Blackout

Blackout was Originally Posted on July 10, 2012 by lavarock

I heard that our locl channel KITV has been blocked from being carried on cable. It is a Hearst vrs Time Warner Cable issue and will effect other cities also. This is part of a growing issue where the owners of channels, networks or services wants to increase the revenue they get from the carrier (in this case the cable company). The carrier will refuse to pay the extra amount and then they go into negotiations. When those negotiations break down, the content disappears. Then cusromers complain to both sides and soon the content usyually shows up again.

I don’t have cable TV so it doesn’t matter much to me at this time. Some of this contect is available on the internet and on Hulu and other services. I guess they are in summer reruns so it may not be as disruptive as it could be.

The cable company has a website explaining why the channels are not available and rather than a simple explanation, postures with words like “greedy”.

They aslo answer the following question

Q: Will you be crediting me for the channel(s) that go dark?

A: Remember that customers do not pay for channels on an individual basis—they pay for a package of channels plus the technology and service required to deliver those channels. So we do not typically offer a credit for channels that have been blacked out.

A recent blog entry of mine discussed the pros of Roku and other streaming units. Although I don’t pay for much, I do pay for Amazon Prime which gives me streaing content and movies. I am also watching Australian gardening episodes and they have many of the same issues we go here (being the other side of the equator) and having various climates too.

With two Rokus, I currently have them set up so that when playing with the new puppies in the bedroom, I am watching gardening. In the living room where I compute and so on, I switch channels often. Last night I was catching up on News Radio (Phil Hartmans last series) on Crackle and sometimes stream audio from Tunein (Clark Howard Radio Show) and various Friends and Seinfeld shows. Some of the old movies and independant films are fun to watch also.

I have also listened to the audio of the Supreme Court and since buying the new Roku, I can get a free month of Netflix.

So, as you see, I have more to watch than I can handle and I’m only paying $79 a year so far.