Cablevision Drops Food, HGTV Networks...- Page 2

[winston89]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 4:53pm

Besty, How is Dish Network overall? My family and I stated in a cottage in a resort a few years back that had DirecTV. For a majority of the time we were there, it sadly was raining. Now, when we tried to watch TV in the rain we got no signal due to what was going on outside.

Have they changed and fixed that problem. Or is it one that is still around?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 5:03pm

We never have a problem with reception here in Los Angeles, even when it's pouring rain (which isn't often, but it does happen).

I do have friends that live in a wooded area in the Pacific Northwest that say they had problems and ultimately dropped it. But it wasn't weather-related, it was all the time. I think it has more to do with where you live. Hills, trees, valleys, etc. But if the reception is weak to begin with, then I guess weather could play into it, as well.

Do you know anyone in your area who has a dish? I would check with them first. Plus, if you see a lot of dishes in your neighborhood, I would guess that's a good indication that it's working for them.

We rarely have any digital glitches in the signal, too. Maybe once a week, not once per hour (as with cable). It's a solid signal. Sure, we can see some mild compression, but not much. And that's the nature of 720p/1080i streaming HD signals, anyway. They are all compressed for now, and they don't match a Blu-ray disc for quality.

But we had cable for years, and the image quality improved a lot when we switched to dish.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 5:17pm

Living without the Food Network isn't a possibility for me. I would miss Ina Garten and every gay man in the Hamptons. She is currently cooking for her good friends who are editing their new film just down the street but don't have time to stop for breakfast. She made homemade granola bars and filled a basket with yogurt, berries, coffee and juice just in time to watch them editing Kate Hudson twirling in her big dance number in Nine. The had NO IDEA she was coming. Riveting stuff, yo.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 6:08pm

Hee hee. Do you also enjoy reading ridiculous cookbooks that somehow assume you'll have saffron and sheet gelatin on hand?

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 6:41pm

JG2, I like The Barefoot Contessa too!

[Q]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 6:48pm

I think Ina has the perfect life. Send your husband off to the city on Monday morning for the week, and then spend your days having lovely cocktail luncheons with all the fabulous gay men in the Hamptons!

And I honestly think that if we lost those two networks my husband would have a stroke.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 7:14pm

best12bars, I do believe that a majority of people here have Cablevison. Keep in mind that I live on Long Island. I do sometimes see a dish here and there when going on a walk. However, I do believe that there are a lot of people in the houses around me who just hopped on the offer that Cablevision was giving out that let them get a discount on their bill if they use IO digital Cable and Optimum Online. I do believe that there is a little more of a deal if you use Optimum voice as well.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 8:39pm

If you live in an area where it is offered I would highly recommend AT&T's U-Verse. My parents had it at their old house and I loved it when I would go to visit. You could record up to five programs at once, and they had just introduced the whole house playback for the DVR when my parents moved out of their service area. I don't know what the prices were, but it was definitely an improvement over the DirecTV, and it was bundled with high speed wireless internet. They are now with Time Warner, but are anxiously waiting for that contract to expire, as U-Verse is finally being offered in the area their new house is in.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 11:52am

winston89---that's really where the dish companies fall down. Their picture quality is generally better than cable (as long as you can get satellite reception in your area), and it's also generally cheaper than its cable counterpart ... but they don't bundle their services with Internet and phone options.

You get dish service only. So you still have to go elsewhere for the other stuff, and ultimately, since you're not getting a group discount for bundling services together, you end up paying about the same in the end.

Hey, but I get HDTV and the Food Network!

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 12:03pm

Besty, you knows I loves you, but I just flipped you the bird with your last comment. I am having the DT's not having Food & HGTV networks.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 12:21pm

Sorry, boobs!

If it makes you feel any better, our PBS affiliates in Los Angeles suck (KCET and the one in Orange County)! They have been dropping some of their programming for the past three years and don't carry a lot of the shows I want to watch, like "Chess In Concert" and the third Mayseles documentary on Grey Gardens. They didn't air in our market ... despite their continuous promise to "bring us the very best that public television has to offer" with each pledge drive.

Like hell.

It's okay. We'll all be watching TV via Internet streaming soon enough. Then we can do away with these cable monopolies and forced Bronze, Silver, and Gold packages where in order to get Turner Classic Movies, you have to buy twelve sports channels and six Latin channels. I want to pick and choose, please, and not be force to pay for something I don't ever watch.

[singtopher]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 1:08pm

Ina Garten is the Sh*t.