Post by Skaggs on Mar 24, 2006 10:24:09 GMT -5
Watch out, cable, time is on consumers' side
By MARK McGUIRE, Staff writer
First published: Friday, March 24, 2006
Attention, Time Warner: The clock is ticking.
Yes, you lords of cable TV, Internet, phone service and first-born children, your era of unbridled domination over my telecommunications universe is coming to a close.
Whether you still want to lead, compete or even be in business is up to you. It's about choice.
Give us more choices, or we'll take advantage of our growing options elsewhere.
Yes, you're already in a competitive environment -- but it's about to get even more Darwinian.
And despite your protests to the contrary, you still exude an air of my-way-or-the-highway thinking. You haughtily dismiss satellite TV in hysterical commercials that only pique my interest in the alternative. Then you raise rates solely on lower tiers of service -- a naked strong-arm tactic designed to get people to pay for TV they might not want, or maybe can't afford.
Meanwhile, you stand fast in the way of more channel options for consumers, spewing blather that can be boiled down to this: Viewers can't be allowed to decide on their own what channels come into their homes.
If channels
are offered on an individual basis, or in reduced clusters, then some of the nice offerings will die off, you say. (Of course, you don't mention that some of these channels are your corporate siblings.)
The response: That's true. But that's our choice.
On top of that, you deny us the opportunity to see some of the channels we do want. This may be just me, but I'm sure it applies to others: Time Warner, get the NFL Network on by this summer, before they start showing actual pro football games this fall, or I'm gone.
As much as I like it, I can live without Capital News 9.
An NFL Network spokesman said Time Warner corporate folks "refuse to engage us." Granted, with the addition of games, the network's asking price and channel placement demands have increased. All true, don't care, get it done.
Other people may have a different air-or-else channel. Start with Logo, the cable network aimed at gays and lesbians. Although I'm not in the channel's target demo, I'll watch if only for the reruns of the great short-lived Fox series "Wonderfalls."
Oh, I forgot: I'm not allowed to watch that channel on cable. Time Warner said so.
Those days are done, and not just for cable companies. No medium, including newspapers, can dictate what people can see or read anymore. The consumer, not the corner office, is in charge.
Verizon is starting to install a fiber-optic network in Albany County, with plans to expand elsewhere. Competition looms for Internet, broadband telephone and, yes, cable.
While seeking franchise agreements downstate, Verizon has battled Cablevision, which has taken a stance that's become emblematic of the entire cable TV industry: We are against viewer choice. Video services (cable, on-demand TV, etc.) would not be available in a community until a franchise agreement is worked out with a locale.
Would Verizon be better? I don't know. The evolving phone company also stands against an "a la carte" cable structure; maybe I'll have to go with the next competitor after them. Or the next. I do know Verizon provides the NFL Network and Logo.
"We have been facing competition for quite some time," said local Time Warner Vice President Peter Taubkin. "We have been evaluating our business in the face of competition, and will continue to do so. Ultimately, the consumer is going to have to make the choice."
Yes, we will. The clock is ticking.
By MARK McGUIRE, Staff writer
First published: Friday, March 24, 2006
Attention, Time Warner: The clock is ticking.
Yes, you lords of cable TV, Internet, phone service and first-born children, your era of unbridled domination over my telecommunications universe is coming to a close.
Whether you still want to lead, compete or even be in business is up to you. It's about choice.
Give us more choices, or we'll take advantage of our growing options elsewhere.
Yes, you're already in a competitive environment -- but it's about to get even more Darwinian.
And despite your protests to the contrary, you still exude an air of my-way-or-the-highway thinking. You haughtily dismiss satellite TV in hysterical commercials that only pique my interest in the alternative. Then you raise rates solely on lower tiers of service -- a naked strong-arm tactic designed to get people to pay for TV they might not want, or maybe can't afford.
Meanwhile, you stand fast in the way of more channel options for consumers, spewing blather that can be boiled down to this: Viewers can't be allowed to decide on their own what channels come into their homes.
If channels
are offered on an individual basis, or in reduced clusters, then some of the nice offerings will die off, you say. (Of course, you don't mention that some of these channels are your corporate siblings.)
The response: That's true. But that's our choice.
On top of that, you deny us the opportunity to see some of the channels we do want. This may be just me, but I'm sure it applies to others: Time Warner, get the NFL Network on by this summer, before they start showing actual pro football games this fall, or I'm gone.
As much as I like it, I can live without Capital News 9.
An NFL Network spokesman said Time Warner corporate folks "refuse to engage us." Granted, with the addition of games, the network's asking price and channel placement demands have increased. All true, don't care, get it done.
Other people may have a different air-or-else channel. Start with Logo, the cable network aimed at gays and lesbians. Although I'm not in the channel's target demo, I'll watch if only for the reruns of the great short-lived Fox series "Wonderfalls."
Oh, I forgot: I'm not allowed to watch that channel on cable. Time Warner said so.
Those days are done, and not just for cable companies. No medium, including newspapers, can dictate what people can see or read anymore. The consumer, not the corner office, is in charge.
Verizon is starting to install a fiber-optic network in Albany County, with plans to expand elsewhere. Competition looms for Internet, broadband telephone and, yes, cable.
While seeking franchise agreements downstate, Verizon has battled Cablevision, which has taken a stance that's become emblematic of the entire cable TV industry: We are against viewer choice. Video services (cable, on-demand TV, etc.) would not be available in a community until a franchise agreement is worked out with a locale.
Would Verizon be better? I don't know. The evolving phone company also stands against an "a la carte" cable structure; maybe I'll have to go with the next competitor after them. Or the next. I do know Verizon provides the NFL Network and Logo.
"We have been facing competition for quite some time," said local Time Warner Vice President Peter Taubkin. "We have been evaluating our business in the face of competition, and will continue to do so. Ultimately, the consumer is going to have to make the choice."
Yes, we will. The clock is ticking.
