[BC] OTA TV makes a big jump.

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

Basic cable in my town, costs $29.95 per month. I needed this for an Internet connection because DSL is too many "kilo-feet" from the CO, across the Merrimack River in Haverhill. To this, I added a $29.95 fee for Internet (note how $29.95 is a magic number).

I kept getting advertisements about "tripple play" with another $29.95 added plus FCC use tax, plus access fees, plus, plus, plus. Slowly the local television stations disappeared from the cable, one at a time. Eventually, I was left with 27 Spanish channels, four religious channels, and some rent-by-the-hour channels. I wrote to Comcast ---no answer. I wrote to the FCC, --no answer. I was under the impression that cable was supposed to carry the local TV channels according to some obscure FCC rule..

However, once I got on the local cable commission, I got a free cable box and more channels than one can view in a lifetime! Ain't politicks grand?

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Ring" <w3nu at roadrunner.com>

Time Warner Cable has a neat monopolist trick to pile up the cash: Here, 
their franchise requires them to offer "basic cable" for about 
$20/month. That provides about 20 channels. To get anything more than 
that, you are forced to go all the way with "digital" with its hundreds 
of channels and a price over $70/month.