My Frustration with the Cable Company
Posted: Monday, December 01, 2008
by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com
This month, my cable TV provider did what most cable companies love to do – it raised my rates. This one came only ten months after the previous rate increase. What irked me the most, though, was the fact that, for the second time in a row, I was getting an increase in rates for nothing in return – no additional channels and no upgrades.
They blame this discrepancy on the fact that they inherited my town's cable system from a company that recently went bankrupt. That company's management essentially ran it into the ground and wasted all of the financial resources that should have been used for modernization – before my current provider bought its systems and other assets out of bankruptcy court.
Okay, so I'll buy their argument as to why we don't yet have video-on-demand (VOD) – the holy grail of modern cable technology – or any high definition channels (so much for one of those HDTVs for now). However, I don't think we should be getting the same rate increases that our privileged neighbors to the north and west are getting until such time as we are brought up to speed. But that's exactly what's been happening and that's why I'm so disgruntled about the rate increases.
At this point, you might be wondering why I don't just switch to satellite TV. Well, even though there are no physical obstructions preventing me from making this switch, I have no interest in satellite TV. I believe it's a step back backwards – yesterday's technology. Ditto over-the-air antenna TV, even with the move to digital.
So I guess I'm just stuck until my cable company feels benevolent enough – correction, considers it cost-effective enough – to upgrade our cable system. In the meantime, for possibly as long as another 15 years, I'll be left to stew in my juices about one unjustified rate increase after another.
This Article has been viewed 150 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Do you really think it will take 15 years? lolWhat's so great about HDTV anyway? My mother told me that soon you won't be able to have cable with out it. I don't know. I don't have cable by choice, but I love my netflix!:)Jennifer, it actually might take 15 years. HDTV, although somewhat overrated, provides a much clearer picture than standard definition.However, it's interesting that you brought up Netflix. It actually provides an adequate subsistute for both things that I'm not getting from my cable company: video-on-demand and HDTV. Netflix is already offering movies on demand directly to their customers' TVs. Also, many of the movies they send in the mail are available in HDTV. And those that aren't can be upconverted by a Blue Ray player or a standard DVD player that has upconvert capability. I think I will buy an HDTV after all. Who needs the cable company?Netflix is awesome. They are much better than Blockbuster, who always have such long wait times for the documentaries and films in my que that can go on for weeks. But Netflix always has them available, immediately.And yes, they do have video on demand already!
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.