Free cable?

[Colly0410]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Is there still a "viewing tax" per tv set levied in England? I remember reading years ago that "video sniffer" vans randomly drove through neighborhoods, monitoring tv usage, so that people that were not paying the tax could be fined.

jr

Originally Posted by centralradio

I'm only paying, US $35 bucks here for basic 25 cable channels with Comcast.I would not pay them anymore.Meantime I can watch most of other stuff via Youtube and other free video websites.

The cable TV part of the bill is 15 pounds, but that is refunded so it's in effect free. I would never pay for it as Freeview (OTA antenna TV) is free + I watch You Tube & other free video streaming websites..

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by Colly0410

The cable TV part of the bill is 15 pounds, but that is refunded so it's in effect free. I would never pay for it as Freeview (OTA antenna TV) is free + I watch You Tube & other free video streaming websites..

Yes .You guys have the TV licence over there.in the last few years our cable companies had to tack on a a $5.00 dollar broadcast fee to our cable bills every month to recoup the rebroadcast rights fee that the station charge to have them on the cable line up.I think its BS since the station are already making money with their adverts with better coverage.I say the stations are corrupt.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by centralradio

Yes .You guys have the TV licence over there.in the last few years our cable companies had to tack on a a $5.00 dollar broadcast fee to our cable bills every month to recoup the rebroadcast rights fee that the station charge to have them on the cable line up.I think its BS since the station are already making money with their adverts with better coverage.I say the stations are corrupt.

I don't really watch the locals, and I think they should be a-la-carte. If I don't watch it why should I pay for it? Those stations would get a nice slice of humble pie if only the users that wanted them enough to pay that $5 actually paid them...

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

I turned down a basic package like that from Cox - 33 channels for 35 dollars/mo - 11 of the channels were OTA clear here (I can receive 32 channels OTA), and 3 were preview channels for OnDemand video, and still no ESPN for SEC games.

I got Sling TV instead, and pay less for the channels, but I still pay Cox for internet....

You are lucky to receive the OTA locals there.Not a sports fan here so I save bucks with the fat ESPN and other sports channel subscriber fees.I can do without the dishonest bias news outlets since I can get better news coverage online. Documentary shows from the History channel,Discovery channel and other channels are all on Youtube so I dont have to watch all the filler reality shows between them.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I don't really watch the locals, and I think they should be a-la-carte. If I don't watch it why should I pay for it? Those stations would get a nice slice of humble pie if only the users that wanted them enough to pay that $5 actually paid them...

I agree with a-la-carte. Yes if they go a-la-carte .All the weak cable channels will close up shop as I read this years ago in the trade mags.I dont need the sports channels,Different language channels,Reality crap show channels,Shopping channels.

[Robert Grant]

What you get for free in the UK with Freeview drastically surpasses what a Yankee viewer gets with an antenna (er....aerial). In some areas here, especially very rural areas, one is not even assured of seeing all the national networks.

The more populated in area in the USA is, the more channels you can expect to see. However, all of the DTV (also called OTA) channels, other than the major networks are dominated by religious broadcasters and "classic TV" channels with reruns of old series (locally, on 24.3, for example- Dr. Who, but episodes so old that one can clearly tell they were 405 line monochrome!). One exception is a subchannel network called "Bounce", which, while mostly reruns, is having new programming made for their prime time (evening) schedule. Bounce has programming targeted to the African-American audience, though is in the clear to anyone in its coverage area. I've watched several movies on Bounce myself, though I'm "not the target audience".

Sports programming is particularly scarce on free TV in the US, though we still have the World Series (baseball) and Super Bowl (Gridiron Football) in the clear. Oddly, if you want to see you local college Gridiron Football teams on TV, you'll pay out the nose for it, but a viewer in Michigan may be able to watch Idaho State vs. Utah for free.

Cable TV in the US has something of a "fiscal cliff effect", with nearly all cable-only channels demanding that cable systems carry ALL of their channels to ALL of the cable company's subscribers and charging a per-subscriber fee for ALL the customers. Right now, the Monthly bill for cable or satellite TV services is around $120 USD (£96), and keeps rising faster than wages.

One good thing about free TV in the US is that the major networks are usually in superb HD.

[centralradio]

I just my Comcast bill today and as always they will be jacking up their rates.For me only the The BS broadcast TV fees went up $2 bucks to $7 from $5.00.Thanks to the greed from local TV stations for that.They should be thankful for the cable coverage especially digital signals dont go anywhere like analog did in the past.The cable companies have to charge the subscribers this fee to pay the local stations for their rebroadcast rights in order to keep them in the cable channel lineup.I say let the cable companies drop the channels and have the viewers flood the channels Face Book ,Twitter,email,phone in saying stop the greed or we will boycott your channel.Maybe its time to jack up the advertising rates at the stations and the networks.

[Colly0410]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

What you get for free in the UK with Freeview drastically surpasses what a Yankee viewer gets with an antenna (er....aerial). In some areas here, especially very rural areas, one is not even assured of seeing all the national networks.

Yes the full amount of Freeview channels are available over most of the country, a few very low power relay transmitters carry Freeview lite, it has all the main channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & 5 etc) but not ones like QVC & the selling channels, mind you most people don't watch them anyway. There is also Freesat & Freesat from SKY for those who want more channels who live in the few Freeview lite areas. I have some friends who live in Ireland & every single one of them has Freesat & watch British TV a lot, they have to put a British postcode in on setup & some have put mine, lol..