Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the read-soylentnews dept.

Cable and satellite TV providers are ringing in the new year with an unwelcomed gift: higher cable bills.

Comcast, for instance, says customer bills will rise 2.2 percent, on average, in 2018. AT&T is raising DirecTV's prices by up to $8 a month in mid-January. Smaller providers are planning increases, too.

Over the past decade, prices for TV service have risen almost twice as fast as inflation, according to an analysis of government data. Data provider S&P Global Market Intelligence says customers' cable and satellite TV bills have soared 53 percent since 2007, to $100.98 in 2017.

Annual rate hikes are as guaranteed as death and taxes. But you can push back and trim your bill.

What are you gonna do instead, read?


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:58AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:58AM (#618577)

    The deregulation of the internet is totally making life better for the customers. Yes sireeee.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:21AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:21AM (#618585)

      They were doing the exact same thing last year and every other year before. The amount of regulation didn't change anything. You obviously know this but still decided to make a stupid argument anyways. Why?

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:34AM (#618595)

        I know you asked me to keep the security card that grants access to the mazes of your ass safe, but I gave it away. Don't be alarmed, however, because the one I gave it to was a kind, magnanimous, and charismatic little man, about the size of a thumb. He would never do anything malicious, since his goal is merely to explore every square nanometer of your ass maze. In fact, I see him on the security camera I have installed in your rectum, and he's harmlessly exploring the mazes of your a- what! He just turned into an evil-looking children's toy carrying a large sack! He's... heading towards the smallest doorway in the mazes of your ass, the size of which is 1/9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999th the size of the sack he's carrying! It'll never fit! Now he's trying to force it through and angrily kicking the sides of your ass! What, an excruciating amount of tickle is being inflicted upon your ass!? Quick, rub dirt in your face, rub dirt in your face! What, it's not working!? Such a fuckin' thing!!!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:53AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:53AM (#618636)

        Nah didn't bother to check on trends, I obviously DIDN'T know that. Point kinda stands, deregulation changed nothing so why do it? Where are my efficient market forces brah?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:08PM (#618736)

          Waiting for the market to unfuck itself is like opening your mouth and waiting for rain when you're thirsty. It *CAN* happen, it's just highly improbable.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:59AM (8 children)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:59AM (#618578)

    You folks know Over The Air television is still around, right? Perhaps they should put the word "wireless" in front of it and put a blue LED in the box or antenna then people would flock to it.

    I get the major networks and the main TV shows. Hardly anything worth watching on cable anyway. Good enough to turn the 5 o'clock news on and see what I am supposed to be afraid of today.

    The only downside is reception if you live out in the country. Oh, and the pile of retarded religious channels that have to be filtered out, but those are probably on cable too. Someone needs to tell these sick idiots that their magic god-thing does not actually exist.

    • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:09AM

      by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:09AM (#618580) Journal

      You mean American Gods [wikipedia.org] don't actually exist?

      Hollywood will go crazy! They thought they were the new Gods.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:57AM (2 children)

      by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:57AM (#618604)

      I'm far enough outside the closest major city that your "reception if you live out in the country" applies to me.

        I ditched my paid service and set my television up with an antenna. I had forty channels including CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox. A few years later it was down to fifteen channels including CBS and fuzzy ABC but not NBC or Fox. I switched antennas, moved both antennas around, switched televisions, it didn't matter. I'm happy to live without television, period. But my wife wants some shows at first run. So we're back in the grind, going to try Youtube TV first.

      • (Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:10PM (1 child)

        by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:10PM (#620130)

        So much for Youtube TV. My little Chinese Android box can't run Youtube TV because Youtube TV requires location services to be on, and the gadget doesn't have a GPS. I bought a Chromecast, but it turns out you control them from other devices and the only remote integration is pause and play. As a result I'm returning it.

        Okay, to get scammed by Comcast or one of the satellite providers? Decisions, decisions...

        • (Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday January 11 2018, @12:07PM

          by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Thursday January 11 2018, @12:07PM (#620903)

          Everybody stopped paying attention by now, but for the sake of completeness: I had been using Tivo with my HD antenna. I called Tivo to cancel the service, and they talked me into working with one of their support technicians. He had me reset my Tivo box, disconnect all cables and leave it off for five minutes, plug it all back in, and go through channel setup again. I got every single missing channel back. I am happy I won't need to buy Youtube TV or paid cable service to keep my wife and kids happy. I would be happier if the Tivo hardware would not require these periodic resets.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:52AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:52AM (#618635)

      "[...] Good enough to turn the 5 o'clock news on and see what I am supposed to be afraid of today." [...]

      In my neck of the woods, that would be fat, pudgy female reporters that 'no habla ingles' very well.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @12:21PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @12:21PM (#618728)

      That is why they are starting to sell tv's with no tuner. Locks you into some provider. Also, there are plans to enable charging for over the air channels. Thank you republicrats your pro wrestling like acting is distracting the country while its citizens are robbed to poverty levels.

      https://www.consumerreports.org/lcd-led-oled-tvs/new-vizio-smartcast-tvs-arent-really-tvs/ [consumerreports.org]
      https://freetvblog.com/2017/03/13/atsc-3-0-is-coming-and-maybe-its-not-all-good/ [freetvblog.com]

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Sunday January 07 2018, @12:23AM

        by LoRdTAW (3755) on Sunday January 07 2018, @12:23AM (#618938) Journal

        That is why they are starting to sell tv's with no tuner.

        So... monitors then.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by VLM on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:52PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:52PM (#618788)

      Oh, and the pile of retarded religious channels that have to be filtered out, but those are probably on cable too. Someone needs to tell these sick idiots that their magic god-thing does not actually exist.

      CNN isn't that bad. Hillary unfortunately exists. If you hate Jesus you can avoid him, but it seems impossible to avoid the overall human susceptibility to religious belief. The "hippie fundamentalists" on CNN that I see on the TVs at the gym are kind of like a MAD magazine parody of reality.

      You folks know Over The Air television is still around, right?

      Not for long. There was a big mobile/wireless auction about a year ago, and locally almost half the OTA stations are closing up shop. Some channels are already gone.

      Its kind of a race right now, which will close down first, legacy newspapers or legacy OTA TV?

  • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:11AM (4 children)

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:11AM (#618581) Journal

    Don't care. No TV, no cable, no Netflix. No worries.

    Wake me up when they start burning books and I'll get my pitchfork!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:26AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:26AM (#618588)

      They're also raising Internet bills.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:53PM

      by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:53PM (#618896)

      You might want to start sharpening that pitchfork now. By the time they start burning books it will be to late. Just look at Germany mid to late 1930s

      --
      "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:28AM (15 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:28AM (#618590)

    The home of whiny bitches that can't do shit.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:34AM (14 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:34AM (#618594)

      The idiots yak about "cutting the cord" while still being raped by cableco for internet access. Dumb fucks.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:59AM (13 children)

        by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:59AM (#618605)

        We don't have an escape for paying for the internet access. if I was single, I could just move some place with cheaper internet. But with kids in school and a mortgage, I'm stuck with whatever Comcast feels like charging.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:37AM (11 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:37AM (#618620)

          I used asktrim.com to negotiate down my bill. It worked a bit, but when all is said and done, I only have one choice for ISP, so it was a minor miracle that they were able to get it reduced at all.

          This whole net neutrality thing would be far less of an issue if everybody had multiple possibilities for provider and at least some of them were willing to put a real neutrality pledge into their contracts.

          • (Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:43PM (10 children)

            by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday January 06 2018, @01:43PM (#618744)

            Agreed. Net Neutrality wouldn't be required if there were at least three broadband ISPs for every home.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:13PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:13PM (#618769)

              It would still be a problem, it's just that under that scenario there would be at least some hope of market forces fixing the problem.

              Comcast is upgrading my connection here from 55mbps to 60mbps allegedly for free because of all this. But, the reality is that they previously hiked rates recently, this is just coming after the rate hikes because they know that we'll remember the "free" speed increase more than the rate hike.

            • (Score: 4, Insightful) by dry on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:32AM (8 children)

              by dry (223) on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:32AM (#618957) Journal

              Wouldn't be so sure. Those 3 companies are just as likely to reach an unspoken agreement to maximise profits.
              There's 3 cell providers here, all with basically the same high rates. Last month #4 showed up with cheaper rates and then the 3 incumbents dropped rates, on a temporary basis, to try to push #4 out of business. If they succeed, I'd guess the deals will stop.
              There are 7 gas station providers here, with perhaps 20 gas stations. Prices are always moving in lockstep and within a 10th of a cent to the same. Plus if there is an issue on the other side of the world, they all increase there prices within an hour, as if the gas in their holding tanks suddenly cost more. Of course if world prices drop, it takes months to work through the system.
              Even the grocery chains were just caught fixing the price of bread.
              Sometimes competition works, especially with a new player, generally it seams the companies would rather have 1/3rd of large profits with little innovation then little profit that they have to struggle for.

              • (Score: 2) by Justin Case on Sunday January 07 2018, @03:46PM (7 children)

                by Justin Case (4239) on Sunday January 07 2018, @03:46PM (#619178) Journal

                as if the gas in their holding tanks suddenly cost more

                You seem to have the illusion that prices depend on cost, or should depend on cost. In fact, cost usually only sets a minimum price because most people can't afford, long term, to sell something for less that it cost.

                Prices are always determined by:
                1. what the seller is willing to accept
                2. what the buyer is willing to pay

                Sellers are getting better at calculating #2 to several digits of precision, in part by using the government to remove your choices.

                • (Score: 2) by dry on Sunday January 07 2018, @05:02PM (6 children)

                  by dry (223) on Sunday January 07 2018, @05:02PM (#619204) Journal

                  Actually it is the grandparent who is under the illusion that adding another ISP will lower prices. This is even more of an illusion for ISPs due to the cost of entering the market. My observation agrees with you and gives examples of how established industries often come to unspoken agreements to have the same high prices.
                  While businesses will happily corrupt the government to remove choice, even without government, they will do things like buy out the new competition or put themselves in a position of gatekeeper to maximise profits.
                  Like so many things, the free market doesn't scale up all that well. Even communism works well under a small enough scale.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @09:51PM (5 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @09:51PM (#619296)

                    (I'm the grandparent, just don't feel like logging back in.) I was being pedantic with my comment on three ISPs for every home. I realize that it won't ever happen because the cost of entry to a market that has an existing incumbent is too high. Densely populated portions of large cities will have multiple ISP choices, because the return on investment for running fiber optic cable is high even with competition. Everywhere else, broadband internet is a natural monopoly.

                    • (Score: 2) by dry on Sunday January 07 2018, @11:09PM (4 children)

                      by dry (223) on Sunday January 07 2018, @11:09PM (#619320) Journal

                      What could work is something more like the road network, government builds the basic infrastructure for private enterprise to use. Even that has its drawbacks, eg later government borrows on the infrastructure, forcing it into debt, then declares it a failure and gives the infrastructure to the cable company because "private is always better"
                      Human nature being what it is, I guess we're lucky to be where we are now.

                      • (Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:19PM (3 children)

                        by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @06:19PM (#620131)

                        I live in Pennsylvania, and one of the things PA did right - to my surprise - was power de-regulation. Your local power company charges you transmission fees for your electricity, but you can buy the electrical generation from any of over fifty vendors. Before PA power de-regulation this way, I was paying $0.15/kwh. Now I'm paying $0.11/kwh. The hassle is that you have to shop around every few months, because most of the fifty companies get you hooked with a low fee and incrementally raise prices until you're paying extra. But as long as you pay attention, you'll save 20-40% over what you paid ten years ago.

                        So something like that for ISPs might work, too. It might also sidestep the lawsuits by Comcast and Verizon to shut down municipal broadband. My non-lawyer's understanding is that Comcast and Verizon file a lawsuit claiming Sometown's ISP service pits a government-owned business against the free market, and state regulators inevitably get bribed by side with the corporations. But what if, instead, Sometown announces they're building pure infrastructure and allowing any ISP sell connectivity to users on it. Then they're not competing with Comcast and Verizon, they're helping them reach more potential customers (and in the process pitting them against each other).

                        • (Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday January 09 2018, @07:14PM (2 children)

                          by dry (223) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @07:14PM (#620158) Journal

                          They did a similar thing with natural gas here. Mostly works but a lot of people got screwed by gambling the prices would keep raising and are locked into what are now high prices. The other problem that you hint at is overly complicated contracts that trick people into raising rates. Many (most?) people don;t seem capable of reading a multi-page contract with lots of fine print and getting all the nuances.
                          The big problem is that, especially in the case of the big ISP, the incumbent company doesn't want to compete as it easier to fleece the customers when there is no competition.

                          • (Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday January 11 2018, @12:04PM (1 child)

                            by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Thursday January 11 2018, @12:04PM (#620901)

                            With respect to reading contracts and the fine print, I understand your objection. And really it wouldn't be an issue if the sole power company for each household was well-regulated. Maybe that is the best solution. But of course that leads to two very hard problems:

                            1. Actually regulating properly (no easy thing)

                            2. Convincing enough moderate and conservative voters that regulating properly is possible and moral.

                            Agreed that the incumbent ISP company wants its monopoly.

                            • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday January 11 2018, @05:02PM

                              by dry (223) on Thursday January 11 2018, @05:02PM (#620980) Journal

                              Yea, the regulating well part is hard, big businesses can be experts at following the letter of the law while breaking the spirit of the law.
                              Another potential problem is if/when the government changes, putting those anti-regulation, pro-private business people in charge. Here the Province owns the electric company. It worked well for 50 odd years, then we got a government mostly interested in low taxes and a balanced budget. One of the ways they succeeded with balancing the budget was by simply forcing the electric company to pay huge dividends to the government, putting the electric company billions into debt and raising electric rates. They also forced it to start construction on a multi-billion dollar dam without properly considering if it is needed. Long time goal was likely proving that public owned utilities don't work and giving it away to their friends.
                              It's an article of faith with some people that private is always better then public and they'll prove it through appointing bad management.

        • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:23PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:23PM (#618879)

          Not available quite yet but Fort Collins, Colorado is headed in that direction (like Wilson, NC and Chattanooga, TN).

          A ballot measure in November passed there, approving a municipal fiber broadband network.
          Days ago, the city council took the 2nd step and voted to go ahead.
          After beating cable lobby, Colorado city moves ahead with muni broadband [arstechnica.com]

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by jimbrooking on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:29AM (3 children)

    by jimbrooking (3465) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:29AM (#618591)

    I gave away my TV in 2003 and found my IQ jumped by 20 points in just 71 days!

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:20AM (#618609)

      IQ=20?

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM (#618630)

      Did you try the brightness knob?

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday January 06 2018, @10:34AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday January 06 2018, @10:34AM (#618702) Journal

      So it's now 20 points lower? <eg>

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by requerdanos on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:39AM (3 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:39AM (#618596) Journal

    What are you gonna do instead...?

    I recommend that you take the "cable box" to their office and cancel your service in person. If you cancel by phone, and forget to return the box, they will charge you for it.

    After that, if there is something you want to watch, be careful to scrupulously pay the appropriate rightsholder for each show or event a-la-carte.

    Failing that, there's netflix and hulu.
    plus, sports: vipbox
    Random TV: couchtuner, putlocker
    Mindless TV: Search youtube for "stupid" or "funny" (terms are ~ equivalent)
    Movies: pirate bay (or one of the many streaming sites).

    Or, gutenberg.org, you could read.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:08AM (1 child)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:08AM (#618607) Journal

      If you cancel by phone, and forget to return the box, they will charge you for it.

      Even if you return the box, they may still try to charge you for it. Be sure to keep documentation of everything; cable companies often have the worst customer service ever.

      I once called a cable company before moving between states, and they told me to keep my cable modem and take it with me to my new location rather than returning it. When I arrived, I was told it wasn't compatible in the new place, so they gave me a different one and took the old one back (the guy who did the install from the company, that is). Month later I get a bill for almost $400 -- $200 for the modem and a $200 fee for lost equipment.

      Even with a receipt from the cable install guy that he took the old equipment, I couldn't get anywhere after a half dozen calls to customer service. The bill eventually rose to about $500 with late fees.

      It took the intervention of the BBB and two state agencies to finally get the bill resolved.

      Since then, I have never rented equipment from a cable company again. Which means I'll never subscribe to cable again (which would require a box).. And I buy my own modems.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:39AM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:39AM (#618623)

        Comcast tried a nasty one on us a year ago - they jacked our internet rates, but offered a "bundle" with cable TV and internet for less than internet alone - for a 12 month introductory period - I bit, they handed me a box, I never plugged it in, after 12 months they jacked our rates again, we changed plans back to internet only, but... they started billing for the box they had handed me - now that we're not even getting the service at all... so, visit in person to the Comcast retail location to wait 30 minutes so I can get a receipt for returning it.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM

      by Whoever (4524) on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM (#618632) Journal

      In my experience, even if you take the box in, they will still charge you for it.

      So, take the box in, keep the receipt, then look carefully at your next bill to see if they are still charging you. Repeat this last step one and two months later, to ensure that the box doesn't reappear on your account.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by mendax on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:41AM (1 child)

    by mendax (2840) on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:41AM (#618625)

    What are you gonna do instead, read?

    Why, yes! What an interesting concept. There are several books on my bookshelf that need reading or even re-reading. I don't watch television. There's nothing on worth watching the last time I looked.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    • (Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:15PM

      by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:15PM (#618802)

      Black Mirror has been fun. It's like a modern version of Outer Limits or Twilight Zone.

      --
      SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:49AM (#618631)

    I received, just today, an email from Amazon telling me that the anime channel I was paying for has been canceled because it is now include with my Prime at no charge.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Apparition on Saturday January 06 2018, @05:13AM (2 children)

    by Apparition (6835) on Saturday January 06 2018, @05:13AM (#618637) Journal

    I live in a condominium building with Comcast the sole available provider for both cable television and Internet access. I recently returned two Comcast cable boxes directly to a local XFINITY (ugh) store and canceled cable television service. Now I subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, Philo [philo.com], and YouTube Red. Philo is a new OTT video streaming service by Viacom and Discovery [cordcuttersnews.com] that offers about 40 non-sports channels for $20 per month. I don't have access to any local television channels, but the few programs that I'd want to watch (The Orville, The Gifted), I buy season passes for on VUDU. That's more than enough for me, and cheaper than Comcast cable television.

    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:41PM (1 child)

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:41PM (#618816)

      You can just download those shows on BT.

      You can also get an antenna and watch them OTA.

      • (Score: 1) by Apparition on Sunday January 07 2018, @03:37AM

        by Apparition (6835) on Sunday January 07 2018, @03:37AM (#618994) Journal

        I realize that I can download those shows, but I prefer to not knowingly break the law, however stupid or silly that law may be. As for using an antenna and watch them OTA, I can't use an outdoor antenna since I live in a condominium and last time I looked (which admittedly has been a while), indoor antennas are generally crappy. Thanks for the advice though.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @06:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @06:46AM (#618650)

    That does it, I'm going to the alternatives! ... oh, wait.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @07:38AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @07:38AM (#618661)

    > What are you gonna do instead, read?

    Maine Governor Tells 16-Year-Old Worried About Net Neutrality Repeal To 'Pick Up A Book And Read' [techdirt.com]

    Scribbled in the margins of the letter the teen sent, signed "governor", and sent back. (What, use another sheet of paper? Are you crazy, we need it all for more books!)

    For bonus irony points, the teen's name is "Hope".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @02:01PM (#618748)

      Nice! A ringing endorsement of the changes by the FCC: hey, don't use the internet.

      Probably same goal for healthcare: it sucks, don't buy any.

    • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:32PM (2 children)

      by linkdude64 (5482) on Saturday January 06 2018, @09:32PM (#618886)

      So the governer told a citizen to boycott her ISP and the Leftists screeched; If the governer had told her to enjoy the internet anyway, the Leftists would have screeched louder. This is becoming tiresome.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:34AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:34AM (#618959)

        Folks who were actual Leftists would have formed their own internet cooperative.
        Socialism is the collective ownership of the means of production by the workers
        Toss in "consumers" while we're at it: Those affected by a decision get a vote in the decision.

        If you're actively seeking a way to free yourself from Capitalists, you're NOT Left of center.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:36AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:36AM (#618960)

          s/actively seeking/not actively seeking

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by maxwell demon on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:01PM (1 child)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday January 06 2018, @03:01PM (#618763) Journal

    Why should satellite TV providers send you a cable bill? Last I checked, there's no cable going to the satellites. :-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Saturday January 06 2018, @11:08PM

      by Pino P (4721) on Saturday January 06 2018, @11:08PM (#618931) Journal

      Apart from the fact that "cable" is colloquialism for multichannel pay television in general, there's a cable going to both the transmitter dish at Dish's headend and the subscribers' receiver dishes.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:04PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:04PM (#618794)

    risen almost twice as fast as inflation

    Its an indictment of whatever politically massaged statistic you're using for inflation more than anything else. Kinda like the GDP debacle. If you massage a statistic enough, we may never by definition see GDP drop ever again.

    Meanwhile out in the real world, there inflation rate is quite a bit higher and the business cycle continues oscillating just like it always will.

    Some of this is fairly obvious and logical. Lets say you take a unified culture and measure some number. Next, multiculturalize it and intentionally annihilate the middle class leaving two wildly separate groups, the very poor and very rich rapidly having nothing in common with each other. So 50s white america has been annihilated to the cheers or jeers of various groups and a number we used to measure 50s america's performance is now measuring a pile of groups that have nothing financially or culturally in common with each other beyond temporarily living under a unified government in the same geographic area. Now, you can always manufacture a number, much as you can manufacture sausage, but does that number actually mean anything actionable reflective of the real world? Obviously not.

    The average number of armadillos per square mile means something in new mexico (or whereever the hell armadillos live).

    The average number of armadillos per square mile in North America means almost nothing as a number.

  • (Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:25PM (1 child)

    by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 06 2018, @04:25PM (#618807)

    I vote "cut the (cable tv) cord". Local phone companies still exist and most have fiber backbones that you can access at a consumer level (and cost). This will probably raise cable TV rates even higher though : P

    --
    SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @05:52PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @05:52PM (#618833)

      Local phone companies still exist and most have fiber backbones that you can access at a consumer level (and cost)

      Bha ha ha ha!!! The DSL offered by my local phone company (Century Tel), is an "up to 10Mb" service. And since I'm just over 1.5 miles from their central office, I will get no where near that speed. I'll be lucky to get 1 Mb from them. My Comcast internet package is up to 100Mb currently, and I consistently get 50Mb down. So, no, the local phone company is not a great option. And, no, the local phone company is not upgrading their lines to increase speeds and capacity.

      I do agree with you on the cut the cord vote. We are in the process of doing that now.

(1)