Does anyone else have DirecTV?

[W4GPL]

And are you incredibly annoyed at losing 26 channels too? :rant:

My biggest complaint is having lost Comedy Central.. I figured they'd resolve it in a day, but it looks like we're into the first week and no resolution in sight.

First world problems, but blah.

[W4GPL]

Now this is some bullshit...

Viacom has yanked access to some of its more popular programming that was available free on company websites. Fans can no longer watch full episodes of shows like "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "iCarly" or "Jersey Shore" and "The Daily Show"

I only really care about the last one, but that's crap.

[KC9ECI]

I got rid of them 2 years ago. Between my Roku, Western Digital Media Center, Netflix and TPB, I get all the tv I need without pouring money in their pocket.

[KG4NEL]

Hmm, and here I was about to tell Dish off for getting rid of AMC and IFC.

[W4GPL]

Yeah, I watch my Roku quite a bit.. I have called DirecTV to try to get out my contract, they weren't willing to relent -- they were willing to give me $10 off, but I declined. I don't want them to think $10 gets them off the hook. If I'm feeling frisky, I may drop them anyways and take them to arbitration, I suspect they'll let me go if I push them hard enough. The cancellation fee will be less than ~$200 at this point, so either way..

[kf0rt]

Comcast here, big pipe. Son-in-law works there, so we get it (kinda) for free. I back-pay the kids on this.

Reality: Everything here has to be PG or lesser, and I'm not much of a Cars fan. 46" Samsung and a kilowatt of Yamaha audio into JBL speakers. It was a hoot a few years ago, but apparently showing Clint Eastwood to little kids is bad voodoo these days, so watching TV is a bit dicey. It all still works, but not much fun these days.

Got Jon Stewart on delay, but he's starting to get a bit old....

As am I.

[NA4BH]

I saw the Direct TV announcement on one of the many monitors at the home office last week. We have been kicking around the satellite TV route, but I guess that's a thing of the past now. They cut out all the good stuff.

[KJ3N]

Verizon FiOS here.

[W5GA]

I had it for about 2 months, right up until I realized they weren't honoring the pricing that they'd advertised via AT&T. I had a very long and bitter call with the their customer (no) service folks and ended up telling them to pound sand. They attempted to charge me their $500 early termination fee, but as soon as I got off the phone with them, I cancelled that card and got a new one. I absolutely refuse to pay them.

[w2amr]

Verizon here. About 8000 channels available, I watch about 5.

[suddenseer]

I got rid of them 2 years ago. Between my Roku, Western Digital Media Center, Netflix and TPB, I get all the tv I need without pouring money in their pocket.yes between Netflix, and Hulu plus. I have almost the cable channels for $16.00 for both channels.

[PA5COR]

Motorised satellite dish, 55 east to 55 west gets me all channels i wish to see, limited subscription to our provider for Dutch channels, and the rest is FTA, free to air, 1000's of channels and radio stations in every genre you could like.
Build my own reciever in the analog time, as well 2 meter dish, when satellite just started, progressed to a digital reciever and got a triax 1.1 meter dish.
all includes a bunch of USA channels, From CNN NBC etc.
As admin from a satellite board i've been involved in the hacking scene a long time, analogthen digital, so mostly i had all packages open that were encrypted.

Not bothering to do that anymore, for my choice what i want to see is all free or opened up by the subscription.

[KC9ECI]

I forgot I have Hulu+. I don't use it, but the wife and kids do so I forget I have it. I'm a bit pissed about H+. I have to pay, plus I have to get the ads.

[W3WN]

It's not a new story... sometimes it's DirecTV, sometimes it's DiSH, sometimes it's Comcast. Haven't heard about it with Verizon FiOS yet, but it will happen one day with them as well.

It's very simple, really. "Carriage" The provider (to you) is obligated to pay the source of programming. The amount is determined by a complicated formula that takes into effect how many subscribers, and how many they determine actually watch (or are willing to watch) the programming.

The cause of these outages is that the provider & the source can not agree on the amounts to be paid for some or all of the channels in question. In short: Greed. For the most part, it is the source that wants more money... sometimes with justification, sometimes not. Or they want a higher amount for all channels so that the provider will continue to to get a given premium or popular channel. And other variations thereof, pick your poison. ... and yes, sometimes the provider offers less money to renew the contract as well, I don't want them to appear to be totally blameless.

So when these lovely disputes happen, we the viewers end up as the ones screwed. Of course, the lawyers on each side of the bargaining table? They're the legal equivalent of Honey Badger: They Don't Care.

Now, WRT to DirecTV, we had them in the early days, continued the service for something like 9 or 10 years. Their customer service went from great to good to OK to... service? The main impetus for these changes... usually coincided with changes of ownership. The last ownership we dealt with, and that was about 5 years ago, tried to con us regarding the ownership of our receiver boxes (I bought the originals, exchanged them under service plan -- and still owned the replacements -- but when I went to cancel, they claimed that the units were rentals & had to be returned. Change of terms on the service plan, you see... a change made six months AFTER the units were replaced)... that our 1 year "after move" agreement was now 18 months, and it had only been 17... and so on.

After I finally got the service cancelled, they billed the credit card for one extra month's service. Of course, as soon as I saw it, I called up the CC company, explained the situation, and had the charge declined. They promised to sue. I have yet to hear from them on that...

but I now get monthly "we want you back!" letters from them. Right.

[NY3V]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-july-16-2012-louis-c-k-
Now this is some bullshit...

Viacom has yanked access to some of its more popular programming that was available free on company websites. Fans can no longer watch full episodes of shows like "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "iCarly" or "Jersey Shore" and "The Daily Show"

I only really care about the last one, but that's crap.

You missed another great Daily Show:


http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-july-16-2012-louis-c-k-

[w2amr]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-july-16-2012-louis-c-k-

You missed another great Daily Show:


http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-july-16-2012-louis-c-k-
Excellent. What a lying sack of shit this guy is.

[ab1ga]

Perhaps, one day, in my dreams, we will have a la carte programming, with transport provided on a common-carriage basis.

[suddenseer]

Now this is some bullshit...

Viacom has yanked access to some of its more popular programming that was available free on company websites. Fans can no longer watch full episodes of shows like "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "iCarly" or "Jersey Shore" and "The Daily Show"

I only really care about the last one, but that's crap.The Daily Show is on Hulu+

[suddenseer]

I forgot I have Hulu+. I don't use it, but the wife and kids do so I forget I have it. I'm a bit pissed about H+. I have to pay, plus I have to get the ads.They call it "limited interruption"

[suddenseer]

Perhaps, one day, in my dreams, we will have a la carte programming, with transport provided on a common-carriage basis.From what I have read, that is available in Canada.

[WØTKX]

Daily Show website has full episodes and longer interviews with guests.