TCM

[sfpcc]

Right now I have lost TCM from my cable line up. My cable bill has not changed and no other channels have been removed beside that one. I have Comcast Pontiac. Does anyone out there have this problem? (It's not a big hassle but I like old movies.)

[audiophile]

Try-over-the-air television. Lot of sub-channels with older content.

[moldyoldie]

Right now I have lost TCM from my cable line up. My cable bill has not changed and no other channels have been removed beside that one. I have Comcast Pontiac. Does anyone out there have this problem? (It's not a big hassle but I like old movies.)

My friend in Sterling Heights, also with Comcast as am I, called me one afternoon complaining about the same thing, ironically as I was watching TCM. He called Comcast and apparently TCM is now bundled with a sports tier costing extra, which I have.

[sfpcc]

Thanks for the reply.

Try-over-the-air television. Lot of sub-channels with older content.
[/quote]

Thank you for the suggestion but there is a large difference between THIS and TCM. (I get Fox Movie Channel which is a little closer but still not a good as TCM.)

[rugratsonline]

My friend in Sterling Heights, also with Comcast as am I, called me one afternoon complaining about the same thing, ironically as I was watching TCM. He called Comcast and apparently TCM is now bundled with a sports tier costing extra, which I have.

This makes absolutely no sense, especially as there are people who love old movies, but not sports. This is yet another attempt to force subscribers to get a sports package, though they have no intent to watch any of it.

...there is a large difference between THIS and TCM.

For one thing, TCM has no commercials, while the subchannels, such as This, do.

[SolarMax]

A recent billing statement from Xfinity/Comcast mentioned that TCM would be removed from whatever "tier" I'm on and become part of a higher-priced bundle of stuff I won't ever want to watch. Sure enough, It's now unavailable both from the cable box and from TCM streaming app.
Getting ever closer to cutting that part of the cord.
They whine and lament the alarming rate that they're losing TV subscribers. Duh.

Xfinity did, however, throw a bone, telling me that broadband download speed has been upped from 60Mbps to 100Mbps. After a power cycle reset of my (owned) modem, SpeedTest showed 107Mbps down, still 6-7Mbps up.
So now the Buzzboard main page loads in fewer milliseconds!

[moldyoldie]

...there is a large difference between THIS and TCM.

For one thing, TCM has no commercials, while the subchannels, such as This, do.

I've noticed the subchannel called Movies! shows many of the same movies as TCM, albeit with commercials. Really, TCM is pretty much in a class by themself where content is concerned.

[RingtailedFox]

why the hell was Turner Classic Movies moved into a SPORTS category? comcast, go home, you're drunk.

[sfpcc]

[quote=RingtailedFox post_id=586231 time=1571936441 user_id=9191]
why the hell was Turner Classic Movies moved into a SPORTS category? comcast, go home, you're drunk.
[/quote]
They do show a lot of sports movies, (Pride Of The Yankees, Knute Rockne, All American, etc.)

[Calvert DeForest]

Roku has plenty of no-cost channels that feature classic movies and TV shows. Some have intermittent commercial breaks while others play straight through. There are few channels that charge low-cost subscriptions or a one-time fee for content.

Some channels have adopted the HBO model and are now offering streaming subscriptions independent of a cable or dish account. I have a feeling this trend will continue as more content providers look to cash in on the cord-cutter market. History Channel and Hallmark, for instance, now offer access to current content for around $5/month, no cable or satellite subscription required.

I'm sure many cable providers have clauses in their carriage agreements with channels requiring an active account to access content through third-party streaming devices such as Roku's, Fire Sticks, etc, which kind of defeats the purpose of having these devices in the first place (if you can get it via cable, why bother with the Roku?). As the market continues to shift and more people migrate from traditional cable to streaming devices in order to access to content, I suspect more channels will offer al-la-carte subscriptions directly through these platforms. Services like YouTube TV, AT&T Now and Hulu Live will offer comprehensive lineups that parallel cable/sat subscriptions. I can see the delivery method of live and on-demand video content shifting primarily to the internet in the next 5-10 years, if not sooner. Cable and sat providers will shift their business model toward the sale of data and bandwidth, with less emphasis on traditional channel lineups.

[SolarMax]

Like others here, I lamented the shift on Comcast/Xfinity of TCM to a different programming "tier."
My quite old Motorola cable box died last week. Went to an Xfinity retail shop to turn it in and planned, influenced by the TCM shift and other program and fee tweaks, to also terminate TV service-Cut the Cord (keeping internet). Upon the threat to cut it off, I was offered a decent alternative. New X1 Box, service plan that included TCM, access to some on-demand I didn't have before, all channels in HD, and internet speed boost to 200Mbps.
For $50/mo less than I'd been paying (all taxes fees included). This is a two year promo plan, so I realize I'll have to play the game again, but for now, I'm OK with it.
BTW the customer rep said they'd made available (you have to ask them directly) some service plans they've set up in response to many complaints about the TCM move, which they claim was at TCM's insistence, not their initiative.
I'd been told that dealing with Comcast at their offices/retail stores, is a far better experience and provides better results than that with the aggressive, obnoxious offshore "retention" phone reps; my experience seems to bear this out.

[Calvert DeForest]

We ditched the Dish about 10 years ago and do a combination of OTA and streaming. Our ISP is a local company that hasn't raised our rates past $35/month in the 12 years we've subscribed to 6 Mbps max service. Up to now our download speeds have been 3-5 Mbps ....enough to accommodate streaming provided the wife and kids kids aren't all on their devices at the same time.

Last week I called our provider because my modem has some years on it and I wondered if an updated modem might bump up the speed a bit. Their rep pinged the modem and said said I probably didn't need a new one at this point. She did, however, offer me an upgrade to 20 Mbps max speed for $40/month, which would be plenty of bandwidth to support multiple streams. Suffice to say I couldn't pass that deal for an extra 5 bucks. Went home and reset my modem, and I'm now getting consistent 15-17 Mbps speeds with no buffering on the Roku, even when both kiddos are watching HD YouTube content and/or playing games online. Best part is our ISP has no bandwidth caps, so we can use what we need with no worries.

About every other week we get a mailer from Charter/Spectrum offering deals on 100 Mbps internet at an "introductory price". I love to read the fine print that says the price will double or triple after the introductory period. We're lucky to have a locally-based alternative that doesn't play those games and hike rates on a whim. Service calls are routed to local techs instead of a call center in India, and I think we've experienced all of three outages in 12 years. The company also offers TV and home phone packages at reasonable rates, although the internet service alone suits our needs.

Given what we have, I've got no desire to play games with the "big" operators. Our mom-and-pop provider is like the Saturn dealership of ISP's. There's haggling, no wheeling and dealing, and no "introductory rates" that evaporate in 6 or 12 months time. The price is the price month-to-month, and for what we get, it's pretty decent.

[sfpcc]

[quote=sfpcc post_id=585544 time=1571010159 user_id=4168]
Thanks for the reply.

Try-over-the-air television. Lot of sub-channels with older content.
[/quote]

Thank you for the suggestion but there is a large difference between THIS and TCM. (I get Fox Movie Channel which is a little closer but still not a good as TCM.)

Now I don't get Fox Movie Channel, (but I now have EPIX.)
[/quote]

[Deleted User 4520]

On the ROKU Ultra they have PLUTO TV. I was watching Baywatch on that. Though I was irritated. It was a 2 parter but they showed a different episode after part 1.

[Turkeytop]

We ditched the Dish about 10 years ago and do a combination of OTA and streaming.

Here at our mobile home park in FL, people started ditching cable and going to OTA TV about five years ago. Somehow, I acquired the reputation as the go to guy for antenna installation.

There are about 90 channels available here. They don't want 90 channels. They only want one channel The one that has Wheel of Fortune.

This year there's something new they all want. It's called Roko. When they ask me to install it for them, I can honestly say I know nothing about it. I refer them to one of the ladies around here that knows everything about it.