[NashGuy]

Another example is the IndyCar race in Toronto today, only available on Peacock (a first for them), but NBC is only going to show 5 minutes of commercials so I can deal with that. I doubt it will be available after it airs though.

When I checked Peacock a couple days ago (after my post above) I saw replays available of a number of recent sports, including both MLB games and various races, including a recent NASCAR race. Didn't happen to check golf though. I imagine it varies by league and depends on the rights Peacock has negotiated. At any rate, as more and more of those sports' fans pay to watch via DTC services, they'll be forced to give them what they want and allow on-demand replays afterward, at least for a limited period of time.

There are lots of ways that the transition from the linear channel paradigm to the DTC streaming paradigm is only half-way finished, and this is just one example.

 

[ManeJon]

I had a strange problem starting this past weekend. I can get "main" channels of some (HBO) but not sub (HBO2, etc) same with ESPN, etc. Have rebooted etc. Called Spectrum expecting to get no help since I'm a TIVO user. Agent, walked me through I bunch of things and said sounds as if it is either a cablecard or tuning adapter issue. OK now I figured I was really dead. Next thing he scheduled a service call for tomorrow AM to work on the issue with those items? So here, in Maine, they are still supporting cable card, TA and are willing to help me with it.
Issue is really weird to men.

 

[humbb]

When I checked Peacock a couple days ago (after my post above) I saw replays available of a number of recent sports, including both MLB games and various races, including a recent NASCAR race. Didn't happen to check golf though. I imagine it varies by league and depends on the rights Peacock has negotiated. At any rate, as more and more of those sports' fans pay to watch via DTC services, they'll be forced to give them what they want and allow on-demand replays afterward, at least for a limited period of time.

There are lots of ways that the transition from the linear channel paradigm to the DTC streaming paradigm is only half-way finished, and this is just one example.

I just remembered that the NFL has their own VOD game service called Game Pass (it normally costs ~$100/yr, but was given out free during the first pandemic year until the 2020-21 season start). The games supposedly become available for replay immediately following the end of the live game. About 10-12 seasons were archived, and the UI (at least on Roku) was horrendous. So I would imagine, unless Amazon has a special deal, the Thursday games will not be available for post-game viewing on Prime Video.

 

[dougdingle]

I had a strange problem starting this past weekend. I can get "main" channels of some (HBO) but not sub (HBO2, etc) same with ESPN, etc. Have rebooted etc. Called Spectrum expecting to get no help since I'm a TIVO user. Agent, walked me through I bunch of things and said sounds as if it is either a cablecard or tuning adapter issue. OK now I figured I was really dead. Next thing he scheduled a service call for tomorrow AM to work on the issue with those items? So here, in Maine, they are still supporting cable card, TA and are willing to help me with it.
Issue is really weird to men.

When that happens, it's almost always because the cableco has changed the routing table for Switched Digital Video channels, and the TA is not aware of the changes. They used to send a reboot signal to TAs when they changed the table, but that stopped about three years go.

Happens here 2 or 3 times a year. The fix has always been to unplug the power to the TA for 30 seconds, the reapply power. When the TA connects back to 'mom' (the yellow light stops flashing and becomes solid - anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour) it will have the new table and all the channels you're paying for will reappear.

If after an hour you can't get a solid yellow light, unplug the TA power and try again.

 

[dlfl]

When that happens, it's almost always because the cableco has changed the routing table for Switched Digital Video channels, and the TA is not aware of the changes. They used to send a reboot signal to TAs when they changed the table, but that stopped about three years go.

Happens here 2 or 3 times a year. The fix has always been to unplug the power to the TA for 30 seconds, the reapply power. When the TA connects back to 'mom' (the yellow light stops flashing and becomes solid - anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour) it will have the new table and all the channels you're paying for will reappear.

If after an hour you can't get a solid yellow light, unplug the TA power and try again.

Good advice. With yellow light I think you are referring to a Motorola TA, whereas the Cisco TA’s have green lights. I sometimes had to restart my TiVo after power-cycling the TA and things would not be right until DVR Diagnostics said “Channel List Received: Yes”. (I’m happy to say its been 2.5 yrs since I took my TA out in a field and shot it. )

 

[dougdingle]

Good advice. With yellow light I think you are referring to a Motorola TA, whereas the Cisco TA’s have green lights. I sometimes had to restart my TiVo after power-cycling the TA and things would not be right until DVR Diagnostics said “Channel List Received: Yes”. (I’m happy to say its been 2.5 yrs since I took my TA out in a field and shot it. )

Yeah, the Motorola TA is used in my area. I have never had to restart the TiVo after the TA came to its senses, nor have I ever seen that Channel List Received prompt. Once mine reconnects to 'mom', things just work again.

I have mixed feelings about cable cards (and thus TiVos) going away, but the TA has been a necessary evil from the start of its deployment and I won't miss those at all.

 

[dlfl]

Yeah, the Motorola TA is used in my area. I have never had to restart the TiVo after the TA came to its senses, nor have I ever seen that Channel List Received prompt. Once mine reconnects to 'mom', things just work again.

I have mixed feelings about cable cards (and thus TiVos) going away, but the TA has been a necessary evil from the start of its deployment and I won't miss those at all.

Just to clarify: The “Channel List Received: Yes” is not a prompt. It’s just one item in DVR Diagnostics (i.e., you have to find it). I can’t remember exactly where it was. This was on a Roamio base (4 tuner) model.

 

[shrike4242]

After seven emails from Spectrum (June 7, June 14, June 22, July 7, July 11, July 14, July 21) and three postal mailings from Spectrum (June 20, July 11, July 14), it looks like that the CableCard fiasco for my area is going to happen some time next month.

I called over there today after getting the third mailing showing up yesterday and seventh email today. In the conversation I had with this person, they tossed out that I should be "ready" for this change to my CableCards no longer working by August 1st, as it's supposed to happen in my area in August. Last time I checked, that's an entire month and August 1st is 10 days from today's date.

To me, that seems more than a little insane for me to be "ready" that my CableCards might stop working in 10 days' time To say my response was a little irritated might be an understatement. Said rep kept saying repeatedly that the reason they've sent all these emails and all these postal mailings is to make sure I was "ready" for the change. My counterpoint to that flippant point she was making is that I've called them repeatedly to ask when this might happen, this being the sixth call I've made on this issue. This was the only time to date since I started calling on this back in early part of June, was to ask them when this might happen. So, now, we made it to the last 10 days in July and the change is going to happen sometime in August, Which, again, is 10-40 days from now.

Though, as this rep kept telling me, I should be "ready" by August 1st "just in case". She didn't have a firm date, didn't know who had a firm date inside of the entire organization of Spectrum, though I would be "contacted" when the date would be set. My assumption is that I'd get something in the mail / email likely a week at most in advance of the change, so then it would be all the worse without having the "advance" notice I have now.

Yes, I know, a lot of air quotes in this one. I'm in the St. Louis MO area, so I don't know if this is their starting point for the rest of the county, their initial test rollout that they're going to do first and wait a bit to see how the dust settles, no idea. I doubt they're going to put any real scheduling into their plan to make this change, though since it could happen as early as August 1st, I need to make my plans to go have them gone from my usual watching scenario as quickly as possible.

The main irritation I'm going to have with this is having the free streaming options tied to my Spectrum service / account that I have are now going to be shifted around to see how it goes and what has to get paid out of my own pocket. First order of business was to order AT&T Fiber and start with an Internet changeover, which hopefully will work with no issues on the install for Saturday.

So, what I can offer as advice, at least from personal experience, is that when the CableCard drop happens in your area, you may not have as much warning about it as would make sense or would be acceptable for people to make major changes to their TV watching.

 

[cwoody222]

After seven emails from Spectrum (June 7, June 14, June 22, July 7, July 11, July 14, July 21) and three postal mailings from Spectrum (June 20, July 11, July 14), it looks like that the CableCard fiasco for my area is going to happen some time next month.

I called over there today after getting the third mailing showing up yesterday and seventh email today. In the conversation I had with this person, they tossed out that I should be "ready" for this change to my CableCards no longer working by August 1st, as it's supposed to happen in my area in August. Last time I checked, that's an entire month and August 1st is 10 days from today's date.

To me, that seems more than a little insane for me to be "ready" that my CableCards might stop working in 10 days' time To say my response was a little irritated might be an understatement. Said rep kept saying repeatedly that the reason they've sent all these emails and all these postal mailings is to make sure I was "ready" for the change. My counterpoint to that flippant point she was making is that I've called them repeatedly to ask when this might happen, this being the sixth call I've made on this issue. This was the only time to date since I started calling on this back in early part of June, was to ask them when this might happen. So, now, we made it to the last 10 days in July and the change is going to happen sometime in August, Which, again, is 10-40 days from now.

Though, as this rep kept telling me, I should be "ready" by August 1st "just in case". She didn't have a firm date, didn't know who had a firm date inside of the entire organization of Spectrum, though I would be "contacted" when the date would be set. My assumption is that I'd get something in the mail / email likely a week at most in advance of the change, so then it would be all the worse without having the "advance" notice I have now.

Yes, I know, a lot of air quotes in this one. I'm in the St. Louis MO area, so I don't know if this is their starting point for the rest of the county, their initial test rollout that they're going to do first and wait a bit to see how the dust settles, no idea. I doubt they're going to put any real scheduling into their plan to make this change, though since it could happen as early as August 1st, I need to make my plans to go have them gone from my usual watching scenario as quickly as possible.

The main irritation I'm going to have with this is having the free streaming options tied to my Spectrum service / account that I have are now going to be shifted around to see how it goes and what has to get paid out of my own pocket. First order of business was to order AT&T Fiber and start with an Internet changeover, which hopefully will work with no issues on the install for Saturday.

So, what I can offer as advice, at least from personal experience, is that when the CableCard drop happens in your area, you may not have as much warning about it as would make sense or would be acceptable for people to make major changes to their TV watching.

Stop listening to mindless CSR drones who know nothing.

When a date is set it will be clearly communicated.

 

[shrike4242]

Stop listening to mindless CSR drones who know nothing.

When a date is set it will be clearly communicated.

Not in my past experience with Charter. Communications for large scale changes out here have never been communicated well or with any sense of direction.

 

[cwoody222]

Not in my past experience with Charter. Communications for large scale changes out here have never been communicated well or with any sense of direction.

Changes such as “your equipment will cease to function and the service you are paying for will not be able to be received within your home”?

Yes, they’re legally required to notify you of such changes with sufficient notice.

 

[shrike4242]

Changes such as “your equipment will cease to function and the service you are paying for will not be able to be received within your home”?

Yes, they’re legally required to notify you of such changes with sufficient notice.

Their claim is that all the emails and letters have been sufficient notice, though of course when the concept of a firm date comes up, that seems to disappear from the conversation as a valid point of contention.

Spectrum TOS page:

https://www.spectrum.com/policies/terms-of-service

General TOS page:

https://www.spectrum.com/policies/residential-general-terms-and-conditions-of-service

Section 1, sub-section c:
c. Amendments; Notices. To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, Spectrum may in its sole discretion modify any aspect of the Services or these Terms of Service and will post such changes on www.spectrum.com/policies. Spectrum will provide written notice of any material changes to the Services or these Terms of Service at least 15 days in advance or any longer period required under applicable law by either: (i) sending via mail or hand delivery to Subscriber’s address of record; (ii) e-mailing to Subscriber’s e-mail of record; or (iii) including a message in your monthly billing statement. Subscriber agrees that any one of the foregoing methods of notice constitute sufficient and effective notice under these Terms of Service. If you disagree with a change to these Terms of Service, you have the right to cancel the Services; provided, that your continued use of the Services for more than 30 days after we deliver notice of a change will constitute your acceptance of the change.

They've obviously been sending communications well in advance of 15 days' time with all of the emails and postal mailings, so I'm sure from their legal standpoint, they've done their due diligence. I would hope that when this change actually does get a date, they read their TOS and at least provide the 15 days' notice their TOS says they're supposed to provide.

 

[slowbiscuit]

Interesting - so now we have reports that St. Louis and Central Kentucky will lose cards next month. If it does actually happen it's just a matter of time until they all die on Spectrum.

Spectrum cable

Spectrum cable, i’ve been notified by spectrum cable that they will no longer be offering the cable cards and they are doing an upgrade so my current cable card will no longer be working on my TiVo edge has anybody heard about this, I just bought the TiVo edge and now I’m finding out that I may...

www.tivocommunity.com

 

[cwoody222]

And yet, neither reports can cite anything but verbal conversations with low level techs or CSR agents.

 

[slowbiscuit]

Untrue, there are reports of emails and mailings in this thread. You just choose not to believe them but he could post a scan of one of the mailings.

Doesn't really matter, the proof will be next month.

 

[cwoody222]

Untrue, there are reports of emails and mailings in this thread.

Not that they’ve shared when I’ve asked.

I still contend these received the marketing mailing already reported, freaked out and called, and got bad info.

No one has produced evidence of anything besides, “I talked to a guy who said…”

 

[SirKnowsALot]

Not that they’ve shared when I’ve asked.

I still contend these received the marketing mailing already reported, freaked out and called, and got bad info.

No one has produced evidence of anything besides, “I talked to a guy who said…”

Here's the email I got yesterday. I'm in Central KY:

This is one of several I've received, plus USPS mailings as well. Also, phone calls from the Cable Card Support number.
They're definitely pummeling us with "dire" warnings.

 

[cwoody222]

Here's the email I got yesterday. I'm in Central KY:
View attachment 73663

This is one of several I've received, plus USPS mailings as well. Also, phone calls from the Cable Card Support number.
They're definitely pummeling us with "dire" warnings.

Thanks for sharing.

That’s the same marketing message that many have reported.

It does not say that CC support is ending.

 

[SirKnowsALot]

Thanks for sharing.

That’s the same marketing message that many have reported.

It does not say that CC support is ending.

I guess it depends on how you interpret "CableCARDs will not be compatible with future service upgrades for some time."

"future service upgrades" --- how far in the future? what kind of upgrades? what about CURRENT services?
"some time" -- does this imply that support will come back eventually? what amount of time are we talking about?

As an engineer, I know that marketing folks speak in vague, ambiguous terms. That gives them leeway to interpret the words any way they please.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for a clear, concise statement from them, for sure.

 

[cwoody222]

I guess it depends on how you interpret "CableCARDs will not be compatible with future service upgrades for some time."

"future service upgrades" --- how far in the future? what kind of upgrades? what about CURRENT services?
"some time" -- does this imply that support will come back eventually? what amount of time are we talking about?

As an engineer, I know that marketing folks speak in vague, ambiguous terms. That gives them leeway to interpret the words any way they please.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for a clear, concise statement from them, for sure.

But at least one report from KY (Spectrum cable) is also claiming that Spectrum leased cable boxes are to be replaced within the next month.

That would entail what? 10’s of thousands? 100’s of thousands? of boxes?

And not a single peep anywhere on the internet reporting this massive effort and inconvenience to all those customers?

Just some technician told her?

Yea, I don’t buy it. People are being misled by bad info.