New Fee Coming To Basic Cable Subscribers

[FreddyE1977]

Today (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012) I am officially predicting that an
"Obamaphone" program to pay cable bills for low-income people
will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

I agree. By April it will be here.

And seeing as how no such 'Obamaphone' program actually exists, let's sit back and ponder the collective time wasted posting that particular statement and its follow up agreement.

Apparently you are the last breathing American who is unfamiliar with our friend from Cleveland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio

(and yes, I know that the Obamaphone program was started by George W. Bush, ostensibly to allow these
people to get callbacks for job interviews)

If the FCC auctions off broadcast TV spectrum the question will be raised "Well what about TV service for the poor?"
And the response will be some sort of Federal program to pay their cable bills. It will be part of the deal, and you can
take that to the bank.

 

[landtuna]

I thought it was only KNTV (NBC) that broadcast from San Bruno, but decided to google a bit before I made a fool of myself...not a rare event, BTW ;D

OK, now it's my turn to be a fool. I confused Mt. San Bruno with the Sutro Tower. San Bruno is the location that most of the radio and TV stations used when I lived there (until '68) and the Sutro Tower is that gigantic tower they built after I left. Now that's straight.

I can't understand why you can't receive signals from Sutro (unless you are too close and overload your equipment front end). Even that can be solved with an R-pack to reduce the signal strength.

I didn't think there was anywhere in S.F. that isn't line of sight from Sutro unless, of course, you are behind a big building or maybe at the bottom of Divisadero Street.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Today (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012) I am officially predicting that an
"Obamaphone" program to pay cable bills for low-income people
will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

I agree. By April it will be here.

And seeing as how no such 'Obamaphone' program actually exists, let's sit back and ponder the collective time wasted posting that particular statement and its follow up agreement.

And when you are done pondering that, we can continue to ponder your worthless reply. It's a government subsidy. The Universal Service Fund (USF) was created back in 1997 by Federal Communication Commission. The only difference is the money is taken directly from the providers and given to the moochers in the form of the USF charge on everyone's telephone bill. However, Obama supporters believe the phones come from Obama: http://youtu.be/tpAOwJvTOio

 

[Bengalsfan]

Today (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012) I am officially predicting that an
"Obamaphone" program to pay cable bills for low-income people
will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

I agree. By April it will be here.

And seeing as how no such 'Obamaphone' program actually exists, let's sit back and ponder the collective time wasted posting that particular statement and its follow up agreement.

Apparently you are the last breathing American who is unfamiliar with our friend from Cleveland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio

(and yes, I know that the Obamaphone program was started by George W. Bush, ostensibly to allow these
people to get callbacks for job interviews)

If the FCC auctions off broadcast TV spectrum the question will be raised "Well what about TV service for the poor?"
And the response will be some sort of Federal program to pay their cable bills. It will be part of the deal, and you can
take that to the bank.

Two points. The Universal Service Fund (which funds Obamaphones) was created back in 1997 under Clinton. Secondly, it won't stop at paying for cable bills. I'm sure it will be expanded to include subsidies to purchase TV sets.

 

[quadraphonic]

Today (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012) I am officially predicting that an
"Obamaphone" program to pay cable bills for low-income people
will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

I agree. By April it will be here.

And seeing as how no such 'Obamaphone' program actually exists, let's sit back and ponder the collective time wasted posting that particular statement and its follow up agreement.

The FCC has had Lifeline phones since the mid-80s for low-income people to take advantage of.
So let's sit back and ponder the singulated time wasted responding to a wasted post of that particular statement and its agreement. That forms a conundrum, doesn't it?
You can see "cable tv is a right" coming up, after certain dominoes fall, like, say, the FCC's spectrum-auction shell game with OTA TV, right?
Or is it all "collective time wasted?"

 

[vchimpanzee]

That is going to affect a LOT of seniors and low-income families. Many of these families relay on the local channels for TV watching. Adding a sneaky charge will hurt them money-wise.

-crainbebo

They have the option, unless they live too far out in the boondocks, to buy a $10 indoor antenna from Target and go OTA. Better PQ and no cable bill.

Not an option. Too much pixellation. I would have to pay for an outdoor antenna, which I couldn't install myself, and hope there's a place on my property where it works without trees having to be cut down. Plus I would lose WGN America and TV Guide Channel, which last time I checked had listings, though I don't use them. I use my TiVo's listings.

And VCRs don't work with a converter box without you manually setting the channel to be taped. And if you're out of the house and the channel has to be changed ... well, you're out of luck. TiVo is another matter entirely. Besides, mine will only record one show from a digital channel at a time. It will do two analog shows at once. There are too many situations where I wouldn't even realize I would lose a show that couldn't be taped.

I don't have any boxes. The cable just plugs into the back of the set where I have VHS. The TiVo is a converter box of sorts, but right now it is receiving analog.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Today (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012) I am officially predicting that an
"Obamaphone" program to pay cable bills for low-income people
will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

I agree. By April it will be here.

And seeing as how no such 'Obamaphone' program actually exists, let's sit back and ponder the collective time wasted posting that particular statement and its follow up agreement.

One proposal I saw back when the DTV conversion was taking place was requiring the satellite providers to have a cheap basic service. If you're far enough away from the city to not have cable, you're probably far enough away to not get satisfactory results with an antenna.

I just remembered one other problem. My indoor antennas point in the direction of those stations I can't get on cable. This can be useful--my cable system's ABC station has been known to pre-empt shows for "Health Digest" and "Gimme the Mike Charlotte", whereas the one I can pick up with an antenna almost never does that.

 

[landtuna]

Plus I would lose WGN America and TV Guide Channel, which last time I checked had listings, though I don't use them. I use my TiVo's listings.

For OTA viewers these are my options:

1. Listings: http://www.titantv.com/

2. OTA DVR: DVRpal - http://www.avsforum.com/t/1099071/the-official-avs-dish-dtvpal-dvr-topic This DVR records OTA digital programming only and has two ATSC tuners so you can watch one/record one or record two simultaneously. I've had mine over one year now and really like it. There are no fees for its use and it has its own program guide. It is not linked to any sort of guide as is Tivo so if a scheduled program runs late or moves time periods after scheduling the DVR will record the schedule times and will not automatically adjust as does Tivo. This has not happened to us over the past year though so not a big issue.

If you are watching live or recorded TV you can pause, back-up, forward or replay and obviously you can skip commercials using fast forward or skip in 30-second increments.

It will record in the broadcast native mode - either HD or SD and has a 250GB hard drive so storage is not an issue even at HD settings.

 

[KeithE4]

They have the option, unless they live too far out in the boondocks, to buy a $10 indoor antenna from Target and go OTA. Better PQ and no cable bill.

Anyone who buys a cheap $10 pair of rabbit ears will be disappointed. I have a set on the TV in my study and even with the switch, I've found that this antenna is almost worthless - even at my location 5 miles SE of South Mountain. I get better reception when I insert an unbent paper clip into the antenna jack.

The problem is directivity - actually, the lack thereof. Digital TV signals have zero tolerance for phasing issues. While phasing problems caused ghosts in the analog days, they can kill the digital signal even when there is plenty of signal there. A directional antenna is a must for DTV, especially on UHF. That's what the switch on the cheap rabbit ears is supposed to compensate for, but they don't work that well.

I use a Terk HDTVa antenna on my big TV in the living room. It has a preamp, but it seems to be well-designed and doesn't cause any problems despite my being close to the towers. It's highly directional on UHF, but has the basic "rabbit ear" dipoles on VHF. The latter still causes me problems at times on Channels 8, 10, and 12. Shortening the elements to about 14" each (1/4 wavelength at Channel 10) and positioning them horizontally helps.

And, BTW, don't bother with the aluminum foil squares at the ends of the VHF elements. That won't matter. ;D

 

[landtuna]

Anyone who buys a cheap $10 pair of rabbit ears will be disappointed. I have a set on the TV in my study and even with the switch, I've found that this antenna is almost worthless - even at my location 5 miles SE of South Mountain. I get better reception when I insert an unbent paper clip into the antenna jack.

Do you remember all the discussions on the board after the DTV conversion and specifically the problems I was having with my big combo outdoor antenna and the VHF channels? The answer, for me, was to buy that $10 rabbit ear/UHF loop antenna from Target and connect one to each set. Problem almost solved. I still have problems with 8, 10 and 12 (all RF) but it is a lot better than it was with the outdoor, rooftop antenna. The times when I have to use 10.2 instead of 10.1 are almost gone and the other two stations are almost to the "reliable" stage. I have never had any problem with the Phoenix UHF's.

And, BTW, don't bother with the aluminum foil squares at the ends of the VHF elements. That won't matter. ;D

I made mine into a bowl and wear it on my head. It keeps that irritating buzzing noise away. ;D