TWC subscribers - one last push!

It would be handy if you mentioned what you wanted the policy changed to...

 

Advertisements

Inertia is a wicked master. Easier to leave things as they are usually wins out.

I'm a TW customer, and there are a few things (including this) that are really annoying.

Why, for instance are all but one of every premium tier channel (HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, etc.) they offer in Los Angeles in SD? It's almost 2017, and I would be embarrassed to run a company that way.

 

Yes, that's what I meant. I added my "me too" to the thread over there.

 

Our local Comcast line-up is the same way. I assume it's due to bandwidth constraints on our older plant rebuild. Does TWC use SDV (Comcast does not)?

Scott

 

Yes, they have SDV here in Los Angeles, which leaves them no excuse. And I don't care about their bandwidth issues - they oversold the system with shopping channels, and religious channels, and channels in twenty languages with a couple of thousand viewers each, and so bandwidth is their problem.

Mine is that I'm paying $18/mo for one HD HBO channel, with the rest SD. How is that even vaguely acceptable in late 2016 in a major market for a Premium service?

All of TW's premium channel packages in L.A. have a single HD channel, with the rest SD. It's just stupid, and bad planning.

I have complained several times about it to them, and with the transition I'm giving them a month or two to fix it; if they don't, I'll just cancel HBO. For $18 a month, I can get some nice streaming content and they can go away.

 

There is always HBO NOW at $15/month (one free month trial) that you can get with any major streaming device (such as Apple TV, or Fire tv) and no cable subscription. Full catalog of their past and present shows and movies

 

I guess we should feel lucky that Comcast is only charging us $15 for HBO then (the other pay movie channels are only $12).

Scott

 

So when does Charter/Spectrum "take over" exactly?

I'm on my second year of a triple-play promo (now $120/month) that expires next March. (iirc, the regular price will be around $180/month)

Currently I can upgrade to "fastest internet, add all TV premium channels, plus our best DVR" for $200/month (plus taxes/fees) - just wondering if I should jump on that before that option disappears.

 

I have no clue what the OP wants. I have TimeWarner now. But it's changing to something else. Not Charter. Spectrum or something.

 

Well Charter purchased Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse and is going to phase those names out and market under the Spectrum brand (reminds me of Comcast and Xfinity) but it's still Charter...

Scott

 

Charter is Spectrum. Their corporate name is Charter Communications but they currently brand their service as “Charter Spectrum”. They seem to be using the Spectrum name more with TWC/Brighthouse customers.

Charter is not great but at least they mark all the non-premiums as Copy Freely and they have HD feeds of pretty much anything (including all the various HBOs and Showtime channels).

 

Yup. I heard that some place. Still don't know what OP wants.

 

Try to convince TWC to change the current CCI byte policy to match Comcast and Charter so you can download non-premium shows to your PC or transfer them between TiVo's (not just stream them). Sorry I thought it was clear and I'm on Comcast.

Scott

 

Yes, one of the options I'm examining. I do like to record instead of stream because of TiVo's trick play features, but I can get used to streaming, especially for movies.

 

Compared to other cablecos, TW has a user hostile policy in place for setting the "Do not EVER copy" byte on every channel except - by law -those you can also pick up over the air (the so-called broadcast channels).

Most cablecos set the bit on Premium channels plus on whatever channels the channel owner specifically requests they be set. Very few channel owners request this, so most non-premium channels on most cablecos allow their content to be transferred to other devices (other DVRs, tablets, phones, etc.)

TW does not. They insist all content aside from broadcast channels stay on the original machine. No reason for it that I can think of, they just do. And they have resisted mightily changing that policy, without explanation. The OP is making another attempt at changing their minds.

 

Totally agree with your goal and have posted here about this issue previously. But the method is ineffective. I launched a blitz to the regulators when TWC wasn't implementing the HBO app on TiVo. Can't prove it was the reason for the change, but within one week, went from TWC reps giving no date or info re the HBO app - to full implementation.

So 2 pronged approach - 1)start a campaign to file petitions against this practice with the FCC and 2) start a change.org petition saying that the TWC practice steals its customers' rights in the programming they pay for, unlike other cable operators.

 

This 'file a complaint with the FCC' method really does work sometimes (although obviously not always).

I, too, filed an official FCC complaint after getting nowhere with TW's people about HBO Go on TiVo being unsupported, and very shortly thereafter, I got a letter from the FCC and within a day or two from TW saying they had implemented the change, and hoped the issue was resolved to my satisfaction.

I had never seen anything corporate move that fast; then I remembered that they were in the middle of trying to get approval for their merger, and having pending FCC complaints was not conducive to smooth execution of that, so it may be it was a one time anomaly.

As an aside, HBO Go proved disappointing in the very limited number of shows and movies offered. I was hoping for access to their full library, but HBO Go seems a very small subset of that content.