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Massive changes coming to Time Warner Cable lineups in ME and NH

N

newsbot

WMTW All News Channel will disappear from Time Warner Cable as of May 5 as part of a massive lineup overhaul of their systems in the region. NECN, which is half-owned by WMTW parent Hearst, will be upgraded to the basic tier. Not an even trade, IMHO. Also, folks in York County accustomed to watching Boston locals are going to be hosed, as WBZ will disappear from most systems, as will WGBH. A number of standard tier channels will relocate to the digital tier, making for a big increase in many cable bills. Then again, it's only a matter of time before the standard tier disappears altogether. Here's the full rundown:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/NewEngland/support/policies/channelchange.html
 
Based on the link, it looks like they're concentrating on moving NECN on Channel 4 across the board, while at the same time jettisoning or moving whatever is currently on cable channel 4 - in most cases, dumping WBZ.

Biddeford's changes are interesting: Per the description in the link, they're dropping only WBZ HD, which leads me to believe that standard WBZ is on the lineup in another allocation. So what's currently on cable channel 4 in Biddeford? CSPAN 2, which is going to be removed outright! Unless it appears on two channels right now (it reads "removal of CSPAN 2 on Channel 4")...
 
Turns out the Time Warner notification about WMTW All News Channel is incorrect; it's moving from the basic tier to the digital tier.
 
Typical. They remove out-of-market affiliates at will and dump other channels of interest onto a higher tier. In reading through the notices, it didn't look like there was much of an upside here (i.e. trading one good thing for another). No, it's all bad news for subscribers from what I can tell. And, Boston-oriented viewers in York County and in Plymouth, NH (and there are many of them) lose one or two favorite channels.

Sadly, this is just another example of a continuing trend where cable systems remove out of market stations at-will and "readjust" lineups to place more channels on higher priced tiers while providing very little in the way of added value in exchange for this. It's what happens when a company obtains what is essentially monopoly status.

Would it kill them to dump a shopping channel or one of those other services that nobody watches - or place them on a higher tier? Apparently so. In fact, I'll eat my hat when that happens....
 
This is yet another reason to save money, dump Cable TV, install your own outdoor and converter box - of needed -and great over the air digital TV reception without the fear of channels being removed.
 
Any opinions on the Time Warner website?If you try to navigate it,it's a mess.Oversized font,words on top of words.They don't even list their changes on their website.They send you to the local newspaper which list the changes in no kind of order so you have to scan the whole thing to find the changes in your area.Check out the on line program guide.A lot of mistakes. The one in my area had several channels missing on it for months.Very amateurish.
 
BRNout said:
Typical. They remove out-of-market affiliates at will and dump other channels of interest onto a higher tier. In reading through the notices, it didn't look like there was much of an upside here (i.e. trading one good thing for another). No, it's all bad news for subscribers from what I can tell. And, Boston-oriented viewers in York County and in Plymouth, NH (and there are many of them) lose one or two favorite channels.

Sadly, this is just another example of a continuing trend where cable systems remove out of market stations at-will and "readjust" lineups to place more channels on higher priced tiers while providing very little in the way of added value in exchange for this. It's what happens when a company obtains what is essentially monopoly status.

Would it kill them to dump a shopping channel or one of those other services that nobody watches - or place them on a higher tier? Apparently so. In fact, I'll eat my hat when that happens....
Click to expand...

The same is happening here in New Haven, CT. comcast is about to dump WNYW Fox 5 from our lineup. What's being put in its place, I have no idea. Though, I'm willing to be it will be something Ihave no interest in watching!
 
kms575 said:
The same is happening here in New Haven, CT. comcast is about to dump WNYW Fox 5 from our lineup. What's being put in its place, I have no idea. Though, I'm willing to be it will be something Ihave no interest in watching!
Click to expand...

To be blunt: that sucks! I would be furious if I lived in that area. By dumping Fox 5, there goes an option for New York area news, local programming and - most importantly - a different NFL game on most Sundays from what WTIC-TV offers. And, I am sure you're right in pointing out that it will either be replaced with a channel that will appeal to only a very limited audience and/or they simply delete the analog channel. Either way, it's infuriating.
 
alg2468 said:
This is yet another reason to save money, dump Cable TV, install your own outdoor and converter box - of needed -and great over the air digital TV reception without the fear of channels being removed.
Click to expand...

Good idea unless you live in an apartment and your only options are cable and an indoor antenna. :)

Of course I could always read a book. Comcast is offering a one year special ($10/month) with local channels only, so I'll guess I'll get that in June.
 
I don't even think a rooftop antenna would do any good for those in Southern Maine to get the Boston stations. And because of this, I wouldn't be surprised if areas in Massachusetts not officially in the Providence market will lose WJAR, and any other Providence locals they have.
 
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