TV Guide Channel to ditch listings

[MarcB]

Here in Bristol, CT the TV Guide Channel is useless. It's on Digital Channels 72 and 100 and the channel numbers are wrong. Channels 24 NECN, 37 Tru-TV, and 38 Hallmark are Digital Only and are not listed. Also Analog Channels 19, 20, 21, 98 are wrong. They're listed as Educational Channel, CT Network, Goverment TV, and Weather Channel Respectively. Analog 19 is Weather Channel. 20 and 21 are blank. 98 is CT Network. And The Educational and Government Channels are on analog Channels 95 and 96 respectively.

As for the channel line-up of COMCAST there's one oddity. CPTV (Conneticut's PBS affiliate) is on both analog channel 7 and digital channel 97.

 

[MarcB]

and why did they cancel Matlock anyway?

Good News. Reruns of Matlock can be seen Monday-Friday at 3PM & 4PM Eastern on Hallmark Channel.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I'm not taking the time to read all this now, but I think we're entitled to a channel like this.

I just got cable. Of course, I used this channel in motels.

About 20 years ago, I could heart nice music from a radio station with the TV listings.

The channel had inoffensive programming to begin with, but lately, I find the programming unacceptable. We shouldn't be subjected to shows that are in bad taste unless we choose to. The standards ought to be higher when we're a captive audience.

I just use the newspaper at home and if it's outdated, I blame the networks for not promoting the changes.

I dropped TV Guide when they dropped local listings. I actually heard they dropped one of the broadcast networks and they may not even have had them all anyway. So I would have dropped them.

 

[imhomerjay]

I'm not taking the time to read all this now, but I think we're entitled to a channel like this.

None of us are 'entitled' to any particular type of satellite/cable channel. We may like it, want it, miss it when it's gone and what have you...but entitled? The business owners, in this case the company that owns the channel, is the one with the entitlement, as it's their business.

The channel had inoffensive programming to begin with, but lately, I find the programming unacceptable. We shouldn't be subjected to shows that are in bad taste unless we choose to. The standards ought to be higher when we're a captive audience.

Is someone holding you against your will? If not, you're not a captive audience. Your TV, like all others, has an 'off' switch, so you're not 'subjected' to anything other than by your own choice, as are all of us. If enough people opt not to watch, the programming goes away. Basic economics. Moreover, maybe some folks don't care for your judgement call of what is or isn't acceptable and prefer to make their own decisions.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I'm not taking the time to read all this now, but I think we're entitled to a channel like this.

None of us are 'entitled' to any particular type of satellite/cable channel. We may like it, want it, miss it when it's gone and what have you...but entitled? The business owners, in this case the company that owns the channel, is the one with the entitlement, as it's their business.

Yes, we are. In a motel room, what other choice do we have?

The channel had inoffensive programming to begin with, but lately, I find the programming unacceptable. We shouldn't be subjected to shows that are in bad taste unless we choose to. The standards ought to be higher when we're a captive audience.

Is someone holding you against your will? If not, you're not a captive audience. Your TV, like all others, has an 'off' switch, so you're not 'subjected' to anything other than by your own choice, as are all of us. If enough people opt not to watch, the programming goes away. Basic economics. Moreover, maybe some folks don't care for your judgement call of what is or isn't acceptable and prefer to make their own decisions.

I repeat, how else are you going to know what's on if you're in a motel room?

Yes, I am being held against my will, as I have no other way to know what's on. And the longer it takes for all the channels to rotate, the longer it takes.

 

[imhomerjay]

Yes, we are. In a motel room, what other choice do we have?

Wanting does not equal entitlement. Motels existed many a year before any such thing as a TV Guide (or similar) channel. Even today, I've done plenty of traveling and can't recall the last time I came across a scrolling guide channel in any hotel. Guess what? I figured out what was on by flipping through the channels. Amazing how well that works. There's a choice right there. Another is, I don't know, maybe turning off the TV if you don't like not having a guide? Maybe if you travel with a computer, looking it up online? Sorry, the 'no other choices' bit doesn't fly. Nor is anyone obligated to give you what you want, profitability be damned.

I repeat, how else are you going to know what's on if you're in a motel room?

See above. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yes, I am being held against my will, as I have no other way to know what's on.

If someone has taken you by force to a motel (and by the way, not everyone spends as much time in motels as you seem to obsess over), then you have a bigger problem than the TV not having a scrolling guide channel. You have a choice. Check the channels yourself. Turn off the TV. Look up the listings online. Nothing in there is a forced scenario. Watching TV is, repeat after me, voluntary.

And the longer it takes for all the channels to rotate, the longer it takes.

Um, yeah, that's how it works.

 

[tomservo]

I repeat, how else are you going to know what's on if you're in a motel room?

Yes, I am being held against my will, as I have no other way to know what's on. And the longer it takes for all the channels to rotate, the longer it takes.

Do we need to call the police? ;D

This sounds like an opportunity to market a device to motels that creates a local barker channel with scrolling guide. It would make sense since most hotels and motels have their own in-house distribution system that is lined-up different from the local cable/DBS provider.

But come to think of it, I've always seen these scrolling "what's on" feeds at hotels and motels that were tailored to the property's lineup, so someone is obviously already on top of that.

 

[Madmansam]

Yes, we are. In a motel room, what other choice do we have?

Wanting does not equal entitlement. Motels existed many a year before any such thing as a TV Guide (or similar) channel. Even today, I've done plenty of traveling and can't recall the last time I came across a scrolling guide channel in any hotel. Guess what? I figured out what was on by flipping through the channels. Amazing how well that works. There's a choice right there. Another is, I don't know, maybe turning off the TV if you don't like not having a guide? Maybe if you travel with a computer, looking it up online? Sorry, the 'no other choices' bit doesn't fly. Nor is anyone obligated to give you what you want, profitability be damned.

I repeat, how else are you going to know what's on if you're in a motel room?

See above. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yes, I am being held against my will, as I have no other way to know what's on.

If someone has taken you by force to a motel (and by the way, not everyone spends as much time in motels as you seem to obsess over), then you have a bigger problem than the TV not having a scrolling guide channel. You have a choice. Check the channels yourself. Turn off the TV. Look up the listings online. Nothing in there is a forced scenario. Watching TV is, repeat after me, voluntary.

And the longer it takes for all the channels to rotate, the longer it takes.

Um, yeah, that's how it works.

When I used to travel, I'd always buy a local TV Guide magazine to check out the local listings for watching on a Motel TV. Then I'd have a souvener when I got home. You can't do that nowadays!

 

[vchimpanzee]

Yes, we are. In a motel room, what other choice do we have?

Wanting does not equal entitlement. Motels existed many a year before any such thing as a TV Guide (or similar) channel. Even today, I've done plenty of traveling and can't recall the last time I came across a scrolling guide channel in any hotel. Guess what? I figured out what was on by flipping through the channels. Amazing how well that works. There's a choice right there. Another is, I don't know, maybe turning off the TV if you don't like not having a guide? Maybe if you travel with a computer, looking it up online? Sorry, the 'no other choices' bit doesn't fly. Nor is anyone obligated to give you what you want, profitability be damned.

I do not, and will not, travel with a computer (this would require buying a laptop and choosing my motel based on whether I can use it, which is too much tom deal with), and I will not change channels to see what's on, since that doesn't work either. Does someone actually tell you what's on when you arrive on the desired channel? No. Does someone tell you what will be on? Not unless you happen to see a commercial while you're doing it. And what happens if I got there late because no one would tell me ahead of time what was on? And I will not turn off the TV. If I am staying in a motel, the cable company is obligated, in some way, shape or form, to tell me what's on. It has been this way since 1990.

If someone has taken you by force to a motel (and by the way, not everyone spends as much time in motels as you seem to obsess over), then you have a bigger problem than the TV not having a scrolling guide channel. You have a choice. Check the channels yourself. Turn off the TV. Look up the listings online. Nothing in there is a forced scenario. Watching TV is, repeat after me, voluntary.

I stay in motels seven nights a year, but so what? If I want to watch TV in a motel, I will watch TV in a motel. If I know in advance what will be on from my newspaper's TV listings, that's helpful, and I suppose if I knew in advance that the listings wouldn't be on the screen, I could take those along, but that assumes all the cable channels in my newspaper are there and that the network affiliates where I am staying will have the correct programming. And I repeat my previous statement about networks making last-minute decisions.

[/quote]

 

[vchimpanzee]

When I used to travel, I'd always buy a local TV Guide magazine to check out the local listings for watching on a Motel TV. Then I'd have a souvener when I got home. You can't do that nowadays!

I did that too. But depending on what time of the week I did it, it might be next week's, which would be no good. But I liked having a sample of how TV was in the different areas. My parents went to Washington, D.C. in 1975 and I got two TV Guides from the two areas we traveled through. I still have all my TV Guides from the different areas. As a matter of fact, I missed getting my TV Guide once and called them to get a replacement because, at the time, I actully cared about the articles. Plus I wanted to have a record of what was on that week on the networks. They said they couldn't get me the local edition, but hey, that was okay as long as I had the articles. And I got to see what programming was like somewhere else. I still have that TV Guide.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This sounds like an opportunity to market a device to motels that creates a local barker channel with scrolling guide. It would make sense since most hotels and motels have their own in-house distribution system that is lined-up different from the local cable/DBS provider.

But come to think of it, I've always seen these scrolling "what's on" feeds at hotels and motels that were tailored to the property's lineup, so someone is obviously already on top of that.

I first saw it in 1990, and they had the local radio station that played easy listening/big band music. I thought it was a neat idea. But I watched that station just to hear the good music. The truth is, back then I didn't care what was on cable as I had never been able to afford it at home and didn't really miss it. A few years ago, I did care because certain shows I liked had moved to cable and staying in a motel gave me the opportunity to watch. But I would have looked these up in advance.

The place I'm staying in a couple of weeks is the type place where you bring a date, so I'm thinking they just have what the cable company provides to everyone. Nearby, it's a resort/business center with its own setup independent of the cable company (at least that's how they did it 10 years ago). A few years ago a translator or translators went out and they didn't have good signals from the the stations because of mountains (imagine that scenario today with digital).