TWC And Viacom Reach Deal, Customers Await News Of Rate Increases

Chitown021

Chitown021

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I was watching Comedy Central this morning and I saw an alert scroll across the bottom of the screen. I did some searching over the interwebs and found this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28446829/

Looks like in about 12 hours those of us that have TWC or Bright House Network will pay the same monthly rate for cable service but get about 20 fewer channels.


EDIT: In some markets you will be paying MORE on your cable bills for 20 fewer channels...

EDIT #2: TWC AND VIACOM REACH DEAL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmeKcfi6sWhsSN9SOcnD9eR3hjsAD95E5EIG1
 
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[quote name='Friend of Sonic']That's some bullshit. But I've heard Time Warner Cable sucks anyway. True?[/quote]

That would be true but unfortunately in my area they're the only option for cable service. I've been debating switching back to satellite for awhile now. That and TWC has been fighting with the NFL network for the past couple of years so they still won't carry it.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Oh no, no more MTV, how horrible.[/quote]

:lol:. The main two channels we're concerned about are Comedy Central and Noggin for the little one.

[quote name='Friend of Sonic']Hopefully you're not in a contract, Chi. Paying more 20 channels you're not getting would be unfair.[/quote]

Nope, I've been out of contract for at least a year now. If this happens my first question to TWC will be "So are we to expect a 20% reduction in our cable bill to adjust for the loss in channels?"
 
I bet Time Warner will pay Viacom then raise fees blaming them, way more than the 23-cents-per-customer Time Warner paid Viacom... then everyone wins but the consumer.

I really really hate telecom companies. Comcast is crap too.
 
Viacom's pulled this before.

What will probably happen is this:

-Starting at midnight EST, the channels will be gone.

-In their place will be a TW produced message about how 'they are hard at work to restore your lineup,etc'

-In the message will be a line about 'keeping costs down for our customers'

-In a day or 2, you'll get the Viacom channels back, and your cable bill will continue to rise


This happened back in 2003 or 2004 between Echo Satellite and Viacom.
 
[quote name='Koggit']I bet Time Warner will pay Viacom then raise fees blaming them, way more than the 23-cents-per-customer Time Warner paid Viacom... then everyone wins but the consumer.

I really really hate telecom companies. Comcast is crap too.[/quote]

Yep I'm sure that's what'll happen. Next month our bill will go up like $5 with some sort of note saying they were held hostage by Viacom.


From what I've read about the NFL Network dispute that is what they tried to do but NFL Network said no. TWC keeps blaming them saying they want ridiculous fees to carry the channel. The NFL Network is saying the dispute is over which package the channel would be included in. TWC wants to put the NFL Network on one of the premium packages while NFL wants it included with the basic tier for more exposure.
 
Crappy thing is they usually give a 30 day notice that they are in dispute with the network. In this case, TWC employees and customers only get a day notice(my father works as a TWC customer service employee, so I know the employees only got the notice this morning about it).

The story pretty much sums up that Viacom(parent company of MTV, VH1, SpikeTV, etc.) is trying to get Time Warner to pay more for their channels. Because they're not making as much money on ads as they used to and due to low ratings. But considering Comedy Central & SpikeTV are the only ones I watch, they can drop the channels until Viacom gives in while I watch the shows online.

This isn't the first time this has happened lately for me, TWC had a dispute with a local station(that was a NBC affiliate) a couple months ago and dropped them for a month(due to the same problem, the station wanting more money). After that month, the station gave in and dropped their demand. So if they drop the channels, give it a month. After Viacom notices the revenue dropping, they'll give in.

[quote name='Chitown021']Looks like in about 12 hours those of us that have TWC or Bright House Network will pay the same monthly rate for cable service but get about 20 fewer channels.[/QUOTE]

Employees have been emailed to address this. If the channels do get dropped, you're supposed to call in and ask for an adjustment for those channels(it'll only be a couple bucks off the cable bill).
 
I'm on Comcast, and I'm seeing this all over Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and a few others.

I also noticed my comcast bill just went up for basic cable ($19.99!), yet they removed more channels.

Why isn't anyone looking into how these cable companies are treating customers?
 
Yeah I found it odd that today was the first time I'd heard about this. Usually you do get word about these things months in advance.

D'oh, I forgot about Spike TV. If the dispute does last for awhile I can live without the channels but you better believe I will be on the phone demanding a cut in my bill while I'm without full service.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']It already is going up 4 dollars here. fuck them.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I heard there was four markets where the monthly service will go up four dollars and 20 channels will be gone. What a bunch of pricks to go through with the rate hike even with the abscence of 20 channels.
 
I just read an article on MSNBC where they state it would have risen every customers bill by 23 cents to include these channels.

23 cents...
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Aw fuck...Viacom owns Sprout too...my son watches that channel.[/quote]

Looks like you're going to need to find a new son.
 
Gee, this isn't exactly the best of economic times. I would think that companies in general would try to be MORE accomodating to customers rather than pull crap like this.
 
The girlfriend said ABC did this a few years ago, pulling ABC, Disney, ABC Family, and a few others. As a result, there was a massive class-action suit against TW for breach of contract, and everyone got HBO free for 3 months.
 
I have TW cable but i don't watch it at all, and i don't mean that i flip the channels once in awhile. No, i have not watch it at all.

But seeing that this is a dick move, even if it doesn't really affect me at all, i will still try to see if i can get something out of TW for this.
 
[quote name='JJSP']The girlfriend said ABC did this a few years ago, pulling ABC, Disney, ABC Family, and a few others. As a result, there was a massive class-action suit against TW for breach of contract, and everyone got HBO free for 3 months.[/quote]

But who really wants HBO? We have it, it rather sucks.
 
Assholes made Dora cry:

vhb3om.gif


And by assholes, I mean both companies.
 
Yeah both companies are in the wrong. Viacom is being shitty for asking for more money and Time Warner seems to be exaggerating the situation making the demand seem much higher than it actually is. You'd think they could sit down and work out some sort of compromise. The only problem is no matter the outcome the consumer is gonna take it in the rear. We either end up with fewer channels, a higher cable bill, and in some cases both!
 
These companies seriously have no scruples, using a childrens cartoon character like that. Basically making the kids whine, that pisses off the parents, the parents call the cable company and complain, cable company gives in and pays viacom.
 
[quote name='chakan']Assholes made Dora cry:

vhb3om.gif


And by assholes, I mean both companies.[/quote]

LOL, was it wrong that i laughed at that picture? Even without the text? :lol:
 
Please remember to call your cable tv support staff tomorrow because nobody else will.

Please remember to yell constantly at the support staff who initially picks up the call because he or she did it.

Please remember to escalate the call to their supervisor because that low level supervisor is equipped with a magic wand to fix the problem.
 
I have Bright House Networks as my provider. Guess I'll be losing out on comedy central, don't really care about the other channels. They just gave me a free month of showtime because of an outage a few weeks back. Let's see what they can come up with this time to make up for this crap.

Bright House is pretty much telling people to screw MTV and just go to Hulu, lol.

The only reason I don't switch to satellite is because neither satellite provider has Fox Soccer Channel on one of their moderately priced tiers. Also, Florida thunderstorms absolutely pwn the crap out of the satellites.
 
[quote name='Koggit']I bet Time Warner will pay Viacom then raise fees blaming them, way more than the 23-cents-per-customer Time Warner paid Viacom... then everyone wins but the consumer.

I really really hate telecom companies. Comcast is crap too.[/QUOTE]

QFT.

Time Warner, Comcast, hell, all telecom/cable companies are out to loyally screw over their customers as much as possible. I worked for Comcast and they have more money than God yet every month they figured out a way to bring in more money at the expensive of their customer base (and sometimes even employee base).

Reading this about Time Warner is discouraging. I seriously think something needs to be done as these companies are running out of control.
 
LOL, here's a link to the "FACTS" page TWC has posted about the Viacom deal...

They are basically saying the same thing "fuck Viacom and watch all of their content on the Internet."
 
[quote name='Chitown021']LOL, here's a link to the "FACTS" page TWC has posted about the Viacom deal...

They are basically saying the same thing "fuck Viacom and watch all of their content on the Internet."[/QUOTE]

TWC doesn't actually want you to watch their stuff online, because then Viacom gets all the money from ads and TWC gets none... they're just blowing smoke.
 
[quote name='lokizz']they cut a deal so the channels wont be going anywhere.[/quote]

Well it shouldn't be long then for TWC to pass the increase onto us...
 
[quote name='Chitown021']Well it shouldn't be long then for TWC to pass the increase onto us...[/quote]

What? fuck that shit.
Like i've said earlier, i don't even watch those channels or any other for that matter (but that's beside the point).
Point being though, i don't want my bill to rise due to channels i can care less about.
If my bill is increase just because of this "deal" they made, you bet i'm going to call and tell them to shove those channels up their ass.
 
[quote name='supraazn']What? fuck that shit.
Like i've said earlier, i don't even watch those channels or any other for that matter (but that's beside the point).
Point being though, i don't want my bill to rise due to channels i can care less about.
If my bill is increase just because of this "deal" they made, you bet i'm going to call and tell them to shove those channels up their ass.[/quote]

Ask to speak to retention. Mention one of their competitors' prices. Your bill will go down.
 
The greed here is overwhelming. MTV/VH1 have been notorious for YEARS with their extended commercial breaks during prime shows. And now that pop-in advertising for network shows when NOT in commercial break has been whored out so much, I'm sure they're free to show more paid advertisements during the actual break.

If it wasn't for my fiance pleading for cable tv everytime I grumble about it, I would have internet only. I hate TWC and have to constantly monitor the bill/pricing policy to make sure I'm not giving them a penny more than I agreed to.
 
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