http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/ Engadget HD Comments for http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
And what the hell, its KMOV...for those that don't know thats our CBS affiliate...

Who the hell (aside from my grandmother) watches CBS?]]>Jan 3rd 2007 12:28PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Really though, it can't be that many.......]]>Jan 3rd 2007 12:40PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/This is terrible. They're using the best time of the year for HD as leverage to fatten their wallets. Do you think they care that their viewers are the ones who will ultimately suffer from this? ]]>Jan 3rd 2007 1:05PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 3rd 2007 1:15PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx type in your address and follow the recommended antenna type. I got one for twenty bucks and it also allows you to get ABC HD also not available on charter. Ridiculous.]]>Jan 3rd 2007 1:35PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 3rd 2007 1:34PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 3rd 2007 1:36PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 3rd 2007 1:36PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
This is not true! We also don't get ABC in HD. I live in the fringe where you can only get HD via cable, off air signal is not powerfull enough to reach me. When I emailed them and asked why no ABC, I got a form letere that said some thing to the effect of "thanks for the input, we are adding channels all the time, keep holding your breath"

Their internet service is also slow, prone to drop outs and over priced. The juste raised the price of most services this week from 2 to 5 dollars, depending on the package.]]>Jan 3rd 2007 2:06PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 3rd 2007 2:14PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Hopefully this doesn't turn into a Charter vs. Belo pissing contest, because then we would lose ABC HD]]>Jan 3rd 2007 3:51PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/


It's obvious that you all live in STL from the hate spewed forth do to the company "whose name we dare not speak."


Charter internet? Are you serious? For me, it has literally been down more than it has been up. That is NOT an exaggeration. I'd jump on DSL for 50/month, but they don't offer it on the dark side. And if you consider 100mb blazing fast (that's measured instead of the quoted marketing speeds), then sure, Charter cable is blazing fast.]]>Jan 3rd 2007 2:54PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Their the only cable in my area, so I have no choice. No, I'm not getting satellite.

Anyways...Charter is now outsourcing their customer support to India. I called the other night and spoke to an Indian phone rep.

CRAZY!!!]]>Jan 3rd 2007 4:24PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Besides, would you rather they just raise you bills to compensate for being charged to carry those HD channels?]]>Jan 3rd 2007 10:15PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Belo pulled the same crap in the New Orleans market with Cox cable. Cox said FU and dropped the channels from the lineup. Belo is the real crook here.

Having said this, I'm lucky to have Comcast. It's expensive but their HD lineup is great and picture quality is insanely better than DirecTV or Dish.]]>Jan 3rd 2007 11:50PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 4th 2007 7:24AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 4th 2007 12:50PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
If you're arguing that it has no value because it is free over the air, then why does Charter even want the local networks in the first place? Because it is convenient for their viewers. They're selling the convenience. They will lose subscribers over this, so there is obviously some value associated with the local channels. Charter provides poor customer service, poor compressed HD picture and outrageous fees for a marginal product and service. ]]>Jan 4th 2007 5:05PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 4th 2007 9:45PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
For the record in response to the comment regarding the number of HD channels Charter carries in STL, I believe we are at 14 even without CBS. I don't know how that compares to other cable companies in other cities but that seems like a pretty decent number of channels.]]>Jan 5th 2007 2:56PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/]]>Jan 6th 2007 1:58AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/No. 1: They mess up our bill every month.
No. 2: When you call to get your bill corrected, you call someone in India who you may or may not be able to understand and may or may or may not be able to help you.
No. 3: If you have a technical problem, you do not get a Charter technician, you get a contractor whose job is to get to as many houses in the day as possible and they never actually fix your problem. If you're lucky, the third time you call and complain about the problem, Charter might actually send you a Charter employee to fix it.
Sorry if these comments disturb you, but you don't live in a vaccuum. You have to know that the vast majority of Charter customers are somehow dissatisfied with the service.]]>Jan 6th 2007 2:04AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
I can however, comment about this situation in general. I worked in the finance department of a Cable TV provider for three years. 90% of my job revolved around content provider fees, taxes and licensing fees.

Most cable companies in general do not make any money on Basic, Expanded basic, Digital or HD service. They generally break even or in some cases take a loss. This is a direct result of all the fees associated with cable service. Profits come from leasing equipment, pay per view, and premium channels and other services.

Fees for content can be as little as penny's per subscriber per month up to tens of dollars per subscriber per month. The smaller the cable company, the higher the fees and the higher your cable bill. In addition to the regular programming fees, programmers can require additional fees for special events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics. For instance I know of atleast one contract that requires a cable operator to pay a monthly programming fee per subscriber for a total of ten years for each "olympics" held, so for instance, the 2004 olympics in athens were completed 3 years ago, but you as a consumer will be paying for that single olympics for 7 more years. You are also paying for the 2000 Summer Olympics (3 more years) the 2002 Winter Olympics (five more years), the 2006 Winter games (9 more years) and in another year you can add 10 years of paying for the 2008 Summer Games. Just a reminder, NBC holds the current contract to broadcast the olympics and are the ones making these program fee demands.

The local stations traditionally have made thier revenue from advertising and the rates they set are based on viewership. This is were we have commercials, and it is an unspoken rule that the trade off for having free over the air local tv is watching the commercials. Additionally, each cable operator pays the copyright fees associated with the local programing they offer based on thier subscriber numbers, so you watch KMOV on Charter, Charter pays the Copyright Fees for you watching KMOV. Only local stations get away with cable providers paying copyright fees. other channels such as say MTV are responsible for thier own copyright and licensing fees. As well as fees to the Music Industry as well, for all of the music used in commercials aired on the local stations you watch on your provided cable.

In fact, I imagine that each one of you would be stunned to find out how much of your cable bill actually goes to: Programming Fees, Licensing Fees, Copyright Fees, Franchise Fees, City Sales Tax, State Sales Tax, Sin/Amusement Taxes, Public Access Fees, Right of Way Fees, Special Event Fees, and on and on... and you could be paying for your mayor, city workers/officials, school officials/principles/super's, etc., to have cable tv in thier offices, because it is in the franchise contract that allows the cable provider to offer service in your city, did you know that?

So before I go too much further with my thoughts, those of you that are in this situation should be asking the owners of the local station, the programming providers, your mayors, your council people, and/or a whole lot of other people why they want so much money so you can watch tv. I guarantee you, if KMOV gets money for HD signal, they will get it for digital Signal as well, and YOU will see an increase to your bill, and in a couple of years when there is no more analog signal, everyone will be paying to watch that local station... and as soon as you are paying for KMOV all the other local stations will be there with thier hands out for programming fees...

If you think the cable companies are making all the money you are wrong, it is all the programming providers that are really bringing it in. ]]>Jan 6th 2007 1:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 6th 2007 7:23PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
As to your assertion that they are making a buck off the back of the broadcasters, I can tell you from experience most cable tv providers don't make very much from any tv chanel other then Premium such as HBO and Pay Per View. your local broadcast channels, abc, nbc, cbs, etc, are more then likely losses by the time all the fees, taxes, and licensing is paid on them.

The requirement to have Digital service to have HD Service is really about the contracts the HD Channels have with the cable operators. For Instance, a Contract for Discovery could require that for each Discovery HD Sub the programming fees for Discovery Digital Package also have to be paid. Not to long ago, the FCC ruled that cable operators could provide you with individual channels, as it suited you, rather then having every channel in a service level, you could choose to pay for only the Nasa channel. Why havn't we seen this offered to consumers? Because the content providers contracts prevent this from happening.

This isn't about advertising dollars, this issue is about content providers getting more money out of the consumers. The cable companies are the ones stuck in the middle. ]]>Jan 7th 2007 1:58PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Moxi is horrible, you can only record 4 hd movies and the hard drive is filled. With satellite dvrs you can record up to 50 hours of hd content! The moxi menu is unresponsive and not user friendly and the worst part... They have disconnected all of the ports on the moxi. If you bought an $80 DVI cable for hd like I did, guess what you are out of luck. I called and asked why the DVI port has been deactivated and after 1 hour of talking to different reps and demanding a manager I was told that the official response is we don't know and will send someone out. I had just had someone out to the house and they told me that all DVI ports have been deactivated. THEY LIE!!! They are an evil company that rapes you of your American dollars. Don't forget that this is a capitalistic society and our dollars will fix this problem.

I am currently switching to satellite just for the principle. Two days ago I went to charters site and tried to email my disgust with the cbs deal because I knew if I called it would be an hour conversation and I would not get anything done. I received a quick response that said their email service to customer support is not working. GO FIGURE!!!]]>Jan 7th 2007 7:17PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
]]>Jan 7th 2007 7:02PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
As for some people thinking of going to Directv, their HD service isn't impressive at all. For those not familiar with their HD signal, their resolution is 1280x1080i (if I remember correctly) and everything is highly compressed to where if there is alot of movement, everything gets blocky and unwatchable. Comparing Directv's HD signal vs OTA SD, SD clearly wins. Their non-HD channels are analog, blurry, and low resolution (don't remember the resolution off the top of my head, but VCR quality (not Hi-Fi tapes) would be a good comparison.

Once my contract is up, I'm just going to use my OTA antenna/HD-DVD player for my HD usage. (Just need to move my antenna outside for a better signal.)]]>Jan 10th 2007 4:00PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 12th 2007 11:35AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
I am currently researching Dish and DirectTV for the best service and trying to find as many ways as possible to voice my dissatisfaction with Charter. By far the worst cable company I have ever had to deal with.

Buyer Beware.]]>Jan 15th 2007 12:16PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Jan 25th 2007 5:03PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Feb 14th 2007 2:35AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/Feb 14th 2007 2:36AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/03/charter-cable-customers-in-st-louis-could-lose-kmov-hd-signal/
Customers: My Charter On Demand Doesn't Work. I have HBO and Cinimax and I am paying for Charter On Demand.

Rep: GET THIS STUPID!!!!!! YOUR PAYING FOR HBO AND CINEMAX NOT CHARTER ON DEMAND!!!!!!! CHARTER ON DEMAND IS JUST THERE, LIKE THE PAINT ON THE BOX. TAKE IT OR LEAVE THE STINKING @#$%^ THING!!!!!!!!!!
IT'S NOT A PERFECT SERVICE GET OVER IT!!!! OTHERWISE WE WOULD CHARGE FOR IT!!!



We have people ordereing movie channels just so they can get Charter on Demand. Well Yippie kai yeeey dipwads!!!! I am getting sick and tired of hearing this over and over.... My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work My charter on demand doesn't work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WISH THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE INSTALLED THAT INSANE FEATURE AS PART OF THE SERVICE!!!! GO RENT A MOVIE AND BLOCKBUSTER PEOPLE!!!!! IT'S CHEAPER!!!!!!!


AND ANOTHER THING, FORGET IT, YOUR NOT GETTING YOUR OWN PERSONAL TECH TO COME OUT THERE AT ANY HOUR, AT ANY TIME DAY OR NIGHT TO POWER CYCLE YOUR BOX FOR YOU!@!!!! WAIT IN LINE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!!! THERE'S ONLY SO MANY TECHS.

ALSO: YOU KNOW WHY YOU ALWAYS GET DUMB REPS AND TECHS?????? BECUASE THE TURNOVER RATE IS SO STINKING HIGH YOUR ALWAYS GETTING A GREEN REP AND TECH. WE HATE OUR JOBS BECAUSE WE ARE REQUIRED TO SELL YOU SOMETHING WHEN YOUR CRAP DOESN'T WORK ANYWAYS!!!!!]]>Feb 14th 2007 8:23PM