Charlotte, NC - Charter - Page 6

Not that I am not happy with new HD channels, but did someone actually request those channels? Why on Earth does Fox Business need to be in HD? At least I can see my NHL games on Versus...

ETA: I would much rather that Charter use that $ to get the Belo deal straightened out. We have been without WCNC-DT (NBC) for around 9 months now...

CharterJames,

Do the HD additions include the Asheville-Buncombe County area, as well? Hopefully, the Charter HD Pipeline will pick up even more steam in the coming months. Keep us posted as you hear more and thanks for the "heads up"!

I believe they are due in both areas

As for the requesting - chances are Fox pushed the HD news channel as part of a package - though you'd be suprised at how many people do request oddball things like that.... (I guess they want their stock tickers to be really sharp...)

Hey James,
any word on TBSHD? I know Comcast just added it right in time for the baseball playoffs, since for some reason they decided to put games on tbs instead of FOX like usuual...it's gonna really suck not being able to see high definition playoff baseball

Is anyone else having audio trouble with TBS tonight? I am trying to watch some playoff baseball, but I am not getting any sound. This is the only channel that is not working. Thanks.

That I have not heard, but I will look into it!

I had a regular email me with some issues on HD net around that time - No sound is usually a foward signal issue unless it's a box hiccup (I've learned alot of boxes will occasionally go wonky with sound and you have to tune elseware and back - usually going from Analog to Digital or Digital to Analog fixes it - unless it's a signal or feed issue)

Looks like the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC System is readying for more HD channels:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post11834240

I guess it's a glimmer of hope for the rest of us...

If it's going in GSA, it will usually come to Ashville shortly thereafter, (and if it goes to Ashville it ususally will hit Hickory / Boone / North Wilkes) - the biggest exception is regionals and PPV networks (like MoJo, ESPN PPV and InDemand Sports) - Example Hickory is big on MLB and Hockey, so we *try* to have MLB XI and NHL Center Ice (apparently InDemand is giving us Contract hell again on that one this season as it started last week and no one can tell me if and when we'll have it here...) - Ashville doesn't have these, but as I understand it they have the ESPN PPV channels for the Gameday College Football and other packages.

Your understanding is correct on ESPN PPV and Gameday College Football here in AVL. I don't subscribe to them, but it is in the channel lineup. It would be nice to have HD on Demand (especially the freebies), but I'm sure that's a long ways away from becoming reality.

you never know

I know we've been putting it off here in Hky - mostly because InDemand's being nasty about NHL and other packages, but as we migrate more and more to all digital and more HD I'm sure it will probably come up (providing we don't go VOD only PPV content)

not sure why hickory would be big on the nhl package....strange, i'd much rahter have the nba package but I understand not many people watch nba. nbatv on the otherhand should definately be on the lineup. never heard of mojo but checking out their website looks like I'd enjoy some of their proramming...so its in asheville now?



and I was having some audio drop outs on the tbs playoffs games the other night too...only 5-10 but still..

Not in AVL. We only have HD PPV when the occasional boxing match occurs (on 799).

I finally got the letter that CharterJames had mentioned being delievered to customers. The Asheville System will get Golf/Versus HD (794), A&E HD (795) and History Channel HD (796) on October 31st. In addition, FOX Business will be added to the lineup on channel 110 (the SD channel, that is).

What confuses me in the letter is that it mentions the following HD channel assignment changes:

MHD (from 792 to 733)
Starz HD (from 790 to 756)
TNT (from 797 to 772)
Universal HD (from 793 to 774)
ESPN2 HD (from 774 to 776)

Also, the 2nd page that contains the "Asheville Full Channel Line UP" which keeps these channels at their current channel assignments. Maybe CharterJames can clarify this and also further detail the "eventual conversion to an all-digital viewing environment" (i.e. timeline of rollout, any changes to set-top boxes, etc.).

Heads up and Updates

We've had a few outages in the last few weeks, I've had reports of Biography down today and a few days ago we had a different feed down - as always please feel free to email me at firstname.last@chartercom.com or PM me here if you notice what you suspect might be a channel outage.

We've had a few EAS alerts today for an Amber Alert - I believe Blue Ridge markets should be be tuning to chnl 2 for the crawl now and a blacked out chnl 18 (in most areas around hickory) should give a little more detail... I was still dismayed they gave an alert but didn't give description of the child in question etc etc.

GOOD NEWS
We have an agreement in place with InDemand for Center Ice. It should be availible starting tomorrow!

Hey guys, I'm up in boone! If any of ya'll are up this way give me a shout!

Shout out to you up in ole' Boone, mysterync! I'm in Hickory, but up in boone every few months . Hopefully we'll get a half decent winter and i can actually ski this year. My younger brother went to ASU, so we're always trying to get tickets to the games and come up and watch.

Hello and Welcome, I go up to the office up there on occasion and hit the town every now and then

Updates on the NHL deal - we are adding a NHL channel to the Sports Tier Nov 1 as part of the deal (apparently it took so long to get in the deal because InDemand demanded analog coverage)

Our Neighbors south of us in Charlotte are having a heated discussion on CableCards - I keep tabs on the TW - Charlotte thread so I know if there's an issue with our local feeds.

hey james any rhyme or reason to why nbatv isn't offered? I know the nba package isn't but you would think nbatv would be pretty standard stuff....or is it satellite exclusive?

could be the market expectations of this area - I know at one point we had the NBA package (at least it was built in the controller for the system etc) but as I understand it it never sold well here. NASCAR went ok the first few years, but no one in marketing cried when Dish bought exclusive rights.

More than likely NBA hasn't negotiated coverage rights, so it hasn't been shopped to us and there's not legions of letters pushing the marketing people to believe it's going to be a big seller. Currently the big driver of sports networks are the networks / leagues themselves. NFL network worked great for a while, but then they started pushing demands that were not worth the returns on the network. MLB TV was carried as a condition of us having the MLB package (and now the same with Hockey)

I would like to think as we migrate to an all digital system we'll see much more SD digital content as Networks push for greater coverage at lower prices to get the edge over the competition...

Which is part and parcle of the Fox Business News network(s) (SD & HD) - they want to beat out Bloomberg and all other major financial news sources - so they are pushing for as much coverage as possible (taking a lower rate in exchange for getting more coverage...) so I doubt you'll find a system with digital cable that won't offer the network... and that's the way ol' Rupert wants it... He'll sell the broadcast rights cheap, get everyone watching his networks and cash in on the commercials

In theory that means cheaper cable at the expense of higher cost of goods (because your favorite Cereal, Razor, Beer etc payed big bucks to advertise) but then again, we know they are going to pay big bucks to advertise anyway... (afterall look at how much they pay for Ads on the Super Bowl...) Personally I hope we just get more Competition and all see cheaper prices. Afterall, ESPN can't ask for as much $$$ if Fox Sports is willing to give as much... Of course this is what's causing bidding wars for "Exclusive Rights" afterall if ESPN is the only cable network to show Hockey, Hockey fans won't care about Fox Sports...


But I ramble on... to answer the question, I don't think NBA TV is sat exclusive - so we should get it as we start picking up more digitals, get it in a sweet package deal or if enough people pester our marketing gurus

I've found out what's causing the issue with the 6416s not recording series properly - apparently if the program is occuring on more than one channel with the same metadata information (for example soaps running first on network, then on SoapNet) the box will get confused. This is resolved in the A25 version of the TV Guide I-Guide, but of course there's no ETA on that...

HOWEVER, for all you CSI fans (like my wife) I've found some other tricks that work, because CBS / WBTV (chnl 2) is duplicated on CBS / WSPA (chnl 16)

1) if you don't want to rebuild your series - go into each one and go into "view all settings" - from here tell it to record on all channels - normally this would give you the HD and the SD, but in a conflict like this, it seems to just give you one SD recording

2) If you don't mind redoing the series on CBS, go to chnl 16 and re-do them there - so far I've been able to set up series recordings without error there and it seems to be following the behavoir correctly

3) if you don't have too many series - you can so go to the CBS HD feed and set the recordings there.

While I am happy to get the NHL package and channel, I am still getting pissed that WCNC HD is missing. Nobody seems to care about this on either end...

Oh, I suspect that will change before Februaty 2009..

I hope so too, of course by the grin I suspect bdfox knows more about what's going on in that department than I do...

All you'll need for HD is an HD box which runs about $4 over a normal box (around $12 dollars) or a DVR box (which runs about $7 plus a DVR fee around $12) I'm in Tech ops so I really can't give current pricing, However here's the general layout

Basic - 2 - 21 or 22 I think
Expanded Basic - all Analog channels (2 - 78)

Plus Digital Tiers (HD or DVR box required for High Def View)
Total View (Formerly Family and Information)
Movie View (Showtime, TMC, Flix)
Sports View
Latino View
High Def View (premium HD content - Discovery's HD Theater, ESPN HD 1 & 2, HD Nets, Universal Hd, TNT Hd...)

There's also premium packages for Hbo, Cinemax and Starz. Hbo, Cinemax, Starz and Showtime all have OnDemand Services for that market and we have other Free OnDemand content (Food Network, Discovery, TMC, Flix and more)

The local HDs can be picked up at no extra charge with a HD box or DVR or directly from the TV if it has a QAM (Digital) tuner. as can the Music Choice channels - Pretty much everything else digital has to be subscribed to in a tier or package.

If you'd like, email me at firstname.lastname@chartercom.com or pm me with your email address and I can have someone from either Direct Sales or Customer Service give you specific rate and package information. I know we are currently doing some pretty good bundle deals with Internet, Phone and Digital

Just wanted to put in a post that there's a "Friends and Family" deal that's being pitched for people who are interested in subscribing to Charter Telephone. (it's a significant discount to the full price long distance package)

PM me if you want to get in on it - you have to have either never subscribed to phone (or at least not for the last 30 days) and be current on your bill.

So, wanna be my friend

Congrats on adding A&E HD, History Channel HD and Golf/Versus HD and HD On Demand in AVL/Buncombe. Wonder what's next to be added to the lineup.....

Shame on you James for posting a cable telco ad here in the local HD Thread!

Besides, We'll really be your friend when we need 911 in the storm and the cable is out.

is anyone having trouble with TNT? My box pixelates ALOT, We have some splitters but the tech said there was plenty of signal. I may have to do somthing else

That definitely sounds like a signal issue - you'll probably want to get a tech out there!