Front Page - Mailbag - Support DCRTV
By Dave Hughes dcrtv@dcrtv.com
Welcome to Dave's Cable Page. My personal musings on my local cable system, Comcast in Reston. I've been a subscriber to the system since about 1973, when it was owned by Warner, and later by Jones. Comcast bought the system in the 1990s. Check out the cable system's Current Channel Line-Up and my Reston Cable History Page, with old channel line-ups. More coming soon. Dave's Cable Page is dedicated to Abe Jennings, the general manager of Comcast Reston and Northern Virginia cable systems. He was the "inspiration" for me to start it.....
Outages/problems/musings noted by DCRTV Dave on Comcast/Reston:
8/16 - Local cable giant Comcast is currently advertising "Digital Starter Service" plus HBO for just $29.95 a month. The catch is that it's only for new subscribers and only for a six-month introductory period. The same level of service for existing subscribers costs something like $100 a month, with HBO alone being $20 a month. Doesn't Comcast know that super sweet "teaser" offers like this create a palpable level of rage among its current subscribers, who only get "rewarded" with steep annual rate hikes? Sheesh.....
8/13 - The DC Post has more on that Allbritton campaign against the Comcast-NBC merger. In ads running on WTOP and in his Politico, Allbritton Chief Executive Robert Allbritton says Comcast and NBC have bought up influence in Washington and urged regulators to consider how the merger could affect local broadcasters - he owns WJLA and TBD/NewsChannel 8 - who depend on Comcast to carry them. Allbritton tells the Post that Comcast has "hired every lobbyist in town" to talk up the merger and a speedy review. Allbritton has a huge stake in the merger, as Comcast carries his broadcast properties WJLA and TBD/NC8 on its systems locally, and WJLA competes directly against NBC-owned WRC.....
8/12 - Allbritton Communications, owner of DC's ABC affiliate Channel 7WJLA and TBD/NewsChannel 8 in Washington, has asked the FCC to impose conditions on the Comcast/NBC merger to protect its regional cable news channel and to delay its decision on the deal until it can fully vet the implications of Comcast's distribution power in markets where it will have NBC owned stations - like DC with Channel 4/WRC - as well as cable systems. B&C has more.....
8/10 - We get letters:
Good morning Mr. Hughes! I wish to thank you in advance for your website and assistance regarding C-Span channel 23, which functions well on our TV sets except for one older TV set in our bedroom, which no longer receives channel 23 since I installed the box that Comcast gave me to receive many of the channels that this set was not able to receive! The new box was and is an interesting experiment in receiving quite a few more channels except the ONE CHANNEL 23, that I like to watch in the morning in this bedroom. However, since I installed the box which enlarged the number of channels received on this older set, CHANNEL 23 on this set is black and not available. I have called COMCAST, but the nice persons I speak to there, either do not understand the problem or are not able to present a solution! Help! I appreciate your time and look forward to your response. Thank you. Mick Miller
Dave's response: I just checked Comcast's Reston system and digital channel 23 - CSPAN - is coming though just fine on my boxes. Try this. Unplug the box that refuses to get 23, count to 10, and plug it back in. It'll take a few minutes to restart. And then check whether CSPAN is now viewable. If you're still having problems, Comcast should send out a tech to your home to see if there's something wrong with your box. Or it could be a problem with the signal level coming into your home, which the tech will also check.....
8/9 - Verizon's Fios has a huge package of Spanish channels. So now Comcast will bolster its "MultiLatino" tier in DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Loudoun, and Fairfax counties. About two dozen new Spanish language channels join the Comcast Latino TV service on September 8. Also, Comcast will cluster its existing Spanish language channels - including DC TVers WFDC, WMDO, WQAW, and WZDC, plus MPT's V-me - to be part of the package, which will go from cable channel 558 to 651.....
8/4 - The Coalition For Competition In Media, whose members include Bloomberg, Free Press, the Writers Guild West, and Media Access Project, has asked state attorneys general to investigate the potential Comcast-NBC merger. As legislators seemed to be lining up this week to support the deal, the coalition publicized a letter it has sent to the National Association Of Attorneys General telling them the deal posed a "grave threat" to consumers and asking them to investigate its impact on their states. Multichannel News has more.....
7/30 - Gotta praise Comcast when it's due. They do have some great, dedicated technical people. My digital cable service here in Reston was plagued by frozen screens, pixilations, and audio stuttering on Wednesday evening. I e-mailed one of Comcast's top local engineers and he sent out a tech in a truck later that evening but the problem had stopped. Well, the problem restarted on Thursday at about 6:30 PM. I e-mailed again and a tech showed up at 7 PM, found the problem in a piece of malfunctioning equipment in a green box out by the street, and had it fixed by about 8:30 PM. Wow! Thanks.....
7/30 - We get e-mails.....
"Do you know what Comcast did to your little green box to fix your cable issues? I've been going back and forth with Comcast for the past month regarding issues with my cable service. The issues sound a lot like the ones you were having. We've had the digital adapter for several months but the problems started in the past few weeks. They are only occurring with the TV's that we had to install the digital adaptors on...frozen screens, audio problems, pixilations and no picture on some channels. I've been going in circles calling Comcast and we go through the same things...unplug the adaptor for 30 seconds, plug it back in, they send a signal, no problem detected by the signal, send a guy out, the guy that comes out says its a problem outside and they would send a crew to fix, I get a recorded message from Comcast saying the issue has been fixed but the problem still exists and I start all over calling Comcast again. I get a different answer regarding the issue with everyone I talk to at Comcast. I swapped out all the adapters at the recommendation of a Comcast telephone rep and that didn't work either. The last Comcast guy that came out suggested I go to Radio Shack and buy a cable TV amplifier ($35) and have Comcast come and install it because the signal from the green box by the street into the house is weak. Apparently, Comcast knows this and either do not know how to fix it or are unwilling to fix it. I'm very frustrated at this point paying almost eighty dollars a month for crap that doesn't work, not to mention the time and money I've lost sitting at home waiting for the Comcast people to come figure what's wrong. Any help you can provide is appreciated."
7/27 - Talking to a roomful of small and medium-sized cable operators, American Cable Association Chairman Steve Friedman said it was time for the discrimination against smaller operators to stop, including arguing that a Comcast/NBC Universal merger has more clout "than any one company deserves." In a speech at a Washington policy update session here at the Independent Show in Baltimore, Friedman said that whether the issue is network neutrality, retransmission-consent reform, broadband reclassification, or the Comcast-NBCU merger, the problem boils down to big versus small.....
7/23 - Last week, I wrote about a friend who moved to a new apartment in Reston but couldn't get TV. Comcast turned her down because she owed a previous balance during a period of recessionary unemployment. She was on the wrong side of the building for satellite and had no luck with digital TV reception in her place. Well, as fate would have it, she found a note on her door Wednesday from the complex's management that Verizon will soon be wiring her building for Fios. She's looking forward to TV again, and, even with a nice income from her new job, she says she will never forget how Comcast treated her during her period of temporary employment difficulties - like a deadbeat. Way to go, Comcast.....
7/22 -
Comcast may have to sell some NBC television stations - including DC's Channel 4/WRC - to get US government approval for buying General Electric's NBC Universal. According to Bloomberg, these are among the remedies the Federal Communications Commission or the Justice Department may require to ease fears about keeping television markets competitive following the $28 billion deal, antitrust analysts said. Comcast, the largest US cable operator, would get control of the NBC television network and broadcast stations, plus its Comcast SportsNet sports networks, in Washington, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, six of the biggest US television markets. Comcast also would acquire NBC's national cable networks, including Bravo, USA Network, MSNBC, and CNBC, and national sports and Olympic Games programming. DCRTV wonders: If WRC got put on the market, who would buy? Neither CBS or ABC owns its affiliated stations (WUSA and WJLA, respectively) in the DC market. We could see an ABC4, with Allbritton's WJLA 7 becoming an NBC affiliate. Or a CBS4 with Gannett's WUSA 9 airing NBC programming.....7/22 - Documents from Comcast and from NBC Universal show the two have every intention of leveraging their combined market power to the detriment of their competitors should they be allowed to merge, according to the American Cable Association. According to CED Magazine, the ACA said it has reviewed the documents the two companies have filed with the FCC, and it asserts that the plans of Comcast and NBC Universal are actually worse than the ACA initially feared. It renewed its demands that an approval of the merger be contingent upon the imposition of strong conditions.....
7/17 - In an ad in Saturday's Washington Post, area cable TV giant Comcast reveals that it's hiking its payment by phone processing fee from $4.95 to $5.99. And is raising its reconnection fee from $4 to $5. I guess the firm needs a few more nickels and dimes from its captive subcribers so that it can make more contributions to politicos on Capitol Hill to get its merger with NBC approved. Stay classy Comcast honcho Brian Roberts! Sheesh.....
7/14 - So, yesterday a court threw out the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast "indecency" policy. Even though it was always an unconstitional infringement on freedom of speech, for many years the FCC just went about and fined many radio and TV stations for airing nasty words. Including the speech of local radio personalities like DC101's Elliot Segal and national shock jocker Howard Stern, back when he was heard on WJFK. While many listeners may not like it, radio and TV stations have the freedom to air the "f-word" and the "s-word" if they want to. But you've got to realize that the FCC's nasty word policy is just one of many big blunders by the federal agency that regulates communications in America. Look at the Commission's ruling for digital radio a few years back. By allowing digital and analog signals to share the FM band, the FCC has created a giant mess known as "HD Radio." With analog stations suffering interference, and low-power, ineffective coverage for digital signals. Several years later, the FCC's digital TV ruling was also a giant blunder, essentially making it impossible for many viewers to continue to receive over-the-air TV without coughing up mucho dough to subscribe to cable or satellite services. Now the FCC is on the verge of making another huge gaffe - if it approves the merger of the country's largest cable system owner, Comcast, and one of the largest broadcast TV networks, NBC. Allowing the marriage of the two will create a host of unpleasant conflicts. For example, Comcast will own DC's Channel 4, but also be relaying DC's other rival TVers to many thousands of subscribers. It's putting too much potentially un-competitive influence in the hands of one gigantic company. Come on, FCC! Time for yet another huge screw-up? I hope not.....
7/12 - I have a friend who has no television options. She has new apartment here in Reston but can't get television, other than what she can see via her DVD player and her computer. But, because of her apartment's west-facing location in the western suburbs of DC, she doesn't get decent digital over-the-air reception with an antenna. And since her unit doesn't "see" enough of the southern sky, there's no Dish Network or DirecTV either. Verizon's Fios doesn't serve her apartment complex. Since she got behind on her Comcast bill due to a recent period of unemployment, the cable giant won't even give her its basic lifeline service unless she coughs up a $500 security deposit - which she doesn't have. While she tells me that while she misses the newscasts on Channels 4, 5, 7, and 9, she can "make do" with old movies on her DVD player. In the "old days" of analog TV, she could have put a portable TV with rabbit ears just about anywhere in her apartment and received watchable, if not perfect, reception of the local TVers. But since the Federal Communications Commission pretty much outlawed "free TV" with last year's problem-plagued all-digital TV conversion, you pretty much can't even get the local TV channels without paying for cable. And if Comcast says "no," you're out of luck. Like my friend and, I'm sure, others like her. Comcast cares? Yeah, right.....
7/10 - Channels that are offered by Verizon Fios in the Reston area that are NOT carried by Comcast in Reston and most of the DC-Baltimore area: RFD-TV, HD Net, American Life TV, Blue Highways TV, Veria TV, Wealth TV, Smithsonian Channel, Boomerang, FUNimation, Fox Movie Channel, MTV U, ABC News Now, BBC World News, CNN International, Bridges TV, Chiller, Sleuth, Fuel TV, Ovation, Pets TV, Cars TV, Blackbelt TV, Mav TV, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, Epix.....
7/10 - My irritating Comcast DVR - Explorer 8300HDC - is AGAIN occasionally forgetting to record shows that I program and keeps forgetting to keep the current program in memory so that I can't use the "rewind" function. A reboot usually solves the problem for another week or two. But then I have to reboot the darn thing again. Ugh.....
7/9 - The Washington Post takes a gander at the various conditions the "FCCC" - the Federal Corrupt Communications Commission - will likely place on Comcast in order to approve its merger with NBC. Yet, it appears that the giant, impersonal cable company's many subscribers - many in the DC-Baltimore region - will walk away with diddly squat in the deal. The FCCC and its new head, Julius Genachowski, who was appointed by Obama, is why so many Democrats, like me, are starting to become incredibly dissatified with our new president. Joining the crowd of Republicans and Independents who have already turned on Obama. All told, Obama is no different than most of the previous presidents who have - consumers be damned - allowed big media companies to get even bigger and more inhumane. Comcast is so powerful these days that many newspapers, like the Washington Post, and other major media players, like rival TV networks and cable firms, are literally frightened to comment on the Comcast-NBC marriage, fearful of the gigantic, many-tentacled firm's revenge. And this is BEFORE is gets even bigger with its NBC-Universal addition. As Comcast, which continues to raise its rates every year, forces its subscribers to waste their money by buying expensive packages of little-watched channels in order to get the handful of networks that they really want. At the very least, the FCCC should require Comcast to offer its channels via an "a la carte" option to subscribers as a condition for its merger with NBC. Something that would save consumers many bucks every month. Come on, Genachowski and Obama, deliver something for we long-suffering Comcast cable TV subscribers, too, in this merger deal.....
7/5 - We get letters:
"i know this is a TAD outside of NOVA and your perview but today i've been having lots of problems with my dvr there's some sort of slowness it usually takes less then 3 seconds to go thorugh channels and now it's so frustrating it takes 10 seconds or longer and yes i've already complained to comcast anyway if you could help, honestly if we had FIOS i'd drop comcast but since we're a bit from richmond just outside of chesterfield county and all so we can't get it (at least not yet)"
Dave's response: I tend to notice that my Comcast DVR starts doing strange shit if it's not rebooted every few weeks. Unplug your DVR, could to 10, and plug it in again. It'll take another 10 minutes or so for it to restart. That probably will solve your problem.....
7/3 - One of my neighbors was having trouble with her Comcast DVR box. She called Comcast for an appointment and a tech came out and found that her box was manfunctioning but he did not have a replacement. She was told to take her bad box down to Comcast's Reston office and get a new one. Which she did. However, she did not know how to connect the new box. And she needed to make an appointment for another tech to visit. The earliest he could come was four days away, which meant that she'd have no TV for that period. She called me, a friend, who came over and hooked up her box and got it working. I'm planning to bill Comcast $50 for my services.....
7/3 - Another letter:
"Hey Dave, if you are going to save people's Comcast service, could you help save the Arlington/Alexandria system. I think I can safely say that no other provider in the Washington D.C. area (including Cox, FiOS, RCN, DirecTV, Dish and even other Comcast systems) provides as few HD channels as the Comcast system serving Arlington and Alexandria. Could you maybe contact your source at Comcast and remind them that there quite a few subscribers here that would love to have more than 30 HD channels. Thanks, Michael"
6/28 - Comcast outage at my location in Reston after a big thunderstorm. The outage last for one hour, from 4 PM to 5 PM.....
6/27 - More bad news for Comcast. I hear that Verizon's Fios, which skipped many "multi-unit" dwellings - apartment complexes and condo buildings - when it wired parts of the DC area over the past few years, is now working to wire those, too. I'm told by residents of a north Reston apartment complex that a deal has been struck with the complex's management and Fios wiring will commense mid-summer. So, apartment dwellers - if you don't face a south-facing balcony and can't get DirecTV or Dish Network, you won't be "stuck" with Comcast and its never-ending rate hikes for much longer. At least if you live in one of those lucky complexes that will getting wired by Fios this summer. Still haven't heard about my condo complex in south Reston. Fios has wired the neighboring single family home and townhouse clusters, but is not yet serving the "multi-unit" dwellings in my complex.....
6/25 - So, if you're having problems with your Comcast service in the DC-Baltimore area, you can contact Alisha Martin. Check out her letter to us.....
"Hi Dave, I've noticed on your cable page you’ve referenced letters you’ve received from Comcast customers. We’d love to have the opportunity to follow up directly with any customers that may reach out to you so we can answer their questions and address any concerns they may have. If you are able to share their contact information, I’ll be happy to have someone on our customer care team follow up. Thanks, Alisha Martin, Senior Manager of Public Relations Eastern Division, Comcast Cable, O: 410.513.3155, C: 443.418.1353, alisha_martin@cable.comcast.com"
6/22 -
The proposed merger between cable TV giant Comcast and entertainment giant NBC Universal was heavily criticized Monday by some rival media companies and consumer advocacy groups that are trying to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to block the $30-billion deal. The LA Times has more. Locally, Comcast owns cable TV systems serving much of the DC-Baltimore area, plus Comcast SportsNet, while NBC owns DC's Channel 4/WRC. Although there was no shortage of complaints to the FCC about the proposed merger, the bulk of big media stayed quiet. Viacom, Time Warner, CBS, and News Corporation, which owns Fox, all indicated they would not file comments on the deal. Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, was also expected to refrain from commenting. There is talk that many of the above companies, which own TV stations and/or cable networks, are scared of Comcast's retaliation if they go on the record against the merger and it is eventually approved. Even the Washington Post, which is a cable system and TV station owner and would have to negotiate carriage deals with a combined Comcast-NBC, is downplaying its coverage of the potential merger and its critics, DCRTV notes.....6/22 - Another letter.....
"There's been a whole lot in the mailbag about Comcast recently. I worked for Comcast for about 12 and a half years and have recently retired from Comcast. I can tell you that morale among employees in the call center where I worked in very low. The reason no one knows what is happening is the fact that there is really a communication problem between management and front-line employees. I wanted to work one more year at Comcast but really became so burned out with my job that I decided to retire one year early. I have no regrets over doing this because other colleagues have told me that morale is still at an all-time low. When I was hired by Comcast I had the job of troubleshooting internet problems and I loved the job. Unfortunately management really went out of its way to sour my job and I just became disillusioned and had to get out before it got the best of me. It really was sad for me because I really liked the management people at my location and was able to express my dismay to them without any fear of reprisal. Unfortunately little of what I said made any impact of change. In the years of my employment I saw many changes at Comcast and do not like the direction it appears to be heading. Fortunately for me I got out while the getting out was good for me. I do have sympathy for my former co-workers and hope that someone somewhere will wake up and feel compassion for the front-line employees who really feel overwhelmed at this time."
6/21 - We get letters.....
"Hi Dave, I looked through your website and didn’t find the answer to this problem but you seem like you might know. We’ve already invested about 2 hours on the phone with 5 different Customer Service reps from Comcast without solving the problem. My father lives in a Condo in the Lake Anne area of Reston where he gets Comcast cable on a group account with other property owners. He has 3 T.V.s that the cable is plugged directly into. The newer T.V. works on all the lines in the house and gets all the standard channels offered. As of sometime in the last month, the 2 older T.V.s only get up to Channel 30. Reprogramming the T.V.s as Comcast suggested doesn’t solve the problem. Several service reps said we needed to get a digital conversion box but one said that we don’t because Digital signals are not yet in place in Reston. Do you know if something has changed with the Comcast signal that my father’s older T.V.s wouldn’t get a signal for other channels? Thanks for any help! Carol"
Dave's response: Comcast has made the digital conversion in Reston. He will need a digital converter box for those older sets. A number of basic cable channels are now digital-only, like WMPT 22 and WHUT 32, and old fashioned non-digital, analog sets won't get them anymore. It's funny how some of Comcast's phone reps don't have any idea which of their systems have switched to all-digital status and which haven't. Maaaaaaan.....
6/19 - More of the "brilliance" of Comcast. In an ad in Saturday's Washington Post, the area cable TV giant says that it's reconfiguring its Spanish language "Cable Latino" packages into something called "MultiLatino." You'll get a batch of Spanish networks - 15 channels in Reston and other Northern Virginia locales, 19 in Arlington and Alexandria, and 23 in DC - all for the same monthly fee of $16.95. Isn't that somewhat of a rip-off in Reston, where you'll be getting eight fewer Spanish channels for the same price as DC? What's that, Comcast math? Hmmm. Also, did Comcast's PR people even bother proofreading the ad, which indicates that the $59.95 "MultiLatino Max" and the $76.90 "MultiLatino Ultra" packages are exactly identical? If Comcast can't get its own bureaucratic "mumbojumbo" right, how does it expect its subscribers to figure it all out? Maaaaaan. Muy tonto.....
6/18 - My Scientific Atlanta 8300HDC DVR, which Comcast charges costs $16 a month to rent, is once again (!) failing to occasionally record shows. Sometimes it will. Sometimes it won't. Usually the problem, along with other goofy glitches exhibited by this cranky box, is remedied with a reboot - unplug, count to 10, plug back in, and wait 10 minutes for it to restart. We'll see.....
6/17 - Another letter:
"Dave, which Comcast “suit” does your friend know to get a service move done in only 10 days! I’ve had to wait longer than that for a f---king service call. And, I’ve had periods of degraded or no service at all for as long as a month. In addition, a friend of mine in the U.S. Army at Fort Gordon says that in Augusta, GA, Comcast now offers 100 mbps internet while here in Reston, we only get a max of 20. I guess whomever said that D.C. isn’t a 'major market' may be on to something. But Augusta, GA??? What level market is that? Perspiring minds want to know! You gotta “love” Comcast. And, have pity on anybody who hires their castoffs. (Yes, even Verizon…)"
Dave's response: Just talked to a friend who is moving to a new apartment at the end of June and Comcast won't give her service until she produces a $500 deposit via a certified check. Wow, Comcast is getting really mean. She's going with Dish Network.....
6/17 - One of my neighbors who lives at the Thoreau Place senior citzen complex here in Reston moved two doors down early last week. And it took Comcast more than a week after she called to get to her place to re-connect the only outlet in her new apartment. She was without TV for about 10 days.....
6/16 - OK, so let's say the foolhardy and misguided FCC approves the Comcast merger with NBC, and the cable giant gets control of NBC's Channel 4/WRC. And somewhere down the line, Channel 7/WJLA owner Allbritton wants Comcast to carry the new HD version of NewsChannel 8, or whatever it will be called after the remake. Comcast says no, but Allbritton fires back with a threat to yank Channel 7 from area Comcast systems. But, now Comcast owns Channel 4, a major rival of 7. Theoretically, Comcast could benefit with higher ratings for NBC4 by having 7, and its ABC programming, go missing for a time - days? weeks? - on cable TV line-ups throughout the Washington area. And there are other things Comcast-NBC could do to "mess" with 7 - and Washington's other major rival broadcast stations like Fox's 5 and Gannett's 9. It could give its Channel 4 a better "dial position" on the cable box. Ditto with its various subchannels. It could run promos all over its cable systems hyping 4's shows and newscasts. If the FCC allows the Comcast-NBC merger, it's giving Comcast an unfair interest and advantage in the local TV market - and in TV markets where Comcast has systems and will own the local NBC broadcast station. One possible remedy for this is for the FCC to force Comcast to either sell its cable systems or its NBC station in markets where it owns both. Like DC, NYC, its hometown of Philly, and dozens of other markets across the country. Or, the FCC could just say that the Comcast-NBC pairing would just make a complicated mess of the increasingly contentious relationship that local broadcasters have with cable systems and soundly reject this terrible idea. If the Comcast-NBC marriage is approved, the only winners will be the top execs and investors at both firms. Viewers and cable subscribers will be the losers - with higher rates and more blackouts - in the ramped-up battle of way-too-big Comcast-NBC with other rival networks and programmers.....
6/16 - Letters. We get letters:
"Yes Dave, you're absolutely right to be paranoid about the proposed Comcast-NBC Unviersal Merger. Comcast absolutely positively could jerk other broadcasters around in markets like Washington DC as you describe because we all know that Comcast has zero competitors in the cable television provider field. And even if on the off chance Comcast does have competitor like Verizon FiOS or Direct TV to deal with, Comcast's award winning customer service compared to these other companies would be the deciding factor in keeping their customers signed up in spite of Comcast pulling power plays with their competing local networks."
6/15 - Some reception problems with the Encore channels (149-168) here in Reston. Including no audio on Encore's Indieplex (167).....
6/11 - Cable sports giant ESPN's latest network, ESPN 3D, launched successfully at 9:30 AM Friday with the stereoscopic 3D broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa. It's carried locally, including Reston, on Comcast channel 980.....
6/10 - Here in Reston, if you plug the Comcast cable directly into your digital TV, you can get EWTN, the Catholic religious TV network. But if you subscribe to any programming tier with a cable box, EWTN is nowhere to be found. I've contacted the system's manager, Abe Jennings, and Comcast PR lady Alisha Martin, but no one will provide me an answer as to why. There are lots of Catholics living in Reston. The community has two Catholic churches. But, for some reason, Comcast doesn't want to provide cable-wide local distribution of a major Catholic TV network, even though Comcast does carry two somewhat fundamentalist Christian channels - Daystar and Inspiration. Comcast is hyping the "diversity" of its programming in hearings regarding its merger with NBC, but apparently that claim is just a lot of meaningless chatter when it comes to its local cable line-ups, like Reston.....
6/6 - Imagine if you went into a grocery store wanting to buy potato chips and you couldn't buy them unless you also bought pea soup, cat food, and diapers - three items you don't want or need. Well, that's exactly the way the cable/satellite TV business is run today. You have to buy expensive packages of channels, chock full of programming that you don't want, in order to get the handful of channels that you do. On my Comcast system, you have to buy a package of networks that includes the Tennis Channel in order to watch World War II documentaries on the Military History Channel. Want Fox News and CNBC? OK, you'll have to buy the package that has channels offering cooking shows and cartoons for pre-schoolers. This giant consumer unfriendly fraud should be one of the top topics this summer in the FCC hearings on the Comcast-NBC merger. Comcast is the largest cable company in the country and if it's planning to merge with one of the largest broadcast TV networks maybe it should be required to become an honest broker of TV services and give its subscribers exactly what they want to pay for. No more pea soup with the potato chips, huh.....
6/4 - If you were listening to WMAL this morning, you heard a lot of talk that President Obama has done a lot of talking since he took office early last year - but he's done very little "doing" about many issues. On the media front, Obama promised more diversity and local ownership. But we're sitting here facing the very real possibility that the nation's largest cable TV operator, Comcast, could merge with NBC, one of the largest TV network and movie players. Despite all the promises made by Comcast and NBC execs at recent Capitol Hill hearings, the only "winners" in the marriage will be the execs and stockholders at both companies. Cable subscribers and TV viewers will be big losers if these big, impersonal companies unite to become one even bigger, more impersonal company. Just look at one local aspect of the merger. Comcast will most certainly merge its Comcast SportsNet/Bethesda operations with the sports department of NBC's Channel 4/WRC in DC. You just know that there will be pink slips on both sides after the consolidation. Over the years, certain elements of NBC's TV and cable programming will probably become exclusively available on Comcast cable - for a hefty price. Do you really think your cable TV rates will go down with a Comcast-NBC union? Heck, a giant news organization, NBC, will now be intertangled with your Comcast internet service. Is that good? No! Obama can still get something "done" besides his questionable healthcare campaign. Don't let this evil marriage be consumated, Mr. President.....
5/15 - Since leaving the Federal Communications Commission and joining the powerhouse Washington law firm Patton Boggs, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has made battling the Comcast-NBC merger a fulltime job, so reports the LA Times. The proposed $30 billion merger would put the largest cable and broadband provider under one roof with a programming behemoth whose assets include the NBC network, plus its owned stations including DC's Channel 4/WRC, cable channels CNBC, MSNBC, USA, and Bravo, and movie studio Universal Pictures.....
5/14 - Just got my Comcast bill and noticed that there's no "Lobby Location" with office hours for Reston. I know that Comcast has an office here in Reston since I've been there many times to pick up and return equipment. I believe it's at 12345G Sunrise Valley Drive. So, why is that location not listed on the bills for Reston customers like me? The only "Lobby Locations" listed on my bill are in Prince William County, which is 15+ miles away. Hmmm. I've got a question about this into system manager Abe Jennings. I'll let you know what I find out.....
5/14 - No video on TV Guide Channel (100) on Comcast/Reston. Update: It got fixed later that day.....
5/14 - We get letters:
"Dave, I read your Dave's Cable Page and envy the fact that you seem to have a contact at Comcast who can actually get repairs made in a timely manner. When I call Comcast customer service with any complaint other than "my cable's out" it's like speaking a foreign language. The reps don't know how to handle a problem like "the right channel audio on analog channel 15 is loud and distorted". They want to dispatch a tech to the house when it's a headend problem. Or, they seem like they take the info for such a problem but then nothing is done. So, if you have any Comcast contacts for the Howard County system, I sure would appreciate knowing how to contact them."
Dave's response: While DCP is pretty much my own train of thought about Comcast's comedy of errors via my Reston cable system, I'll be happy to post other peoples' probs via their Comcast systems. I know the head honchos in Philly occasionally drop by DCRTV. Maybe a few embarrassing revelations about what "real world" Comcast subscribers are experiencing is what's need to get things fixed.....
5/13 - Someone put the MTV-HD feed in place of Palladia-HD on 882/227 here in Reston on 5/12. The normal MTV-HD feed is on 884, where it's supposed to be. I e-mailed Bobby Lane and Abe Jennings. The mix-up was corrected as of 5/13.....
5/12 -
Comcast head honcho Brian Roberts on his proposed merger with NBC: "The single most awesome asset that comes from this deal is NBC News," he said, "NBC News will help define Comcast." With heat from Washington about what the merger of the country's most powerful cable company with a content giant would mean to consumers, Roberts opened his Tuesday session at a big cable confab in LA with a display of Comcast's latest On-Demand capabilities that will offer subscribers as many as 11,000 available movies. The test markets are its hometown of Philadelphia and Washington DC, where the lawmakers and regulators who will decide the fate of the Comcast-NBC deal reside. More from latimes.com.....5/11 - I sent this to some local Comcast honchos this morning: A couple of issues regarding last night's addition of new HD/digital channels here in Reston: 1) Turner Classic Movies-HD (890) features the program listings for The Movie Channel. I guess someone mixed up TCM and TMC. 2) I see that the Military History Channel has been added to channel 176. However, I get a "Not Authorized" message on the channel. I am authorized to get all the digital packages (except Spanish and Sports). Shouldn't I have access to this channel? Did someone put the wrong coding on the channel? 3) Which brings me to mun2 on 178, which was added in the past. I get a "Not Authorized" message for this channel, too. Even though it's also part of the Spanish tier, isn't is also supposed to be on one of the basic digital tiers, too? 4) I see you moved QVC-HD from 808 to 806 (where it's supposed to be) for the addition of HSN-HD on 808. 5) And I see you added the Pentagon Channel on 185. I know some people who run the channel who will be very happy that Comcast finally added it here.....
I soon got this from Alisha Martin in Comcast's PR department:
"Dave – I just wanted to respond to your questions regarding the recent changes in Reston. The access issues you were experiencing with mun2 should be resolved at this point. Please let me know if this is not the case. Military History Channel and C&I are part of our Sports Entertainment Package, so unless you subscribe to the package you will be unable to view the networks. Thanks, Alisha Martin, Senior Manager of Public Relations, Eastern Division, Comcast Cable".....
And a new Rant was born: So, Comcast has added the Military History Channel and C&I channel here in Reston, but you can't get them unless you cough up $7 extra per month for the Sports Entertainment Package. That's right - the Sports Entertainment Package! And that's on top of all the fees for Comcast's other digital channel packages. These two channels, one which shows Hitler documentaries and the other which shows criminal investigative shows, have nothing remotely to do with sports. The sports tier features channels that deal with tennis, football, basketball, hunting, and the like. Is Hitler a sport? In Comcast's crazy world, he is. Apparently.....
5/5 - What's up with Comcast/Reston offering Catholic network EWTN free and "in the clear" to its digital cable TV subscribers who plug straight into the cable with no converter box, but not to subscribers who pay more (!) for a box. That's strange.....
5/5 - Comcast is making some changes to its carriage of DC's Spanish language TVers come early June. WMDO-TV, a Telefutura affilate, and WFDC-TV, a Univision outlet, will get high-def feeds on Comcast cable channels 795 and 794, respectively. With WMDO's standard-def signal becoming digital-only. Also, Comcast will add WMDO's LATV digital subchannel on cable channels 270 and 599.....
5/3 - DCRTV hears that area cable TV giant Comcast is eliminating free cable service for even its own employees come June 1. One perk of working for the firm had been free or reduced-price TV, phone, and internet service. No more, a company source tells DCRTV. Comcast has recently made cuts in both its technical workforce and at its call centers in the DC-Baltimore area.....
4/28 - For the past few years, local cable giant Comcast has put the parttime MASN2 and CSN+ sports overflow channels on its DC-based C-SPAN2 channel on its basic tier. But, come May 29th, ESPNews will replace public affairs network C-SPAN2 on the overflow standard-def channel, which is carried on different channel numbers on its systems. C-SPAN2 will still available fulltime on Comcast's digital basic channel 104. ESPNews is available fulltime on Comcast channel 719.....
4/24 - Like him or not, Obama is our president. And what better way (ha ha ha) to get the Obama administration on the side of your cause to merge with NBC than to go on Fox News, which is pretty much anti-Obama-all-the-time. And that's exactly what local cable TV giant Comcast honcho Brian Roberts did on Thursday. (Mediaite has more.) And it wasn't just an interview with a reporter, but a guest shot with - and involving praise of - anchor Neil Cavuto, a harsh critic of all things Obama. Take that along with other recent news that Comcast is flirting with a potential ownership stake in a righty talk network and you might just wonder why anyone in the federal government who likes or supports Obama would do anything to move the proposed Comcast/NBC merger closer to reality.....
4/21 - On the Hallmark Movie Channel-HD (894) the on-screen program guide features the listings for the Hallmark Channel by mistake......
4/20 - First the good news. Comcast here in Reston has added a batch of about 25-ish high-def channels overnight. All those thousands of subscribers who were demanding to see the cadaverous Don Imus in glorious HD on Fox Biz-HD have got their wish. Plus Spike-HD, Comedy Central-HD, Bravo-HD, and more. Still no TCM-HD (wah). But now the bad news. Comcast is jacking up its rates (again) here in Reston come June 1. Looks like a 3-to-5 percent hike for most channel tiers and services, including the internet. But, even with the "mostly digital" conversion of Reston, there's still a long way to go to catch up with Verizon's Fios service, which still offers more standard-def (a la Sleuth, Fox Movie Channel, MTVU, Military History Channel) and HD channels, including all of the premium channel extras in HD (a la HBO2, Showtime Beyond, Starz Cinema). Comcast only offers the main channel of each premium service in HD. Many of my Reston neighbors have dropped Comcast for Fios, but I can't since it doesn't serve my condo complex.....
4/19 - Slowish internet uploads at 10 AM, reported to Bobby Lane, improved by 1 PM.....
4/16 - Looks like HD compression problems on HBO-HD (300) and Cinemax-HD (320) with pixilation during movement scenes, digital lines on TLC-HD (837), reported to Bobby Lane, fixed by early the next day.....
4/5 - Comcast mistakenly blacked out MASN-HD's (845) coverage of Orioles opener in Tampa, game available on MASN-SD (72), problem reported to Bobby Lane, resolved next day.....
3/27 - Turner Classic Movies (51) audio out of sync, reported to Bobby Lane, fixed two days later, reportedly the problem affected Comcast subscribers throughout Mid-Atlantic.....
There are several major cable companies in the DC/Baltimore area. Most provide digital and internet services in addition to basic cable service. Some also provide phone service.
