Cox Cable attempts to live up to its name

BustaMike · December 8, 2003, 15:03

Did you know these bastards are trying to remove ESPN from basic cable service? Check this out...

http://msn.espn.go.com/gen/espncablestanceindex.html

If they remove ESPN I can assure you my cable will be cancelled on the same day.

Shogun Gunner · December 8, 2003, 15:07

They still have good cable modem service...

Boris Godunov · December 8, 2003, 15:09

Shoot, I was hoping this was about their starting a gay porn channel.

asleepathewheel · December 8, 2003, 15:10

roflmao

no espn? Hello satellite.

rah · December 8, 2003, 15:12

That would suck.

Our cable company just started offering ESPND (HDTV) in our area.
It is WONDERFUL. I find myself watching a lot of games in HD that I would never have watched before.

Boris Godunov · December 8, 2003, 15:13

Quote:

Originally posted by rah
That would suck.

So would my scenario.

Imran Siddiqui · December 8, 2003, 15:14

rich bastard

rah · December 8, 2003, 15:18

Boris, Eeeeeeeeeeeeiw.

Imran, Not rich, just willing to pay for quality entertainment. But seeing that my cable bill runs about 150 a month, you may be right.

MRT144 · December 8, 2003, 15:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Shoot, I was hoping this was about their starting a gay porn channel.

one can dream boris

Shogun Gunner · December 8, 2003, 15:21

nothing like seeing that action right up front on the big screen...

oh, and the athletic contests are good also.

Imran Siddiqui · December 8, 2003, 15:21

Quote:

But seeing that my cable bill runs about 150 a month, you may be right.

Hehehe... that's what I thought

.

I have little, but I pay $100/mo.

... of course that includes my cable modem.

MRT144 · December 8, 2003, 15:22

Jesus, is cox really that stupid? ESPN is essential to life! not only would i miss the latest scores and whatnot, id also miss out on the sunday night game, and all the college sports.

Imran Siddiqui · December 8, 2003, 15:24

I'm guessing you guys should start a letter writing campaign or something. ESPN is ESSENTIAL for basic cable. It is one of those networks (along with Comedy, Travel, CNN, SpikeTV and Food) why basic cable actually makes sense

.

Dis · December 8, 2003, 15:26

ahh I was going to make a thread on this. I wasn't sure if this was just a local thing where I live. But I do realize Cox cable goes all the way to the east coast- I had it in Newport News, VA.

In any case I think there is enough blame for both sides. ESPN is the most expensive station on basic cable. And these athletes high paychecks are requiring NFL, NBA to charge ESPN more to carry live games. And if ESPN doesn't carry live games they won't be much of a sport channel. So these costs trickle on down to the cable companies because advertising cannot cover the costs.

Personally I don't care that much. I live in a city where you can watch the game at a local bar or sports book. Though I would prefer to watch the game in the comfort of my own home. But aside from football coverage I hardly watch ESPN, and will not pay extra for it.

rah · December 8, 2003, 15:27

Yeah, mine includes my cable modem also and all the Showtimes, HBOs, Starzs, TMCs, Skinimaxs and a host of other premium channels. Add the HDTV package for another 10 a month and it adds up quickly.

AND IT"S WORTH EVERY PENNY.

It's an outgrowth from when our daughter was growing up and we could NEVER go out. (I now wonder about that)

General Ludd · December 8, 2003, 15:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Shoot, I was hoping this was about their starting a gay porn channel.

Well, they do cover wrestling on ESPN, don't they?

Dis · December 8, 2003, 15:31

mine is $104. That includes cable modem- I bought my cable modem, I don't rent it. I have digital cable and HBO is my only premium channel.

Far too expensive. I just got it under $100 a few months ago by cancelling showtime, but they raised the rates again

. I would prefer to keep it under $100, but oh well. Maybe I'll get rid of the digital cable- but I like being able to push the info button to figure out what I'm watching

rah · December 8, 2003, 15:40

Our modem is included free with the 45.99 monthly charge. They've upgraded ours three times and tell us to throw away the old ones.

The last time they sent us a free webcam and lots of software to do the upgrade ourselves to save their installers time. The instructions were about 50 pages long, which I ingored, and did the upgrade in about 60 seconds.

SpencerH · December 8, 2003, 15:52

Funny coincidence. I just changed my cable modem saturday (charter cable) and of course my home LAN no longer had access to the web. After much trial and error, and eventually getting someone at charter-help who actually knew the difference between his head and his ass (and could therefore confirm my suspicions) I had to buy a new router ($100). At least the speed seems very good I was downloading some stuff at an average of >250KB yesterday.

EDIT I pay $120 for everything

Imran Siddiqui · December 8, 2003, 16:31

Quote:

It's an outgrowth from when our daughter was growing up and we could NEVER go out. (I now wonder about that)

So you provided your daughter with plenty of free porn on Showtime and Skinamax. I wish I had a dad like you

.

rah · December 8, 2003, 16:40

No, not my whole family, just me.

mrmitchell · December 8, 2003, 18:04

Cutting ESPN will be the last ruinous decision Cocks makes.

Ned · December 8, 2003, 18:16

I have DirectTV and have to pay an extra $10 for a suite of HD channels, including ESPN. I must say that ESPN HD is unbelievable. Really worth the extra dollars.

Sarxis · December 8, 2003, 18:17

The only worthwhile thing I've seen on ESPN was the recent Kasparov vs. Fritzx3d match.

Verto · December 8, 2003, 18:52

Quote:

Originally posted by rah

It is WONDERFUL. I find myself watching a lot of games in HD that I would never have watched before.

Who cares what's on, as long as it looks so crisp.

Sava · December 8, 2003, 19:07

aw... I thought this was a thread bashing Fox news...

get it? coks, fox?

BustaMike · December 8, 2003, 20:01

Stop sniffing paint Sava

monkspider · December 8, 2003, 20:24

You guys are buying into ESPN's misinformation campaign. Cox does not want to remove ESPN at all. ESPN has been increasing it's rates to the cable companies by 20% for the past five years and refuses to be put on a seperate tier a la HBO. Cox does not want to have to raise their customers cable bills. You guys should be fighting against ESPN, not Cox. Let's consider the ESPN things a bit further: Cox pays ESPN a monthly wholesale rate of $2.61 per customer. Over the last five years, ESPN has raised its prices by 20 percent annually; if this trend is allowed to continue ESPN could cost $10 per month in less than a decade.

For a more realistic view of the subject, consider these following quotations.

"The soaring cost of sports programming has pushed up cable rates, according to a study released yesterday by the General Accounting Office. The study showed that sports costs had soared 59 percent, while overall costs of cable programming had jumped 34 percent."
Excerpted from: Government Report Links Sports to Rising Cable Fees, 10/25/2003, The New York Times

"The biggest single contributor to the cable-TV price hike, the study found, comes from the additional cost of programming, particularly from sports networks like ESPN.... In May, ESPN announced a 20 percent rate increase to cable operators."
Excerpted from: Cable rates still sore subject; Report says competition benefits few, 10/25/2003, Chicago Tribune

Most customers do not watch ESPN, or even remotely care about it (myself included). Why should they be punished for ESPN's greed? I applaud Cox for this move.

monkspider · December 8, 2003, 20:27

To understand the truth about what's going on between Cox and ESPN, check out the following link.

http://makethemplayfair.com/mtpf.cfm

A couple highlights

--Cox pays $2.61 per customer per month (or about $170 million per year) to distribute ESPN. ESPN is Cox's highest-priced standard-cable channel. In fact, it costs more than the price of the seven top-rated standard-cable networks combined.

--ESPN prices are disproportionate to their ratings. They account for approximately 18% of Cox's standard-cable programming costs, but only about 4% of standard-cable's prime-time viewing.

--In the past five years, the price of ESPN has risen three times greater than the price of the about 40 other major standard-cable networks.

Imran Siddiqui · December 8, 2003, 20:28

Quote:

Cox does not want to remove ESPN at all. ESPN has been increasing it's rates to the cable companies by 20% for the past five years and refuses to be put on a seperate tier a la HBO. Cox does not want to have to raise their customers cable bills.

So are you saying Cox isn't removing ESPN? Because if they do not want to remove ESPN, they wouldn't.