Charter HDTV - Page 10

Cable cards are $2 monthly.

SoCal HD additions:

Ventura - http://connect.charter.com/cas/Porta....aspx?id=29205

Riverside - http://connect.charter.com/cas/Porta....aspx?id=29207

High Desert - http://connect.charter.com/cas/Porta....aspx?id=29209

George, thanks! That's such great news. FxHD will get me Sons of Anarchy! With the $2 cable card, is that a single directional or bi-directional card. The newer digital cable tuners about to come to market will be able to tune 4 streams at once and also be compatible with Switched Digital Video. Does charter use SDV for my area? (Riverside)

Is there a list somewhere of Charter's clearQAM channels for Asheville, NC? It would be useful for PIP. On my TV I can only watch PIP from unencrypted cable and the Moxi doesn't do PIP.

The above channels got added right on time including Ion in SD digital.

I'm so bummed, Inland Empire doesn't get syfy!

But at least I get USA-HD and FX HD

Hi Umatter2Charter - do you know when FSN North HD in Minnesota is going to go to a full time channel on Charter ? I understand that it already has with Comcast - thanks

Well Paul is a NFL owner. Does Charter have NFL Network? No. Does that make any sense? no. Any fees collected by the NFL from Charter would simply go right back into Allen's pocket since he owns the Seahawks, so I'm not sure what the hang-up is.

This is where we're at regarding the NFL Network:

-We have not reached an agreement with the NFL Network for their permission to provide the Network to our customers.

-We WANT to carry the NFL Network – but in a way that best serves ALL of our customers.

-Charter is “in contact” with NFL Network regarding carriage of their network, but no agreement involving reasonable carriage terms has been achieved thus far.

-Due to the high per-customer cost of NFL Network, Charter has had discussions with the NFL Network about carrying the Network on our Digital Sports Tier, as we did when Charter was the first cable operator to launch the Network. In this manner, customers who value the programs carried on NFL Network would be the only ones paying the cost of the channel. We think that is a fair request.

-The NFL’s carriage demands would require us to offer the NFL Network on our Expanded Basic Tier, which would mean that a great many customers who are not football fans would have the high costs that the Network is demanding reflected in their monthly bills.

-The NFL Network is one of the highest cost new services to ever debut on cable television. “Sports on TV” is very costly, much different than most other channels we provide on Expanded Basic service. Therefore we need to be able to offer it to those who value the programming, while deflecting it from customers that don’t.


If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

I too would like to see FSN North HD a full time channel. Also want SpikeHD

Charter doesnt care but here are the reasons why charter sucks. 1 Crappy recording hd space on dvr. 2 No Nfl Network. 3 No hbohd on demand 4 Charter only puts hd channels in their lineup that are cheap and dont listen to what the customer wants. 4 Outrageous prices followed by yearly rate hikes. 5 Terrible customer service. 6 There the last to get anything period. 7 There the last to get anything period 8 there the last to get anything period. What have they been the first at???????????????

Bankruptcies?

I used to get upset like that -- but then I realized, heck, it's only television. And Charter has done some good things lately, like adding all the missing local channels in HD along with other HD channels, adding ESPN360 and increasing internet speeds. All that said, I really would like to see either CNN or Fox News in HD along with Travel Channel, Comedy Central, ESPN-U HD and NFL Network!

GolferBrad has some serious issues. Charter is working on their issues man. I'm an attest to that. HD lineup is getting better, internet speeds rock. My customer service has always been tops, I never have had to complain. So their HD selection in channels lacks, so what? They are bankrupt man, you can't expect them to shell out a crap load of money when they don't have it. I'm surprised they increased bandwidth in certain areas to 60mbps. That's damned expensive and they don't have the capital but are stilll investing in the future. And by the way, they are a business. If they skimp on something to try and make a buck, you can't blame them. Making money is still important to them

1. Most Cable Company DVRs don't have a big hard drive. The problem with the non Moxi DVR is that it isn't allowed to have an external Hard Drive attached to it. If you have a problem with that buy your own DVR (tivo or moxi) and you can have more hd space. Unfortunately there isn't too many options for cable companies to get new dvrs, and all new DVRs (all cable boxes) have to use a cable card.

2. No NFL Network - As a rabid NFL fan this does suck. The problem is that the NFL Network is the 5th most expensive channel in terms of per customer cost. Cable companies want to allow this channel to be on a specified sports tier so that only the customers that want the channel to pay for it. The NFL network wants it to be on a expanded tier so that all customers pay for it. Its a game of chicken that some cable companies have blinked which has caused the NFL Network to dig in their heels more.

3. No HBOHD onDemand - This used to bug me until I got a retail Moxi with a cable card. (If I have a cable card on demand doesn't work) I never got an answer on why Charter doesn't have HBOHD onDemand. Maybe UMatter2Charter can answer that one?

4.This one is speculative at best. I can understand why the most of the channels that have been added to the HD tier have been added. I know that it isn't always what I was hoping for but there are very few HD channels that we have that neither my wife, my son, or myself watch. Charter has been limited on the number of channels that they can add because of the bandwidth they can use. Freeing up space from not having analog channels and implementing SDV will allow Charter to implement more channels. There are not many channels that I actually watch that do not have a HD choice. The recordings that we have that are not HD (CW, Comedy Central, SpikeTV, SoapNet, DisneyXD, WGN, GSN) Thats about it for us.

4b (4 is in there twice) I have been tempted to switch to Satellite when I had a rented Moxi with a Moxi Mate, but never did due to two reasons... 1. Satellite couldn't do a multi room DVR. 2.After the promotional prices Charter was cheaper.

5,6,7 Almost every tech company sucks at customer service. This basically stems from the fact that most people manning the phones at customer service either 1. don't care or 2. aren't knowledgable enough to answer a question and either guess or think they know the answer and are just wrong. It seems that most of the good CSRs for Charter end up being moved to an internal division that works with the techs that make service calls. (If I was a CSR I would rather take calls from the techs who know what they are talking about than the normal moronic customer who is pissed off at something)

I see horror stories about customer service from pretty much every tech based company. Charter, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Alltel, DirectTV, Dish Network. If I didn't include it its more likely because I didn't think of them rather than the fact that they have good customer service.


Charter cares as much as a business normally cares. They know that they have to keep their customers happy enough in order for them to stay profitable. Most companies have employees to determine if the way to become the most profitable. If they spent an extra 1 million on customer service and that would guarantee them an extra 2 million in revenue they would do that. Companies are going to try to find that sweet spot to maximize profit. Companies that claim that they care about the customer and strive for better customer service, has determined that in order to maximize profits they either need to spend the extra money on customer service or atleast claim to have better customer service.

If people today cared more about customer service than saving a buck companies like Walmart wouldn't be successful but because they can undercut the competitors people (myself included) shop there.

Last unnumbered question, what have they been first at.... Thats another impossible question to ask, I am guessing something, maybe nothing why does it matter. I tend to not be the first person to buy new technology because its both more expensive and more buggy. I'd rather let a different company try out the new software, spend the money working out the bugs.

Figured I'd reissue this question since it is an unanswered one.... I'd love to be able to take SD FSN off of my channel list.

They could easily make their money back by offering the RedZone channel on a a la carte basis (like Verizon does). Frankly, Charter doesn't really care at this point so they clearly aren't going to work out a deal during this season. The excuse about raising rates is just that (an excuse). They are raising rates all the time lately anyways so how would anyone even notice. In our area, they will not even pay to show the local NBA team, so I have little faith in them providing any networks their customers actually want.

It would cost Charter Millions of dollars a year (figurering as a guestimate that they have 6 million customers and that they'll be charged $0.70 per customer to have the channel. I how much they would be making or losing based on extra customer, ad revenue, so on but The Redzone channel is a niche channel that Verizon charges $50 for the season. I am sure that there are people that like the channel and are willing to pay the $50 a season for it, but I don't see it being a big money maker for Verizon. I think it just helps subsidize the cost a little bit. Most of the channels that get added now days are channels that are owned by other channels ie ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPNU, ESPN8 the ocho. If a cable company wants to have ESPN they need to offer the rest. When it comes to single channels there is much less leverage that they have. Channels like the Big 10 Network was able to gain leverage because they had the rights to many local games that were not available on any other channel. When the Vikings are on Monday Night Football it is simulcasted locally on ABC and ESPN. I am not sure what would happen if/when the Vikings have a game on the NFL Network if it would be simulcasted or not. I'm guessing probably not.

If charter would increase profits with having the NFL network they would already have it. I just can't see a company that is already in bankrupcy taking on a venture that is going to make them lose money in the short term (even if it makes them money in the long term)

As an added note...People aren't forced to have Charter. If I found a different cable/satelite company that met my needs better than Charter I would jump ship immediately. So if you are that fed up with Charter I'm sure there is a better option. Verizon has the NFL Channel and the RedZone Channel or maybe satellite I think both have the NFL Channel.

Big Ten Network also has the support of FOX Cable Networks, a part owner.



ALL NFL games on cable are shown on a local OTA station in the home cities of the the two teams.

Actually, some of us have no other real option. Personally, I don't really care about RedZone, etc.

George, any updates on MSNBC HD/CNBC HD and Universal Sports? Even TWC has MSNBC HD these days...

It'd be nice to get Uni Sports before the Olympics.

I just noticed today that they just made FSN full time hurray.

The only accurate measure who is responsible for a channel being carried or not, in this case let's say NFL RedZone, is the overall carriage picture.

Top 14 multichannel providers: (10 Cable, 2 DBS, 1 Fiber, 1 IPTV)

For RedZone, you have Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Cox, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Insight

Against RedZone you have TWC, Charter, Cablevision, Brighthouse, Mediacom, Suddenlink, CableOne.

7-7 tie score, but if you look at the size of the providers, RedZone has 6 of the top 7 (I think. Worse case 4 of the top 5).

NFL Network now counts 53 million homes. That's up 26% from 42 million in March.

DirecTv isn't carrying the same channel that the others are. Different host, can be showing different games and only available if you get Sunday Ticket, not with any tier or package as it is on any other provider.

You are completely right, and I'm well aware of that. My mistake. Thanks for the correction.


Top 13 multichannel providers who could carry NFL RedZone: (10 Cable, 1 DBS, 1 Fiber, 1 IPTV)

For RedZone, you have Comcast, Dish Network, Cox, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Insight

Against RedZone you have TWC, Charter, Cablevision, Brighthouse, Mediacom, Suddenlink, CableOne.

6-7 Ad Against, but if you look at the size of the providers, RedZone has 5 of the top 6 (I think. Worse case 4 of the top 5).

LIES!

Go look at the Comcast agreemnt it's the same one they are offering Charter.

A) NFL Network on Comcast is NOT on exapnded basic but it on the DIGITAL tier.

B) High costs? Comcast got the NFL to reduce rates form 70 cents to 45 cents per sub. You don't mind paying $3.50 for ESPN. And if it's "fair" for viewers of a channel to be the only ones to pay for it then why am I paying for country music, BET, women's channels, Jesus Channels, Fox News, hispanic channels etc etc?

C) Red Zone channel is being offered on comcast's sport's tier so it's not like Charter would not be getting extra revenue. Also explain why MLB Network is not on the sports tier and is available to everyone? You don't mind having ALL you customers paying for a channel on baseball fans watch. Do you smell that? It's call HYPOCRISY.

Fact is if the only way you are going to add NFL Network is by making me pay and extra $5 a month then why bother? I can might as well just get DirecTv and get it for FREE. This is all just big scam by Charter to force more people to subscribe to the sports tier. Well trying thinking about WHY people arren't signing up for it. Its not worth it. Fishing channel? Are you serious? You guys don't even carry Versus in my area. You'd thinka company $21 billion in debt and whose stock could be bought 2 shares for a nickle and you'd get change back, would do everything they could to KEEP customers.

If the deal that Comcast got was good enough for them it's good enough for Charter. Comcast has 5 times the customer base you do and actually makes profit. Maybe THEY know what they are doing.

I'm not sure where you're getting your information on what they have offered us but it's incorrect. ESPN gives several channels at the cost you have listed. If the NFL were to propose a “cost per customer” that is the average of the channels we carry on Expanded Basic, we would be willing to place them on Expanded Basic. Thus far, the NFL has demanded one of the highest fees for a new service in the history of cable programming for NFL Network. We feel that is unacceptable for Expanded Basic and not in our customer's best interest.

Hey Umatter2Charter, could you look into something for me?
What is the problem with the HD tier channels in the north Atlanta area? I noticed last Sunday that Showtime was pixelating but mostly freezing with terrible audio drop-outs. It was difficult to get through an episode of anything, ABC, Fox, or Showtime. WE had a tech come out and check things and rewire a cable here and replace a splitter there but the problem still persists, albeit not as bad. He said Charter was experiencing some type of "widespread problem" would would not elaborate, can you shed any light on this?

We rely on Charter for internet, phone, and cable and I would hate to look for other options if this continues but I can't continue to tolerate my HD recordings to freeze like this. I now double record all my shows on my upstairs trusty tivo which is much better.

I recently moved to actually Roanoke Tx, but we are on the Charter Fort Worth network I am pretty sure, anyways I just got a new panny and I have expanded basic cable by default at my apt complex. Well I hooked up the tv and did a scan I got all the locals in hd, and to my surprise ion and the weather channel thought those two where interesting. Just wondering what others have received both in fort worth and nationwide. Thanks

Good afternoon Mylan. Please PM the following so we can contact the local headend and check with the engineers.

Name:
Phone Number on Account:
Address:

Thanks, Umatter, you have 2 P.M.'s

To update, I had a tech come out on Monday who wasn't the greatest and he rewired some things while I was away at work but to no avail. On Saturday I called again and got perhaps the best tech I have ever encountered with Charter who read my signal strength and installed a new splitter block and amplifier. He got my signal as good as he could inside but he also said there were others in my area who were experiencing the same problem and concluded that the problem was node related. It has been 8 days so far, I can't watch Dexter or Californication and I am going nuts!!