SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
In many ways it’s a rite of passage in America: being ripped off by your cable company and trying to figure out how they did it. Now a lawsuit against Charter Communications is seeking to uncover just that.
The biggest scam of all – pressuring or forcing subscribers to “rent” the clunky, technologically outdated cable box at a greatly inflated price – is still in place, despite a brief effort by the FCC in 2016 to shut it down.
And then there are hidden costs – such as “broadcast TV fees” and “regional sports fees” – raking in tens of millions of dollars in pure profit for unscrupulous cable companies, despite Consumer Reports focusing on the topic for a number of years, and now Congress even starting to pay attention.
But although we have all grown used to our cable fees rocketing the second you are off the special two-year contract rate, requiring you to call up the company and threaten to move to a competitor until you are offered the next incredible special deal, Charter may have pushed things too far with its latest special offer: a two-year flat fee deal that somehow, it is claimed, grew more expensive every month.
Five Charter Communications customers, based in Ohio and Kentucky, have formally accused [PDF] the company of a bait-and-switch scam for its cable TV service. The biz advertised a fixed monthly rate, they say, but far from being fixed, every few months it cost a little more.
Are the cable companies to blame, or the sports and movie channels that are charging more?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Friday May 29 2020, @03:36AM (8 children)
Every year the cost went up, every year I called and spent an hour or two on the phone getting the bill back under $100. The last time I did it I was at $145/month and told them I wanted it under $100. They got me down to $99. Then I got my first bill. Yeah, the cable bill was $99. But when they added all the fees, taxes, and other bullshit I was back up to over $130/month.
Next year when I called I told them I wanted to cancel. They sent me to a client retention specialist, left me on hold for a good hour, and the first thing out of my mouth was "your stuff is piled up in the corner, how do I send it all back to you? That shut her right up.
That was over 2 years ago and I haven't looked back. I bought a cable modem and router for about $250, and I'm paying $25 for cheap internet that does everything I need it to do.
Maybe if I can get basic cable and a DVR for $50 a month I'll get cable again, but that ain't ever gonna happen.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday May 29 2020, @05:33AM
Waiting hopefully for Starlink.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 5, Informative) by captain normal on Friday May 29 2020, @05:49AM (3 children)
Are you in a dead zone for UHF digital broadcast? If not/or maybe, check out:
https://www.antennaweb.org/ [antennaweb.org]
If over the air is impossible, then check out https://orbytv.com/# [orbytv.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mcgrew on Friday May 29 2020, @01:52PM (1 child)
I've been using a rabbit ear ever since TV went digital, digital TV wiped out every reason to subscribe to cable (I understand it's necessary in certain regions because of topography). Then they changed some frequencies and cut power for 5G (which only helps the phone companies, not you or me) and half my stations are now gone. I'll have to buy an outdoor antenna.
Odd that the government paid TV stations with my tax money to do this with The Cable Guy in charge of the FCC. And people wonder why I detest the guy who appointed him.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stretch611 on Friday May 29 2020, @03:48PM
If you are fairly close to a major city, rabbit ears can work out... But in almost every case a good outside antenna is best.
When I lived out Portland, ME, rabbit ears (actually a small 12" x 8" x 3/4" wall mounted indoor antenna) got me all of about 2 or 3 large stations.
At my house 20 miles outside of Atlanta, those same rabbit ears got me about 6-8 stations.
I bought an outside antenna for about $100 and placed it on my roof. I went from 6-8 stations to about 25-30, many with multiple subchannels giving me over 50 different channels.
One thing though... I tried the same antenna for my mother... who actually lives a few miles closer to Atlanta than I do. The indoor antenna was horrible on only got 1 or 2 stations, the outside antenna only did slightly better in pulled in about 10 stations. But, she lives in a subdivision with a ton of old growth trees. Even though she lives closer to the broadcasting stations and should have a much stronger signal, all the trees cause the signal to bounce around and cause ghosting and makes it harder to get without interference. It should be noted that her subdivision is so bad that most people there, including her, can not even get satellite TV (either DISH or DirecTV) due to the number of large trees.
So bigger is always better with antennas... But you really need a clear view of the sky in order to get the best bang for your buck.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday May 29 2020, @02:45PM
Yeah, I'm in a valley and my OTA reception sucks. I can sorta get NBC, Fox, and PBS if I'm willing to put up with a lot of dropouts. I haven't tried to watch OTA in probably 6 months now.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 29 2020, @12:08PM (2 children)
Good luck hanging on to that $25 cheap internet rate.
I had cable TV for about 6 months when I moved into my first house - hurricane Andrew had just hit and in the ensuing chaos it took the cable company 6 months to get around to shutting off the service that I never paid for. When they finally cut it off, I bought an antenna and never looked back.
By the time we left that house with the antenna, the internet and Netflix had come up as our primary content sources, again: never looking back.
Family spent the night in a rented room last night, first time since the pandemic hit - it's insane how much brainwashing there is on cable TV. The advertising was always intolerable, but trying to watch the launch coverage on cable was pointless - we streamed NASA TV on a tablet instead.
As for your internet charge rate: I sincerely hope the Cable TV company isn't your internet provider. Here, we have Comcast as a virtual monopoly (unless you want AT&T DSL delivered via 40+ year old looooooong copper lines.) They gave us easy teaser rates around $25 a month at first, then jacked us up over $70 for "bottom tier" service. Occasionally they would run a "cable bundle" package for $39 a month or some-such, I would take the cable box and the cheap rate, then return the cable box to them (in person, to get written proof that they have it) still in the wrapper when the promo expired. It was an extreme hassle, as has been every other interaction with them, but the internet service is at least acceptable.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mcgrew on Friday May 29 2020, @02:02PM
That's very similar to me. I was living in a little apartment, and cable was included with the rent. Then the tornadoes hit in March 2006; no electricity for a week, a month for cable or DSL. After they rebuilt the infrastructure, cable was no longer free, so I dropped TV and never looked back. It just wasn't necessary and cost way too much.
The bars still have cable, and what I see appalls me. Discovery used to be about science, History used to be about history, but now all that's on cable besides sports is stupid "reality" shows, crime drama, and "true crime".
And people pay huge sums for that dreck. Now I have AT&T fiber and Netflix in 4K while cable is standard definition.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2020, @05:25AM
> They gave us easy teaser rates around $25 a month at first, then jacked us up over $70 for "bottom tier" service.
> Occasionally they would run a "cable bundle" package for $39 a month or some-such
This is innovation! Entrepreneurs creating jobs! True American patriots! Perhaps some gold lettering in ALL CAPS would provide additional value to you?