Can’t get BET: You may need a cable box to view some channels on Cablevision
Sure…the government is getting us all to switch to DTV, that’s digital tv, but at what cost. It looks to me that this switch is really meant to help undergird cable tv companies. Folks….TV isn’t free anymore. Well, that’s not entirely true. The government says that if you have an old tv set, or even if you have a new digital tv, you can still get free tv. Yeah right….I went to Radio Shack and paid $20 bucks for my 21st century digital tv antenna, connected it to my flat screen digital tv, and I got an extremely fuzzy signal. I’m still waiting to find at least two hours of my time so that I can work on getting free tv reception. I resigned to the fact that I may never get free television again.
That said, after hours of researching how to save money on what I’d call my basic communication needs, i.e. tv and internet…I recently switched from Cablevision TV to Dish Network, simply because I was tired of being played for Cablevisions TriplePlay. After the first year of 29.99 triple play deal ended I was paying the jacked up price for home phone, internet, and tv. My bill went from $100 buck a month, to $170 bucks a month, an almost 60% increase after the first year. That’s almost a car payment. Clearly, I don’t make enough to afford a basic family package, plus the cost to rent the cable boxes, the remotes and the DVR service. So, I cut back.
So, what does that have to do with not being able to get BET….we’ll, it seems to me that the cable television industry is working harder than ever to first take away our access and right to FREE television and television waves, then we are subjected to forever increasing prices for cable, and now, as you will read Cablevision is requiring you to have cable boxes to watch certain channels, including BET.
You’ll need a cable box to view some channels on Cablevision
May 04, 2009 • 6:02 pm
By David P. Willis from Asbury Park Press on the Money
The TV behind me had a new message when I turned to MSNBC this afternoon. “This channel is now available with digital cable box or CableCARD.” Unlike other televisions in the newsroom, this one does not have a cable box so the cable is plugged directly into the TV.
Cablevision has made 16 channels, not just MSNBC, but also ABC Family, CNN Headline News, History, MTV, Spike TV, WE, BET, CSPAN and others only available only to customers who have a cable box.
The change affects about 5 percent of Cablevision’s 3.1 million customers in the New York metro area, the company said. They are in the analag expanded basic tier, which the company will no longer sell to new customers by year’s end.
Spokesman Patrick MacElroy said the company is offering a set-top box and remote free for a year for those customers who are affected. After that, the charge is $6.75 a month.
For those customers who don’t want the box, Cablevision will continue to broadcast 45 channels in analog, including ESPN, TNT and TBS, the company said.
Cable companies have been eliminating their analog channels for the past couple of years, moving customers to digital tiers. You can expect more of this in the future, in my opinion.
Digital services offers more benefits, cable companies say. More channels, interactive features, such as video on demand and high-def TV, none of which is available without a cable box.
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