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Portland, ME - HDTV - Page 165

post #4921 of 4948
Quote:
Cable prices to increase for some Time Warner customers

JAY — Time Warner Cable is increasing prices across its service area, including Maine, beginning in March, said Andrew Russell, communications manager for the Northeast.

Effective March 1, basic and standard video service will increase by $2.50 and customers with digital-only service will increase $5, which includes basic and standard service, the letter states.

Customers with two or three services will see an increase of $3 and cable cards will increase from $2 to $2.50 per month, according to the letter.

Jay Town Manager Ruth Cushman received a letter from the company in January advising her of the increases. Much like other communities in Maine, the town has a franchise agreement with the company, she said.

“Sixty-seven percent of customers in Maine won’t see a change in the monthly price of their Time Warner Cable services, because they are in a promotional package,” Russell said. “There is also no change in the price of Time Warner Cable Internet or Home Phone services.”

For customers whose bills will change, the average total bill increase is 2.6 percent across the market, the letter to Cushman said.

Customers were to get letters notifying them of the price changes.

The new prices reflect dramatically higher programming costs, especially for local broadcast channels and sports programming, additional programming and features as well as investments in the Time Warner Cable network and customer service, the letter states. In recent years, the cost of cable programming has grown at double the pace of the price of the company’s TV services, it states.

Dana
post #4922 of 4948
Cable and satellite have become an annual event, every February or March.

I know my DirecTV bill is going up with my February bill. At least they are softening the blow by adding 8 new HD channels in the past two weeks.
post #4923 of 4948
We demand that the cable or satellite company restore a station or network that wants more money and, eventually, we get the bill. We should be a little stronger and hold out for a better deal.
post #4924 of 4948
USA Today mentioned today that verizon fios is going to tack on a $2.42 local sports network fee in different markets.
post #4925 of 4948
Received the "important price information" from TWC along with the cable bill the other day.

Prices go up with the March billing statement anywhere from $2 (basic cable) over $3 (most things) to $5 (digital cable only).

Broadcast cable 22.99
Classic cable 76.49
Digital Cable 82.49
Watch and surf 128.49
Watch and talk 122.49
All the best 164.49
All the best plus 185.49
All the best premium 203.49

Which of course doesn't include boxes, remotes, taxes nor fees.
post #4926 of 4948
Here we go again! According to info here, Sinclair is in a fee fight with DirecTV.
Quote:
Washington, D.C. (February 19, 2013) -- DIRECTV could lose 87 local stations in 47 markets by month's end due to a fee fight with Sinclair Broadcasting, the companies revealed yesterday.

Sinclair yesterday began alerting customers at station web sites, on on-screen crawls and on its Facebook page that the current agreement between the two companies expires on March 1. If a new deal is not reached by then, DIRECTV could be forced to remove the Sinclair stations from the air...

Sinclair owns WGME-TV (CBS) in Portland and is the biggest fearmonger on the planet. It runs to the press as part of its negotiating tactics. I'm tired of it even though I am no longer a DirecTV customer. I hope at some point they will suffer some consequences.

Dana
Edited by drbonbi - 2/19/13 at 8:21am
post #4927 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by drbonbi View Post

Here we go again! According to info here, Sinclair is in a fee fight with DirecTV.
Sinclair owns WGME-TV (CBS) in Portland and is the biggest fearmonger on the planet. It runs to the press as part of its negotiating tactics. I'm tired of it even though I am no longer a DirecTV customer. I hope at some point they will suffer some consequences.

Dana
Dana, I hear you on that one. If they pull 13, it will be the end of my viewing them for local news. it will be onto 6 or 8, from that point on for my local news. I can get them OTA but will not do so, if they pull the station from the DirecTV lineup. The same prank they pulled on TWC.
post #4928 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by drbonbi View Post

Here we go again! According to info here, Sinclair is in a fee fight with DirecTV.
Sinclair owns WGME-TV (CBS) in Portland and is the biggest fearmonger on the planet. It runs to the press as part of its negotiating tactics. I'm tired of it even though I am no longer a DirecTV customer. I hope at some point they will suffer some consequences.

Dana

Hmmm, I wonder how many current DirecTV subscribers are subscribers because they switched to DirecTV at Sinclair's urging when the TWC dispute was going on. Eventually people are going to realize there's a constant to the equation and it isn't the provider.
post #4929 of 4948
Didn't WCSH-TV/Gannett have a carriage dispute within the last two years or so?
post #4930 of 4948
^^ Yes, it wasn't that long ago but i had to search this thread to find it. It was Gannett vs. Dish and they settled 10/12/12.

Dana
post #4931 of 4948
Second night in a row that Create TV and all MPBN channels on TWC in Kennebec County switch over to Basketball???
Last night it was from 20:00 to 22:24.
Thought maybe there was a mistake.
Sent a note to MPBN last night.
Same thing again tonight???
Can't be a mistake.
I'm really puzzled why they would override their scheduled programming for sports?
And what this bodes for the future ... if this is a trend of things more sports to come??????
post #4932 of 4948
^^ OMG. Icerabbit, you must be from "away." HS basketball playoffs have been happenin' in Maine about this time of year for decades. Before TV even! Relax. They will eventually go away of their own accord. wink.gif

Dana

PS. I am from "away" also!
post #4933 of 4948
Oh, yes, I am from "away". I'm a roaming rabbit from far away with a liking for milder to cooler climates which spends part of its time in Maine wink.gif

I'm just shocked MPBN would override ALL national prime time PBS content and feed me sports on all their channels. I just checked, and MPBN had a headline graphic on their website schedule that all regular programming continues during basketball week. Well, that's not what we saw the past two nights. Same basketball on multiple MPBN channels and Create.

I hope this isn't going to be till March 3rd ...

Don't they get it, that the reason we support MPBN is so we can watch PBS & Create, you know, something other than sports, reality tv, game shows, ...
post #4934 of 4948
It appears from the schedule posted on its downloadable "Experience" magazine that this is the last day of HS basketball on MPBN. tongue.gif

Dana
post #4935 of 4948
Well, thank you. That's a relief.

Interestingly enough, when I scroll back the past two days in the schedule calendar it shows all the shows between 20:00 and 22:30 that we were not able to watch and no mention of any basketball anywhere??? Neither did Create list basketball wink.gif

All things considered it is not a huge deal, but, I think you understand my concern about a trend of cutting off all programming on MPBN for any kind of sporting event, tournament, Maine something or another. Make it an extra digital channel called "this is Maine" and let us opt-in to viewing local coverage, instead of here's 4 channels of the same - insert sport here - game.
post #4936 of 4948
I guess you need to understand there is a big part of Maine culture wrapped up in HS hoops. Its like HS football down south. IMO it is a huge service of MPBN to provide coverage to all of the state many of whom are relying on OTA to see it.
post #4937 of 4948
I don't watch PBS but I do see on my OTA tuner, PBS channel 10, that they have 4 digital channels. Currently 3 have HS basketball and the other looks like it carries their regular programing. I know TWC here only carries one of the 4 channels, as does DirecTv. The only way to get the others is via an OTA antenna.
post #4938 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkurlanski View Post

I guess you need to understand there is a big part of Maine culture wrapped up in HS hoops. Its like HS football down south. IMO it is a huge service of MPBN to provide coverage to all of the state many of whom are relying on OTA to see it.

I fully understand sport is important to keep kids healthy, so games and local competition are a great way to engage kids in a positive way, do team building, etc. So, good on MPBN for highlighting a good thing.

I just take issue with the method of 4 channels showing the same basketball game, as if it was a national emergency.

Having grown up across the pond in a dysfunctional family with a severe focus / addiction to sports, in a society that idolizes millionaires who kick a ball around twice a week, leading to violence on and off the field during the games, riots after the games, ... cured me to a large extent. With nostalgia I can think back to my grandfather and great uncles talking about earlier times where the local town teams actually played with local people, where cycling wasn't riddled with doping, ... But, when I grew up they were not just shuffling people around in the country, but started importing players from around the world. Fast forward and you have teams where the majority didn't even speak your language!!! Note: no racial intentions here, but how is that even remotely representative of local towns competing when you start scouting globally? It just becomes a business gathering the most money and paying for more players. Add, having met a few top level national athletes, who struggled to compete because they didn't didn't pick soccer, cycling, tennis or basketball and therefor wouldn't get sponsorships to afford extra travel nor make the national news, just turned me off from the business of sports. I can throw in a few other things, but I think you understand why I'm not exactly sport-centric wink.gif
post #4939 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by icerabbit View Post

.... in a society that idolizes millionaires who kick a ball around twice a week, leading to violence on and off the field during the games, riots after the games, ...

Twice a week!?!?! Our idolized millionaires only have to play once a week. You guys had it good! smile.gif

I do agree that with 4 sub-channels, at least one could have been reserved for regular programming. I just didn't want the thought to get lost that providing OTA coverage (both SD & HD) of this is a really a great service to families in parts of ME who can't get to Bangor or Portland to watch their kids' games. But I think you get that..
post #4940 of 4948
Progress Report: I'm in 18 months of having "cut the cord". The $200/mo cable bill was too much. I still have Internet and Phone through TWC, but if they keep jacking rates the phone is going soon.

I upgraded my antenna to a Best Buy/Antenna Direct Clearstream 4 and moved it from the attic to the roof and installed a rotor. The rotor is an Eagle Aspen (Amazon) which allows the control/power to travel upstream on the coax; no additional control wires needed. My location in Cumberland means that there is a little more than 90 degree difference between the hill in Windham and the FOX/PBS transmitters towards Augusta, so the rotor was required.

Reception is very good except for WCSH consistently being a problem child due to its lower power. It doesn't help that I have a row of trees between my house and Windham either.

We use a lot of streaming...Hulu, Amazon Prime, and I've recently subscribed to VUDU for renting movies; top notch quality and 3D movies. I have the MLB and NHL packages for streaming sports as well. Growing up watching the Maine Mariners and then ten years in Philly cemented me as a Flyer's fan, so I get a lot of hockey. Catching the Red Sox was more challenging last year, but by August missing a game or two didn't bother me too much! We'll see how this year goes.

To assist in streaming I have "PlayOn" running on a PC. The Sony Blu-Ray player recognizes it as a DLNA player and allows streaming of programs direct from many broadcast websites, HULU (not plus), MLB. and the NHL packages. The TV recognizes it as a DLNA player too, but doesn't always stream the content correctly (smaller screen sizes or "unrecognized format" errors). With more and more devices enabling streaming content directly, I expect the need for PlayOn may go away soon. For instance, I don't use PlayOn for Amazon or VUDU as streaming directly from the TV works much better.

Absent from these comments is Netflix. I do have the DVD/Blu-Ray rental package, but cancelled streaming due to lack of content.

I hope this helps anyone thinking of cutting the cord!
post #4941 of 4948
Strange! WCSH-TV was always my best signal in Old Orchard Beach during the analog days! WMTW-TV wasn't too bad despite coming from Mount Washington at the time. WGME-TV wasn't always 100%. WPXT-TV was always problematic whenever we had gusty winds. (Perhaps their transmitter was swaying around up there?) WPME-TV wasn't on the air yet, so I can't speak for them.

From what I understand, WMTW-TV has a Portland station which fills in some reception holes there on channel 26. It comes from the Time And Temperature Building near Monument Square. I'm not sure if anybody else in the market has filler stations/translators like that.
post #4942 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkurlanski View Post

Reception is very good except for WCSH consistently being a problem child due to its lower power. It doesn't help that I have a row of trees between my house and Windham either.
That is strange, because I get it over here perfect in Lewiston with a small table top indoor digtal antenna. The one I have problems getting on the indoor antenna is WMTW channel 8.
post #4943 of 4948
Looks like DirecTV and Sinclair have ironed things out to avoid blank channel 13 screens.
http://directvpromise.com/keeping-you-connected-to-your-local-stations/
post #4944 of 4948
^^ Good news! It just underscores how needless it is for Sinclair to run screaming to the public forecasting doom and gloom when it is the outfit causing all the problems as I see it. Other station owners don't behave that way.

Dana
post #4945 of 4948
Hello everyone! I live out in Cape Elizabeth and have been thinking about cutting the cord (except for the internet) with TWC. I just wanted some thoughts on what I might expect for OTA channel reception where I am.

I currently run an HTPC with an InfiniTV 4 and cable card for my TV. I will be adding an Echo extender for a second TV soon. From searching on the antennaweb.org website, it seems that a medium directional antenna with some sort of amplification will be needed for me. I am in an area with a lot of tree cover, so that is a concern for me. I am OK with installing an outside antenna on the roof as this should get most of the available channels.

If there is anyone else in my area, I would appreciate some input as to your experience and what I can expect as far as channels and signal strength.

Thanks!

Dave
post #4946 of 4948
Quote:
Originally Posted by doozer12 View Post

Hello everyone! I live out in Cape Elizabeth and have been thinking about cutting the cord (except for the internet) with TWC. I just wanted some thoughts on what I might expect for OTA channel reception where I am.

I currently run an HTPC with an InfiniTV 4 and cable card for my TV. I will be adding an Echo extender for a second TV soon. From searching on the antennaweb.org website, it seems that a medium directional antenna with some sort of amplification will be needed for me. I am in an area with a lot of tree cover, so that is a concern for me. I am OK with installing an outside antenna on the roof as this should get most of the available channels.

If there is anyone else in my area, I would appreciate some input as to your experience and what I can expect as far as channels and signal strength.

Thanks!

Dave

OTA reception is a tricky thing...especially digital OTA TV. I've seen homes side by side with identical equipment that get entirely different results. You can get a rough idea by going to http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/ and entering your address. The satellite map, zoomed in to the area around your home, when overlayed with the black lines that point to the individual station transmitter locations, gives you an idea about the path signals must traverse near your home. If they pass through an area of tall trees near your house, then in windy weather multipath will play havoc with dropouts and freeze ups. The best time to try reception is when the leaves our on the trees, with a windy and rainy day. If you can reliably receive a station in those conditions with few or no dropouts you're doing good. Dave Munster TV on Forest Ave installs outdoor antennas with an optional rotor. Good luck with the cord cutting. smile.gif
post #4947 of 4948
The FCC has greenlighted the applications of consent to assign the licenses of WPXT & WPME to Ironwood & Cottonwood Communications, from New Age Media & MPS Media. New Age Media tried to sell WPXT/WPME duopoly to another firm last year but the deal fell through.
post #4948 of 4948
Time Warner Cable to Customers: You'll Pay More

Washington, D.C. (April 26, 2013) - Time Warner Cable is warning new and old customers that they will have to pay more for their TV and Internet services, according to an article by Bloomberg Business Week.

TWC chief operating officer Rob Marcus tells the publication that his company is moving away from discounts and low introductory rates to get consumers to sign up, and then stay on when the promotional offer expires. Instead, the cable operator will offer lower-cost packages which will include fewer services. If new and old subscribers want more, they'll have to pay for it.

"It's a shift," Marcus told the publication. "For so long, people that follow our business have been focused on subscriber gains. That's not the right thing to focus on, at least not exclusively, and it actually causes behavior that's not in the long-term health of the business."

The interview was published on the same day that Time Warner Cable revealed that it lost 119,000 video subscribers in the first quarter. The defections continues a several-year trend in which cable services are losing subscribers while satellite and telco operators are gaining them.

Time Warner Cable's new policy to get existing customers to pay more for their services rather than trying to amass a larger number of video subscribers would appear to be a reaction to this trend. If you can't do anything to stop the video sub losses, make sure you keep your revenue up by squeezing those who stay on board.

The cable operator also will no longer emphasize its 'Triple Play' offers -- Internet, voice and television -- because it believes fewer customers are interested in landline phones. The company may have more success keeping video and Internet customers if they spend more time and money on improving and marketing those services.
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