the respective acquisitions are conditioned on one another and are expected to occur simultaneously.

Under the proposed modified approach, Adelphia would be comprised of 16 percent of the common stock of Time Warner Cable, used to pay for Adelphia assets, and $12.7 billion, out of which joint venture creditors will be paid.

The company said the remaining creditors could continue their negotiations and litigation over how to distribute the value of the bankruptcy estate.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-05-26T191658Z_01_N26228472_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-ADELPHIA-UPDATE-1.XML

bgooch

05-27-06, 12:16 AM

Adelphia Tries To Speed Time Warner Deal

By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/26/2006 4:10:00 PM

Mindful of a drop-dead date in its deal to sell out to Time Warner and Comcast, Adelphia Communications is asking a bankruptcy court judge to permit the sale without putting it to a vote of the creditors. Ordinarily, the sale of virtually all of a company's assets of a company in Chapter 11 requires creditors to approve a reorganization plan.

But the bickering among Adelphia's creditors is so contentious that some who get less of the sale proceeds may try and block the deal to get leverage over creditors that get more money. So Adelphia wants complete the sale of the bulk of its systems to Time Warner Cable for $17.6 billion in cash and stock, holding onto the proceeds while creditors continue to fight it out. The deal was set to expire July 31, but Time Warner and Comcast agreed to extend it one month to Aug. 31.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6338757.html?display=Breaking+News

tenthplanet

05-27-06, 06:34 AM

Yeah i also think it's lame Adelphia does that, they wouldn't let us self install either of our Moxi's either. ALL the guy does is radio in the serial # of the box to the HE. Could have called that in myself. I agree, if we don't have the option of doing it ourself, it should be free. I mean if you think about it, they're charging US to add MORE money to our monthly bill. I believe next time i call and they quote me $25 for an install fee and won't let me do it myself, i'll just say "really, well if you don't want me to add more to my monthly bill, i'll just switch to DISH who installs an entire system for free." See what their response to that is. My bet is the CSR will drop a load in his pants when he hears DISH mentioned. Also, you sould ask for his name and let him know you will remember that when asked why you left Adelphia. :rolleyes:

I also wondered why they had to come out to install the Moxi. It turns out there was a little to the installation. For one thing the tech. checked the line and the signal strength. ( As you may have heard too much or little signal strength is not something you want with a Moxi.) He also made sure that it was really working and was downloading it's info properly. Not surprisingly I don't seem to have some of the problems I've read about people have with their Moxi's
With Time-Warner taking over the system if we have to go to an SA DVR now that would be a problem!

twitchee3

05-27-06, 04:09 PM

I also wondered why they had to come out to install the Moxi. It turns out there was a little to the installation. For one thing the tech. checked the line and the signal strength. ( As you may have heard too much or little signal strength is not something you want with a Moxi.) He also made sure that it was really working and was downloading it's info properly. Not surprisingly I don't seem to have some of the problems I've read about people have with their Moxi's
With Time-Warner taking over the system if we have to go to an SA DVR now that would be a problem!
The tech does do those "checks" but the only thing he REALLY has to actually "DO," in most cases anyway, is call the head end to ping the box and get the download process started.

The switch to Time Warner will have nothing to do with the DVR's we use currently, as the DVR provider (Moto or SA) is dependent upon which head end equipment the local office is using, so if the equipment in your area is SA, they will use SA boxes, and if the local equipment is Moto, you will be using a Moto DCT series box. Now, the Moxi is a bit unique. Although it is actually put together by Motorola, it's not a Motorola designed box, Digeo actually designed it, and they provided for functionality with BOTH SA and Moto cable equipment. Now, one speicifc Moxi will be compatible with EITHER SA or Moto, not both. MANY more Moto compatible Moxi's were produced than the SA compatible ones, which were called the "Powerkey" models. There's really no way to tell which model you have based on the user interface and the physical appearances of the STB, since really the only differene is in the internal hardware with which the box uses to unscramble the encrypted cable content. I'm sure there's a way, however, to see if you are using the powerkey model in the diagnostics screens. Even if you are using a Powerkey Moxi, i wouldn't worry about being switched to an SA DVR in the future, TWC will inherit Adelhpia's huge investment in Moxi's here in SoCal, and because Adelhpia does not carry any other HD DVR's in this market, i think the Moxi's future is pretty safe around here, although i'm hoping for some much needed fixes and updates.

almahix

05-28-06, 01:25 PM

Camarillo, CA...This week I got 2 separate messages on both of my digital boxes indicating that HD Plus service was NOW available in my area. This was too good to be true!

When I called the 800-HDTV-NOW number in the messages, I got the ordinary Adelphia phone system. I selected to add services to my account, and got connected to a woman who read me this scripted cable tv doubletalk about the the service being available, but she couldn't add it to my account.

What a crock. Is it available or not? If it is, WTF can't she add it to my account?

The worst part is even after all the letterhead changes and the new billing address, it is still going to be the same goofiness. In the 12 years I've lived in this house I've sent my cable bill to at least 5 different company names that I can recall off the top of my head, and nothing has ever changed. Even the same cranky British lady in the local office!

Come on Verizon FIOS! Hit me with your best shot.

twitchee3

05-28-06, 02:31 PM

auh2o

05-28-06, 05:38 PM

I wouldn't bet too heavily on Verizon being much better, but they were out here in Camarillo laying what was supposedly fiber optic cables, so FIOS may be available soon. For my part, i'm probably going to stick with Adelphia, or TWC when they come in, and i'm still hoping that we will have the new HD Plus tier by summer's end.

Apparently Verizon FIOS TV will be available in Hermosa, Redondo, and Manhatten starting Tuesday (at least according to the Verizon booth at Fiesta Hermosa). I can't seem to find out what HD DVR they provide nor if local channels are available in HD without an OTA tuner. Any information?

twitchee3

05-28-06, 06:13 PM

Apparently Verizon FIOS TV will be available in Hermosa, Redondo, and Manhatten starting Tuesday (at least according to the Verizon booth at Fiesta Hermosa). I can't seem to find out what HD DVR they provide nor if local channels are available in HD without an OTA tuner. Any information?
They use the Motorola DCT 6416 and 3412 HD DVR's and i'm not positive, but i believe HD locals are included in their service, don't quote me on it though.

Just out of curiosity, how long ago did Verizon lay fiber optics in your neighborhood?

auh2o

05-28-06, 06:25 PM

Just out of curiosity, how long ago did Verizon lay fiber optics in your neighborhood?

Thanks. They laid the fiber about 4-5 months ago.

cschang

05-29-06, 12:18 AM

Apparently Verizon FIOS TV will be available in Hermosa, Redondo, and Manhatten starting Tuesday (at least according to the Verizon booth at Fiesta Hermosa). I can't seem to find out what HD DVR they provide nor if local channels are available in HD without an OTA tuner. Any information?
As far I as I know, they have not laid fiber in my area of Manhattan Beach. Don't they have to dig up the street for that?

jasonvr

05-29-06, 12:58 AM

As far I as I know, they have not laid fiber in my area of Manhattan Beach. Don't they have to dig up the street for that?

Not necessarily. Highly accurate directional drilling rigs can go under without disturbing the street above.

twitchee3

05-29-06, 02:30 AM

Not necessarily. Highly accurate directional drilling rigs can go under without disturbing the street above.
They have to dig up some of the sidewalks, but that's no biggie and they repair it within a couple weeks. Street was left untouched here.

jeffs471

05-29-06, 10:33 AM

They have to dig up some of the sidewalks, but that's no biggie and they repair it within a couple weeks. Street was left untouched here.

verizon's tv offerings will blow away adelphia's. Plus adelphia has horrible problems with their analog channels, at least for my neighborhood. I finally got the tech to flat admit it to me because I kept having truck rolls to my house to fix the scrolling lines on my analog channels. After the same guy came out three times he finally told me there was probably a failing device somewhere in the system and unless it completely fails or enough people complain it will not be fixed.

Verizon will have the full 850mhz range to use for channels and since they don't have to use any of that space for voice or data like adelphia does this will give them much more bandwidth. You should definetly drop adelphia/twc when it becomes available. Plus no more MOXI, thats a reason to switch right there.

twitchee3

05-29-06, 04:49 PM

verizon's tv offerings will blow away adelphia's. Plus adelphia has horrible problems with their analog channels, at least for my neighborhood. I finally got the tech to flat admit it to me because I kept having truck rolls to my house to fix the scrolling lines on my analog channels. After the same guy came out three times he finally told me there was probably a failing device somewhere in the system and unless it completely fails or enough people complain it will not be fixed.

Verizon will have the full 850mhz range to use for channels and since they don't have to use any of that space for voice or data like adelphia does this will give them much more bandwidth. You should definetly drop adelphia/twc when it becomes available. Plus no more MOXI, thats a reason to switch right there.
Our analog channels here are fine, and Adelphia is planning on upgrading our area to 850 mhz within the next 2-3 months. Verizon DOES have data and voice services going over their cabling because FIOS offers not only TV service, but also internet and phone service as well. Verizon isn't using some brand new state of the art HD DVR, they are using the Motorola DCT 3412 and 6412, and from what i've heard, these boxes have more problems than the Moxi, what with taking over a minute (yes i said a minute) to regognize a remote control command, or deciding arbitrarily to not record a scheduled season pass show, or requiring the user to re-boot it once a day just to keep it running. The only complaints i've heard about Moxi are much less with the box malfunctioning, and have much more to do with minute errors that make the user's experience a bit less enjoyable, but not less functional.

As for channels, i don't know what Fios will offer, but Adelphia offers about 150 channels, plus movie packages from HBO, Showtime, Cinnemax, Starz, The Movie Channel, plus VOD, InDemand, sports packages, music channels (but who really liestens to these anyway), and will soon offer 15 HD channels, including HBO, Showtime, and Cinnexmax in HD.

I'm not saying they're the best, but if you really look at what you can get, i'll stick with the more familiar problems instead of trading my whole home's system to another provider with just a new set of problems. Also, i have heard that Verizon is almost completely digital, and they may not simulcast many of their basic cable channels in analog form. This means that you will need a QAM equipped TV or a leased FIOS STB for every TV you wish to receive the same channels you had with Adelhpia when you only had to plug in the direct cable feed. Now i'm not exactly clear on which channels are offered via analog (some user stated only about 20 were analog) and how many of the digitals are encrypted, but it's something to think about before you take the jump.

jeffs471

05-29-06, 11:58 PM

Our analog channels here are fine, and Adelphia is planning on upgrading our area to 850 mhz within the next 2-3 months. Verizon DOES have data and voice services going over their cabling because FIOS offers not only TV service, but also internet and phone service as well. Verizon isn't using some brand new state of the art HD DVR, they are using the Motorola DCT 3412 and 6412, and from what i've heard, these boxes have more problems than the Moxi, what with taking over a minute (yes i said a minute) to regognize a remote control command, or deciding arbitrarily to not record a scheduled season pass show, or requiring the user to re-boot it once a day just to keep it running. The only complaints i've heard about Moxi are much less with the box malfunctioning, and have much more to do with minute errors that make the user's experience a bit less enjoyable, but not less functional.

As for channels, i don't know what Fios will offer, but Adelphia offers about 150 channels, plus movie packages from HBO, Showtime, Cinnemax, Starz, The Movie Channel, plus VOD, InDemand, sports packages, music channels (but who really liestens to these anyway), and will soon offer 15 HD channels, including HBO, Showtime, and Cinnexmax in HD.

I'm not saying they're the best, but if you really look at what you can get, i'll stick with the more familiar problems instead of trading my whole home's system to another provider with just a new set of problems. Also, i have heard that Verizon is almost completely digital, and they may not simulcast many of their basic cable channels in analog form. This means that you will need a QAM equipped TV or a leased FIOS STB for every TV you wish to receive the same channels you had with Adelhpia when you only had to plug in the direct cable feed. Now i'm not exactly clear on which channels are offered via analog (some user stated only about 20 were analog) and how many of the digitals are encrypted, but it's something to think about before you take the jump.

FIOS TV does not share the same bandwidth the voice and data do so verizon doesn't have to overcompress the channels . So far reports show they have been doing much better than any other cable company in terms of picture quality. Of course in the future they may try to add too many channels and may start compressing. FIOS offers more HD and SD channels than any cable system in america. I don't care about analog channels and don't mind needing a box.

I really hate the moxi because its so slow and has such a limited amount of space. There are many other problems that I would hardly call small as well. The grid system would be so much better than what moxi has implemented. So bring it on Verizon you have a customer waiting right here.

Richard99

05-30-06, 12:56 AM

I am getting a pioneer elite 50 inch plasma, and want to install the best solution for getting hdtv programming.

I am in the adelphia area, soon to be TW I guess. Hollywood Hills.

Who should I go with? And with D*, is MPEG4 worth waiting for?

How good is Adelphia?

Is E* better?

I tried to read all the old posts but no my eyes are killing me!

thanks,

bgooch

05-30-06, 01:25 AM

Adelphia has a great promo right now but a HD cable box or DVR is extra.

http://www.adelphiasocal.com/offers/cable_ofr.shtml

with no long term contract you rent the HD cable box or HD DVR. Satellite can't match the video on demand selection cable is offering. And Time Warner will have even a larger library.

I'd check cable out with this promo for 3 months and before it ends you'll at least have something to compare it to if you then decide to try something different.

Dish is now offering some Voom HD, just know some of those channels repeat more than most.

Direct is in transition. I wouldn't buy any satellite equipment I wasn't certain I'd get my money's worth before needing to replace it. I would not want to be under a long term contract that penalized me for early termination.

no matter which way you go - enjoy your new HD!

twitchee3

05-30-06, 02:23 AM

FIOS TV does not share the same bandwidth the voice and data do so verizon doesn't have to overcompress the channels . So far reports show they have been doing much better than any other cable company in terms of picture quality. Of course in the future they may try to add too many channels and may start compressing. FIOS offers more HD and SD channels than any cable system in america. I don't care about analog channels and don't mind needing a box.

I really hate the moxi because its so slow and has such a limited amount of space. There are many other problems that I would hardly call small as well. The grid system would be so much better than what moxi has implemented. So bring it on Verizon you have a customer waiting right here.
Interesting, so they must have dual fiber running for internet and TV.

If you think Moxi is slow, you better hold on to your temper when you have to wait a minute (that's 60 seconds) for the 6416 or 3412 to carry out a single remote command. This is not a limited occurence either, if you read the threads on these units, you'll see it's a CRONIC problem. If you want more space, ask for the Moxi BMC 9022D, it's got a 160 GB hard drive, larger if not the same size as anything FIOS offers. I think the one thing FIOS currently has over Adelphia is the wider selection of programming and fully digital service, but Adelphia is quickly catching up and i predict Adelphia will begin digitally simulcasting very soon, along with upgrading of all its service markets to the 850 mhz system.

octavian

05-30-06, 02:56 PM

Apparently Verizon FIOS TV will be available in Hermosa, Redondo, and Manhatten starting Tuesday (at least according to the Verizon booth at Fiesta Hermosa). I can't seem to find out what HD DVR they provide nor if local channels are available in HD without an OTA tuner. Any information?

auh20,

Do you live in north or south Redondo? I can hardly wait to get rid of Adelphia and FIOS seems like the best option. Unfortunately, Hermosa is the only South Bay city that has it right now. I hope the guy you talked to is right.

octavian

cschang

05-30-06, 03:02 PM

auh20,

Do you live in north or south Redondo? I can hardly wait to get rid of Adelphia and FIOS seems like the best option. Unfortunately, Hermosa is the only South Bay city that has it right now. I hope the guy you talked to is right.

octavian
I went from Adelphia to Dish for TV/DVR service...and have been very happy.

Kept Adelphia for internet service.

Dumped Verizon and went with AT&T VoIP.

All has been good, but looking forward for some good competition from FIOS.

bgooch

05-30-06, 05:39 PM

Lawsuit seeks to block Time Warner, Comcast from buying Adelphia

Tue, May. 30, 2006

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/14700959.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

audiofox

05-31-06, 04:45 PM

I guess this forum is broadcast only.

bgooch

06-03-06, 01:23 PM

U.S. Judge blocks attempt to stop Adelphia sale

Fri Jun 2, 2006 6:35 PM ET

NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy court judge on Friday blocked an attempt by cable TV company The America Channel to halt the sale of bankrupt cable operator Adelphia Communications Corp. <ADELQ.PK>.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber upheld a motion by Adelphia asking to block The America Channel from pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against Time Warner <TWX.N> and Comcast. <CMCSA.O>

The America Channel lawsuit, which was filed in a Minneapolis, Minnesota federal court, accuses Comcast and Time Warner of bid-rigging and price-fixing in their bid to acquire bankrupt Adelphia's cable systems.

Court papers also accuse the company of teaming up to ensure that they would beat rival bidders for Adelphia, and said the deal would make it virtually impossible for unaffiliated networks to get access to cable subscribers.

The $17.6 billion purchase of Adelphia is scheduled to close on July 31, according to the lawsuit, which seeks to block the acquisition and demands unspecified damages.

Time Warner Cable and Comcast are two of the largest U.S. cable companies.

The America Channel said it will have a hearing in Minneapolis on Tuesday to ask the court to vacate the bankruptcy judge's order.

"This is quite bizarre," Joseph Alioto, an attorney for The America Channel, said. "In the United States a private person has the right to proceed with his antitrust case... and the only person who can prevent that is the judge who is hearing that case."

The America Channel, based in Heathrow, Florida, was formed in 2003. It is "a niche entertainment programming channel that explores and celebrates America in the 21st century," according to the lawsuit.

http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-06-02T221411Z_01_N02172939_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-ADELPHIA.XML&rpc=66

bruce73

06-04-06, 11:20 AM

When I signed up for the new $5.00 HD tier a few months back, the rep told me there was a special that would bring my monthly cable/internet bill down to $95 from $125 and I would have everything, including the new HD channels plus the digitial channels 100-199 which I was not currently subscribed to. Great.

My bill for May went up to $115, so I figured that that special was over, but since I was still paying less than before and had all channels I would live with it. My June bill arrived today and it was up to $147!! No way. So I called and the rep said there was another "special" available and my bill is now done to $85/month for the next three months for all channels.

There are specials out there (beyond the ones on mailed flyers that are for new subscribers only) which are available for the asking. Of course, Adelphia probably hopes you won't ask, so this is just FYI to you all. :)

jasonvr

06-04-06, 06:20 PM

tnili

06-05-06, 04:50 PM

Anybody in the West Los Angeles area able to get the HD-Plus channels through a CableCard? We get the Broadcast HD channels but not the HD-Plus ones. There have been multiple attempts by Adelphia to resolve the issue; unfortunately, the service technicians are all incompetent and/or lazy. Any tips on how to get this resolved would be appreciated.

joe221

06-05-06, 06:42 PM

Eyecannon

06-06-06, 01:42 AM

Has anyone with a 9012 upgraded to a 9022?

dadndudes

06-08-06, 02:11 AM

Just noticed here in Diamond Bar HDNET ch. 931 and HDNET Movies, ch. 932, have been flip flopped. Channel guide info still shows the same but the content is reversed. Anybody else here seeing this?

joe221

06-08-06, 11:58 PM

Just noticed here in Diamond Bar HDNET ch. 931 and HDNET Movies, ch. 932, have been flip flopped. Channel guide info still shows the same but the content is reversed. Anybody else here seeing this?

AOK in West LA.

bgooch

06-10-06, 09:07 AM

FCC Still Sitting on Adelphia Deal
By Ted Hearn 6/9/2006 5:06:00 PM

Cable-industry insiders said they don’t know what it’s going to take to prod the Federal Communications Commission to act on the Adelphia Communications Corp. sale to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Cable-industry officials who asked not to be identified don’t think FCC chairman Kevin Martin is holding up the merger in an effort to impose a la carte conditions on Time Warner and Comcast.

“That has not come up at all,” said one cable-industry source, referring to meeting with Martin aides and FCC Media Bureau staff.

Martin’s strategy could be that instead of the FCC adopting a la carte conditions, the agency is waiting for Comcast and Time Warner to volunteer a la carte proposals acceptable to Martin. The merger is supposed to close by July 31.

Time Warner and Comcast have agreed to pay $16.9 billion for bankrupt Adelphia’s 5 million subscribers. The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal without conditions Jan. 31, but the FCC has had it under review for 370 days (as of June 9), making it one of the longest-reviewed cable deals in recent FCC history.

“Well, it has been a long time. I think it’s more than twice the amount of time taken on the other [mergers],” Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said Thursday.

The Adelphia merger arrived at the FCC with the agency divided 2-2 between Republicans and Democrats, which could explain the delay. Time Warner chairman and CEO Richard Parsons said he wanted the agency to postpone the Adelphia merger until a fifth commissioner arrived to give Republicans a 3-2 majority. Comcast, by contrast, said it was the FCC’s call to move the merger.

Two big telecommunications mergers -- SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI Inc. -- cleared the FCC last fall while the agency was evenly split along party lines.

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts discussed the merger with Martin during the National Show in Atlanta in April, according to FCC records. On May 30, Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt called Martin asking the commission to act expeditiously on the Adelphia merger, FCC records show.

“The commission is hard at work on the merger,” an FCC official said, but the official would not discuss whether Martin wanted a la carte conditions.

Political deadlock at the FCC can’t be an excuse for delay anymore with regard to Adelphia because Republican Robert McDowell was sworn in June 1, giving Martin a partisan majority.

“They were … not a complete commission,” Stevens noted. “Now that we have all five there, I expect them to start moving forward [on Adelphia].”

One source indicated that Martin's goal was to force Time Warner and Comcast to beef up their family tiers by adding ESPN in response to concerns that cable subscribers won’t buy a family tier without that popular sports network in the package.

“That’s my sense, but I don’t know for sure,” a cable-industry source said.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6342787

delrmx01

06-13-06, 02:26 PM

Hi there locals--I'm hoping you guys can help out. I posted this question and didn't get any response and I was wondering if you can please enlighten me.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=687844

delrmx01

06-13-06, 05:30 PM

BTW -- I get about 16 HD channels out here in Simi.

902 KCBS HD KCBS High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
904 KNBC HD KNBC High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
907 KABC HD KABC High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
911 KTTV HD KTTV High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
928 KCET HD KCET High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
930 DISC HD Discovery HD Broadcast HD (High Definition)
931 HD NET HD NET HD PLUS TIER
932 HDN MOVIES HD NET MOVIES HD PLUS TIER
938 NFL HD NFL Network HD Broadcast HD (High Definition)
939 ESPN HD ESPN HD HD PLUS TIER
940 ESPN2 HD ESPN2 HD HD PLUS TIER
950 INHD1 iNDemand HD HD PLUS TIER
951 INHD2 iNDemand HD 2 HD PLUS TIER
961 HD HBO HBO HD HBO HD (High Definition)
963 HD CINEMAX Cinemax HD Cinemax HD (High Definition)
971 HD SHOWTIME Showtime HD Showtime HD (High Definition)

mugwump88

06-14-06, 02:49 AM

Does anyone find that 907 ABC HD and the ESPN HD channel is often unavailable during popular sporting events?

I'm often getting the "Channel Will Be Available Shortly" screen, or whatever it reads.

Is this a common occurrence, or could it be a local connection issue?

mugwump88

06-14-06, 11:31 PM

sleepy76

06-15-06, 12:55 AM

I get that "Channel Not Available" or the "Not Subcribed" message at times, mostly on the HD channels while watching sports, and then I have to switch to the crappy SD channel. It's really irritating, and waiting for the Plus tier of HD channels to come around to my area is irritating as well. I've been hearing that the Time Warner switch might happen end of June, accorsing to the phone CSRs, but who knows.

dagware

06-15-06, 05:42 PM

Sheesh, I'm often getting the Channel Not Availble screen only on the channels I want to watch. :)

Tonight it was channel 101, Discovery Kids show. It just wasn't available. The others around it were fine, though.

What causes channels to be unavailable??
I don't know what causes it, however when I get it, I can usually fix it by changing the channel and changing back. I *think* it works better if I use the channel up/channel down controls, rather than typing in a channel number, but I could be wrong about that.

-Dan

bruce73

06-15-06, 07:47 PM

A few weeks back I had the same problem just with the HDNet channels (931 and 932). The service guy said it was due to a bad connector. He cut the cable below the connector (where it had been bent), replaced the connector and everything was fine. Took him less than 10 minutes and he was gone. I was in shock! :D

bgooch

06-16-06, 07:10 PM

Adelphia judge approves break-up fee

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=media&storyID=nN16421094

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - The bankruptcy judge in the long-running Adelphia Communications case on Friday approved a $440.3 million break-up fee in the sale of the cable operator's assets to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. if the sale is completed by Aug. 31.

The judge, at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, approved a break-up fee payment to Time Warner Inc. of $352.8 million and a similar payment to Comcast of $87.5 million. This effectively reduces the $17.6 billion sale of the bankrupt cable operator's assests by $440 million.

nilblog

06-21-06, 11:01 AM

Yesterday morning Adelphia swapped out our digital box for a Motorola DCT6200. I've been told both by the individual that they dispatched and consequently by customer service over the phone that the DVI output on this "new" STB is not yet activated. This doesn't make any sense to me. Really disappointing, as my television (a Sony XBR970) has only two component inputs (which I need for the DVD player and XBOX), but has a free HDMI input.

Can someone confirm that the DVI ouput indeed does not work, and whether there's a reason for it not being activated if that really is the case. For what it's worth, I live in Beverly Hills. Thanks!

bruce73

06-21-06, 11:49 AM

The DVI out works on mine, at least it used to (I'm using the component out now). I'm in Los Feliz (Eagle rock office). What's the firmware of your 6200?

Arvy

06-21-06, 12:19 PM

My 6200's DVI output works. It's connected to an HDMI input on the TV.

bgooch

06-21-06, 02:36 PM

Martin: Adelphia Action in Mid-July

By Ted Hearn 6/21/2006 2:11:00 PM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday that the agency would likely act on the acquisition of Adelphia Communications Corp. by Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. in mid-July.

Martin indicated the mid-July action in comments to reporters following the agency’s public meeting.

Time Warner and Comcast have agreed to buy bankrupt Adelphia’s 5 million cable subscribers in a $16.9 billion transaction.

The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal without conditions in January. The FCC has had the merger under review for 382 days, but only since June 1 has Martin had a 3-2 Republican majority.

Opponents of the deal have called on the FCC to impose a host of conditions, including access to regional sports programming owned or controlled by Time Warner and Comcast.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6346018.html?display=Breaking+News

psychoholica

06-21-06, 09:36 PM

Just spoke with a redondo beach, ca tech who said FIOS Tv would be starting in Redondo July 7th or 17th he wasnt sure but its right around the corner!!

sakaike

06-22-06, 12:34 PM

Just spoke with a redondo beach, ca tech who said FIOS Tv would be starting in Redondo July 7th or 17th he wasnt sure but its right around the corner!!

If you hear any more about this, please post here. I recently got an NEC PX-50XR5A and upgraded to Adelphia's HD service, at which time I learned how pathetic their channel offering is in Redondo. No Discovery, no ESPN2, so INHD, no HDNET, no Cinemax. It makes me wonder why I got an HDTV in the first place...

Hopefully, FIOS TV will be my savior; although there was a post several weeks ago from someone who said that the FIOS rep at Fiesta Hermosa was quoting him early June for Redondo FIOS.

nilblog

06-22-06, 02:36 PM

The DVI out works on mine, at least it used to (I'm using the component out now). I'm in Los Feliz (Eagle rock office). What's the firmware of your 6200?

Thanks for the response. My firmware version is 8.14.

octavian

06-22-06, 03:15 PM

If you hear any more about this, please post here. I recently got an NEC PX-50XR5A and upgraded to Adelphia's HD service, at which time I learned how pathetic their channel offering is in Redondo. No Discovery, no ESPN2, so INHD, no HDNET, no Cinemax. It makes me wonder why I got an HDTV in the first place...

Hopefully, FIOS TV will be my savior; although there was a post several weeks ago from someone who said that the FIOS rep at Fiesta Hermosa was quoting him early June for Redondo FIOS.

FIOS data is now available at my location in North Redondo. :)
But when I talked to the FIOS people about TV, they said that was a ways off and could not even give me an estimated date. :(

So.... it looks like Dish Network for me. Time to do some research on their service and HD-PVR. I'll have to bug cschang since he seems to be enjoying it so much.

octavian

bgooch

06-23-06, 10:59 AM

Adelphia, creditors reach agreement on payments
6/23/2006
NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Adelphia Communications Corp. and creditor groups reached an agreement on how to share proceeds of the bankrupt cable operator's proposed $17.6 billion sale to Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Adelphia pledged to begin paying creditors by Oct. 31. The agreement was disclosed in a letter to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber from Judge Cecelia Morris, who Gerber appointed in April to monitor a dispute among creditors.

"I believe this term sheet allocates fairly among all of the parties the value, as well as the concessions, compromise, and the litigation costs and other losses that have accrued during these protracted negotiations," Morris wrote in the one-page letter.

Adelphia next week will seek court approval to sell most of its assets to Time Warner and Comcast for $12.5 billion in cash and about $4.9 billion in Time Warner shares. Gerber is scheduled to consider approval of Adelphia's plan to exit bankruptcy after the sale hearing.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060623/3040272.asp

bgooch

06-23-06, 11:20 AM

Cable’s Spectrum Preservationist
June 26, 2006

Time Warner Cable's chief technology officer Mike LaJoie has big plans for his company's hybrid fiber coax plant, but thanks to switched digital, these plans won't take a huge bite out of his bandwidth.

By M.C. Antil

Some 15 years ago, a Time Warner engineer named Louis Williamson developed an engineering concept that would eventually be known as hybrid fiber coax. And while fiber optic technology continues to creep closer to the home, there is industry consensus that, regardless of technological advances, HFC will remain a viable engineering strategy for cable operators for years.

Time Warner Cable continues to serve as a technology bellwether for operators, having been first to market with a branded high-speed data service (Road Runner) and commercially viable DVRs. Its latest development is the rollout of switched digital video, which will help make more efficient use of HFC spectrum and enable the company to keep adding digital services. We asked Time Warner Cable's chief technology officer Mike LaJoie about the benefits of switched digital, among other subjects, on the eve of the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver.

How has Time Warner Cable's faith in hybrid fiber coax been validated over the years?

Mike LaJoie: When we first rolled out HFC architecture we simply used it to offer a whole lot more television channels--though, obviously, with a lot better quality. The first real switched product we launched was high-speed data, and that was Road Runner in '95 or '96. Back then we had a few tens of thousands of customers, there were a few hundred thousand websites and we were offering speeds of 1 Mbps--which was unheard of at the time. And all that was accomplished with one 6 MHz channel.
HFC CHAMPION: Cable's plant is paying dividends through the expanded application of spectrum-conserving digital switching technology, says Mike LaJoie.

Today, we have over 5 million customers, speeds as high as 10 Mbps, and there are hundreds of millions of websites. But we still only use one 6 MHz channel.

And the reason for this is that HFC architecture was designed to be segmentable, and was designed to accommodate a switched infrastructure, so I can add more subscribers, increase the speed of the product and introduce more and more sources of product when I combine switching with HFC.

But that's with data. How does that apply to television?

LaJoie: In a television scenario, if I combine HFC with switching I can offer as much programming as I want--much like websites--to as many customers as I want. And I can offer standard-definition television at 3.5 Mbps, or I can increase the speed of the television and offer hi-def at 12, 13, 15 Mbps--all without using more spectrum.

The first switched video product we had was VOD. When we first set it up we did it to accommodate 100 or so movies. We didn't set it up to simulate an actual broadcast experience, such as allowing instant channel changes, but with switched digital video we can now do that.

Your Start Over product in Columbia, S.C., is a fully switched system that records 70-plus cable channels for playback in the head-end, and allows consumers to access archived content. What advantage does that hold for you as an operator?

LaJoie: Start Over is actually a skinnied down version of our Mystro product that was developed by Joe Collins and Jim Chiddix. And its advantage is this: When you broadcast a full channel, everyone connected to your plant is receiving that channel, even if they're actually watching it. That's wasteful, in terms of spectrum. And our research told us that of the 200 or so digital networks, only 70 or 80 might be watched in any one neighborhood. That means that there are up to 130 channels worth of bits just spilling out at the end of your system and creating a wasteful mess.

With switching technology, just like with Road Runner and VOD, you can monitor what people in a neighborhood are watching and allow multiple homes watching the same channel to share the same stream. And if a person tunes to a channel that isn't currently being transmitted to that neighborhood you can just take that channel off the fiber ring and switch it on to that particular node, a process that takes a matter of milliseconds.

What that means is that we can deliver a multichannel broadcast experience without actually broadcasting, which gives us about 60% efficiency on the spectrum. And, just like we were able to go from a few thousand websites to hundreds of millions without adding spectrum, we don't have to add spectrum if we want to go from 200 channels to 500 channels.

In essence, by combining HFC with switching capability we've given ourselves limitless capacity to offer as many channels--be they standard-def, hi-def, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, MPEG whatever--as we want.

Given the fluid nature of technology, how do you manage the development and roll out of new products?

LaJoie: We are constantly trying to look out and imagine the product profile that we're going to have to support in three to five years. And we've said we'll probably have to support up to 75 hi-def channels, we'll have to support continuing increases in speed for data, we'll have to continue to support the analog channels, because they're not going away in five years, and we'll have to continue to support standard def. And to get there, we determined that broadcast will have to diminish and switching will have to grow.

We also try to anticipate product and consumer demand without getting too far ahead of it. Because the danger in getting too far ahead of demand or technology is that you have a bunch of sunk capital that nobody can use and from which you can't make a penny. If money were no object and if we didn't have a financial responsibility to our investors, that would be one thing. But that's not the case, so we have to be financially prudent when we look at technology.

I noticed you didn't mention telephone in your product profile.

LaJoie: Telephone is just another application and, frankly, it's one that doesn't even represent 3% of the traffic on our high-speed data platform.

At the National Show this year we heard about downloadable conditional access. On one panel you called it a "sleeper." Why?

LaJoie: Basically, conditional access is a way to secure video content to ensure only those authorized to receive certain video signals have access to them. And it's a great system. In fact, our conditional access systems have never been cracked.

Now, downloadable conditional access works by taking that concept and downloading the security algorithms directly into the set-top box. This allows the box to decode the encrypted content, regardless of what system it's being used on.

What makes downloadable conditional access such a sleeper is that it overrides what we call the duopoly of conditional access systems--meaning you have to choose one or the other. Today, if you choose one system you basically have to use it on your entire network, and it's very difficult to undo that choice.

Downloadable conditional access will allow MSOs much greater flexibility by allowing them to utilize a number of encryption systems. It will also free us from having to use CableCARDs. And once the consumer electronics people adopt downloadable conditional access they won't have to include CableCARD slots in their devices. That will not only decrease costs, but increase security as well.

We're also hearing a lot about IP multimedia subsystems (IMS). What role will IMS play in the convergence of cable products?

LaJoie: The IP multimedia subsystem is a set of specifications that, frankly, are still moving around a little. The concept was born out of a consortium of telephone companies who wanted to accomplished fixed local convergence, so that a wireline carrier and a wireless carrier could converge their products. In other words, you could receive calls on both your wired or wireless phone, you could share your contact database--all sorts of things.

But the truth is IMS allows you to converge products across any series of diverse platforms, be it twisted pair, fiber, coax or whatever.

The key is IMS separates things into three layers: a physical layer, a services layer and an applications layer. And through such abstracts, it allows services to be developed that most applications will need--services like authorization, accounting, authentication, security, content management and so on. Knowing that such things will be universally available, application developers will no longer have to worry about them. They'll be there and be operable from both a management and a network perspective.

What this means is that we will be able to expand on the concept of bundling. We already know that customers like bundled products; we'll now be able to more easily bundle features of those products across platforms. We know customers like it when they see caller ID on their TV set. We know they want to be able to set their DVRs using their wireless phones or their desktops.

The long and the short of it is, when you have a subsystem that is both network aware and applications aware, it makes it a lot easier to build these apps because you don't have to build all the support services into each one. You simply use the services already being used by your current apps.

We have a lab trial going on right now, and it shows a lot of promise. It's still a little nascent, but when you look at all the companies that have ascribed to IMS technology and have begun building products for it, and all the companies that have stated they want to start utilizing it, I really think it has a good chance of working itself out and finding its way into our production numbers.

Time Warner Cable

By the Numbers

Homes passed: 19.7 millionBasic customers: 11 million
Digital customers: 5.6 million
Residential HSD customers: 5.2 million
Commercial HSD customers: 216,000
Digital phone customers: 1.4 million
Employees: 32,000

Source: Time Warner Cable

http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=062606&file=meetthemsotime.htm

bgooch

06-23-06, 08:25 PM

Adelphia sues Motorola for $1.1 billion
Bloomberg News, Posted Friday, June 23, 2006

Adelphia Communications Corp. sued Motorola Inc. for $1.1 billion, claiming the Schaumburg company helped Adelphia founder John Rigas direct a fraud that led to the cable company's 2002 collapse.

The suit was filed late Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York - hours after cable box maker Scientific-Atlanta Inc. agreed to pay $20 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit claiming it also helped the Rigases deceive Adelphia investors.

The suit said Motorola paid millions of dollars in fake marketing fees to Adelphia to help boost its revenue, the suit claims. At the same time, the cable company would report it paid more for Motorola's cable boxes than it actually had, allowing Adelphia to report growing capital expenses, in turn falsely indicating increased earnings, according to the complaint.

A Motorola official refuted the charges.

"Motorola and the Rigas insiders executed sham agreements containing false justifications for the purported price increases and marketing support payments," Adelphia said in the complaint. "Motorola was an active and knowing participant in the Rigas insiders' fraudulent accounting scheme."

The marketing charges boosted Adelphia's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization while the higher payments for the cable boxes were listed as capital expenses and used to show that Adelphia was growing its business, the suit said.

Adelphia lost $2.5 billion during the fraud. Adelphia last year agreed to settle a lawsuit with U.S. regulators by creating a $715 million fund to repay investors who lost millions.

Motorola was a supplier of set-tops and other cable broadband equipment to Adelphia, and along with other creditors and shareholders, was unaware of the fraudulent activities being conducted by the principles of Adelphia, said Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch.

"Motorola had and has no control over its customers' accounting decisions and played no role in Adelphia's decision on how to account for Adelphia's transactions," Weyrauch said.

Weyrauch said Motorola has reviewed the accounting for its sales of set-top boxes to Adelphia and is confident that these transactions have been recorded on Motorola's books according to lawful accounting procedures.

Adelphia claims that Motorola is liable for more than $1 billion in damages and must return $46 million in false price-increase payments and an additional $16 million paid shortly before the bankruptcy filing.

The complaint refers to several instances in which Motorola allegedly agreed to help Adelphia inflate its bottom line.In March 2001, the complaint claims Motorola agreed to pay $18.3 million in marketing costs and also disclosed it was charging the cable company more for the set-top boxes. Both accords were backdated to November and December 2000, the complaint said.

"Motorola entered into the agreement knowing that the sole purpose of the transaction was to enable the Rigas insiders to justify a fraudulent accounting for the flow of funds," Adelphia said in court papers.
http://www.dailyherald.com/business/story.asp?id=202194

cschang

06-24-06, 07:25 PM

So.... it looks like Dish Network for me. Time to do some research on their service and HD-PVR. I'll have to bug cschang since he seems to be enjoying it so much.

Yeah...bug me all you want. I am much happier with Dish than I was with Adelphia. Dish now also offers local HD channels, as well as 15 of the old VOOM channels.

When FIOS TV service is available in my area, hopefully it will offer good competition.

erikdg

06-24-06, 09:58 PM

I don't know much about this stuff. I just had Moxie installed yesterday. I have a Mitsubishi HD1080 HD Ready TV. Will this Moxie Box act as an HD Tuner for me? Since they hooked this up, I now only get Black & White picture with my VCR/DVR combo unit. Does anyone know how I can get my color back? Also, I don't see any Reminder settings for my moxie. How does one do this without "recording" a program?

Thanks,
Erik

dagware

06-25-06, 11:28 AM

octavian

06-25-06, 06:57 PM

Yeah...bug me all you want. I am much happier with Dish than I was with Adelphia. Dish now also offers local HD channels, as well as 15 of the old VOOM channels.

When FIOS TV service is available in my area, hopefully it will offer good competition.

You may have access to FIOS TV sooner than you think. Front page of the Beach Reporter has an article that the Manhattan Beach city council just voted to allow Verizon to compete with Adelphia for TV services. First Hermosa and now Manhattan. Come on Redondo.

I will PM you about Dish since I don't want to clutter up this thread anymore.

octavian

bgooch

06-27-06, 02:56 PM

Judge approves $12.7 bln Adelphia sale to Time Warner, Comcast
Last Update: 2:13 PM ET Jun 27, 2006

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Adelphia Communications Corp. (ADELQ) won permission from a judge Tuesday to sell its cable properties to Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX), breaking a logjam that had stalled the company's bankruptcy proceedings for more than a year.
The approval of the sale by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber frees Adelphia to collect $12.7 billion in cash and obtain a 16% stake in Time Warner's cable unit. It also gives the company more time to resolve an intercreditor squabble that had delayed the sale since April 2005.
"I am not of a mind to allow intercreditor disputes to linger," Gerber said. Referring to the Comcast-Time Warner offer, he said "a good business opportunity is currently available" that required Adelphia to act immediately. The sale, he said, "would not deprive any party of Chapter 11 protections."
Adelphia, the country's fifth-largest cable company, tumbled into bankruptcy proceedings in 2002 amid an accounting scandal involving $2.3 billion in off-balance-sheet debt. The company, which is selling its assets to pay its creditors, has said the Comcast-Time Warner sale is a vital part of its plan to exit bankruptcy proceedings.
Several big Adelphia creditors objected to the deal, however, saying it shouldn't take place until Adelphia's Chapter 11 plan is confirmed by the court. They contended that many of the Adelphia documents or personnel needed to pursue litigation on behalf of creditors could be lost after a sale.
As creditors quarreled, Adelphia revised the terms of the deal - and accepted a lower price. The sale was originally valued at $17.6 billion and was tied to Adelphia's Chapter 11 plan. But as the quarrel lingered, Adelphia proposed that the deal be separated from the Chapter 11 plan. The price, meanwhile, dropped to $12.7 billion in cash.
"The sale proceeds represent the very pie over which such creditors are fighting," Adelphia said in court papers. But the protracted fighting diminished the sums that would be available to repay creditors, it said.
"Despite their desire to support the Time Warner-Comcast sale and to ensure that it would happen, creditors let their personal recovery agendas dominate the process, and put the entire transaction at risk," Adelphia said in court papers last week.
"Now, while any global plan will still necessarily be based on the sale to Time Warner and Comcast, we no longer have the luxury of comparing this approach with the plainly superior one that would have been available if the creditors had timely resolved their disputes," the company said.
Even so, Adelphia said creditors will be billions of dollars richer once the sale is completed. "Such a result is hardly the subversion of Chapter 11 protection that courts should guard against," it said.
Comcast and Time Warner expect the acquisition to close by the end of July.
The acquisition will strengthen Time Warner's positions in New York, Texas, California, Ohio and the Carolinas. Comcast will enhance its presence in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Florida and Massachusetts.
Additionally, Comcast is expected to end up with about 23 million subscribers, up from its current 21.7 million, while Time Warner would have a total of more than 14 million, up from 11 million.
Comcast and Time Warner also are expected to swap some cable systems to consolidate market positions.
-Marc Hopkins in Washington also contributed to this story.
-Contact: 201-938-5400
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid=%7B62BBC52C-71C8-4F56-AA48-E93F56B426EC%7D&keyword=&print=true&dist=printTop

nilblog

06-27-06, 04:08 PM

Regarding the sale of Adelphia to Time Warner ...

How will this affect Los Angeles Adelphia subscribers? Will our STBs be switched out? Will our line-up change? (I've heard that Time Warner does not have a deal to carry NFL Network, which would really bum me out). When will we begin writing our checks to Time Warner and dealing with their lousy customer service reps? ;)

Dan Solo

06-27-06, 04:18 PM

Hey Forum,

I've been reading for a while but this is my first question? Did anyone with Adelphia in the Los Angeles area get the firmware update that will allow us to use DVI plugs to display HD and 480i content? Adelphia's customer service (phone & website) had no idea what I was talking about even though their website states there will be an update so that we won't have to upscale the 480 image or switch between multiple cables to display HD and SD content. :confused:
I bought my HDTV in Nov. and had Adelphia install the moxie box the next day. I had a top of the line hdmi to dvi cable ready to use only to find that it made the 480i content look strange, not to mention a lag (blank screen) between switching from SD channels to HD channels. Plus, I thought the difference in quality over the standard component cables wasn't worth the hassel of working with multiple plugs. I thought I'd just wait until the update was available and start all over again. It's been over 6 months and nothing seems to have changed.
If anyone has any suggestions, similar situations or information on this please let me know. I want to get the best out of my HDTV and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

sakaike

06-28-06, 01:52 AM

If I understand your question correctly, and you have the Moxi box, I don't have the answer to your question, but you're much more likely to get a response over in the Moxi thread here:

:cool: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=412846&page=227&pp=30&highlight=moxi

As for me, I have the regular HD receiver, and do indeed pass 480i/p over DVI.

iggymama

06-29-06, 02:34 PM

nilblog

06-29-06, 02:56 PM

BTW -- I get about 16 HD channels out here in Simi.

*edited*
961 HD HBO HBO HD HBO HD (High Definition)
963 HD CINEMAX Cinemax HD Cinemax HD (High Definition)
971 HD SHOWTIME Showtime HD Showtime HD (High Definition)

How are the Cinemax and Showtime HD channels in terms of PQ? I've heard the HBO HD channel is rather ghastly in terms of compression. Would assume same for Cinemax as they're associated with HBO, yes?

sakaike

07-03-06, 01:11 PM

jeffs471

07-03-06, 10:05 PM

Not much action here lately, so I thought I would pose a question.

Anyone have any insights or info on whether Adelphia plans to add any more HD channels in the South Bay anytime soon? I'm in North Redondo Beach, and the offering is pathetic. No Discovery HD? What's up with that? And no ESPN2, HDNet, INHD, etc.

I'm guessing that nothing will happen for a while, with the TW/Comcast deal so close, but I guess I can always hope.

FIOS TV can't get here fast enough!

just a lot of empty promises. Hopefully TW will move in and fire some of the district managers and hopefully get something done. At this point I don't care if they do get HDNET up and running before FIOS gets running I'll switch based on the fact they have screwed me for so many years that its my turn to screw them by not giving them anymore money.

bgooch

07-06-06, 06:58 PM

FCC To Weigh In On Adelphia/Time Warner
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/6/2006 5:59:00 PM

The FCC is scheduled to take up the break-up of bankrupt Adelphia between Comcast and Time Warner at its July 13 meeting.

It is widely expected to approve the deal, though it could put conditions on it. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is a fan of cable a la carte, for instance, backing a bill in the Senate that would have effectively required the cable industry to offer per-channel programming.

Meanwhile, three D.C.-area legislators have asked Martin to condition the merger on requiring Comcast to submit to arbitration its decision not to carry Washington Nationals baseball games on its D.C. area cable systems.

The FCC has been considering the deal for over a year, but lacked a third Republican vote on the five-member commmission that might have sped up the process.

Adelphia has also been in protracted bankruptcy proceedings that affected the length of the review.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6350118

GizmoDVD

07-08-06, 06:51 PM

The HD channels in Simi suck. NBC constantly has voice sync problems. The regular cable sucks too. UPN is ghosty, and so are alot of the cable channels.

Rawnie

07-12-06, 12:33 PM

Can anyone in Redondo Beach confirm that the Moxi "ticker" is enabled? Just got my box yesterday and that button doesn't seem to do anything.

Arvy

07-12-06, 08:53 PM

Will TimeWarner's pricing and features flip over to Adelphia when (if) the changeover/sale happens?

nilblog

07-13-06, 12:23 PM

Will TimeWarner's pricing and features flip over to Adelphia when (if) the changeover/sale happens?

Would like to know this as well.

bgooch

07-13-06, 03:43 PM

Comcast, Time Warner Win FCC Approval of Adelphia's Purchase

July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc., the two biggest U.S. cable providers, won approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to buy Adelphia Communications Corp. for $17.6 billion in the largest U.S. bankruptcy sale.

The 4-to-1 vote marks the sale's last major regulatory hurdle. The FCC will require the buyers to offer their regional sports programs to competitors as a condition of the sale.

FCC approval, after a year of review, paves the way for the sale's completion before a July 31 deadline that would allow the buyers to walk away. Comcast and Time Warner will divide Adelphia's 5.2 million customers, trading some assets to strengthen markets where each already has large clusters. The deal also positions Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Richard Parsons to spin off the cable unit.

``It could lead to further customer-swapping opportunities in the country,'' UBS AG analyst Aryeh Bourkoff said in a telephone interview. ``And it will likely result in a new public company in the cable industry in the form of Time Warner Cable, which could spark industry consolidation.''

Parsons said on May 3 that he still plans to make at least part of Time Warner Cable public. ``Both for strategic reasons and in terms of continuing the play in cable consolidation, having a cable currency is an appropriate way to go,'' Parsons, 58, said in the company's first-quarter earnings conference call.

Shares of New York-based Time Warner, the world's biggest media company, fell 26 cents to $16.15 at 2:37 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They declined 5.9 percent this year before today. Philadelphia-based Comcast declined 50 cents to $31.56 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading and has gained 24 percent this year.

Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps cast the lone dissenting vote. The panel's other Democrat, Jonathan Adelstein, said he joined the three Republicans in supporting the merger because of the conditions.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Christopher Stern in Washington at cstern3@bloomberg.net;
Molly Peterson in Washington at mpeterson9@bloomberg.net.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBi1U_aACNKk&refer=home