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Originally Posted by GuardMeSecurity

Premium channels = Premium programming and no commercials. People don't get premium channels for movies anymore, they get them for original programming.

Ala carte programming will NEVER happen. Content providers buy blocks of channels, some you want, some you don't, but a channel is not purchased on an ala carte basis, the content providers would never allow single channels to be purchased. For instance VIACOM owns MTV, Nickelodeon, teen nick, Comedy Central, etc etc.

What controls your cost is the cost of the content provided. Although cable companies also have whats called an "ogolopoly" which basically means that they all get together and fix prices. No competitors actually compete, they trade customers.

The only difference is technology.

3 types of technology

Cable (RF modulation DOCSIS 3.0 max internet speed of 105Mbps, cheap to run, easy to maintain, maximum profit margins, still uses satellites to receive transmission, just better recievers, DVR's are crap)

Satellite (direct line of site but is unidirectional, meaning the content only flows one way, is prone to outages when LOS is blocked, always requires lengthy contracts, but generally has good DVR technology and picture.)

IPTV (Internet protocol television. Completely digital, utilizes digital binary interpreted by a computer to decode signal, generally very reliable when ran fiber to the home, fiber to the DSLAM presents problems when you consider signal degradation due to cross talk from ADSL2+ and VDSL2 technology. Internet speeds up to 1000Mbps when fiber to the home is used. Has excellent whole home DVR technology, uses wireless boxes, is highly upgradable and scaleable for technologies such as 4K in the future.)

Issues with IPTV are sometimes picture freeze and pixilation, but that is 99.9% of the time due to a badly terminated CAT5 cable.

Area providers

Cable: Comcast.

Satellite: Dish, Direct TV.

IPTV: Centurylink.

They all raise the price after a year, they all require a contract, and they all cost the same in the end. The exception is Direct TV unbundled. If you bundle comcast standalone internet with direct TV your end bill is going to be OUTRAGEOUS. I've seen people paying $350 a month with 30Mbps internet and phone with comcast and then paying standalone for direct TV.

Obviously i know what i'm talking about, i am also very familiar with the villages (i've been working there for over 3 years)

So if you have any questions about any of these services, just PM me.

You direct your comments on the very issues needed to be discussed i this thread and especially pointing out that there is no competition and that the going back and forth by viewers would not solve the problem

My comments concerning commercials was directed at the fact that Comcast offers On Demand. However they have with their TV Show menu disabled fast foward. The result is that you are forced to watch commercials and if you have to stop viewing you are required to begin over again. I pointed this out to Comcast stating that they limit my DVR to two recordings. So my reaction to all of this is that there is not a program I find that important that I need to watch commercials. Actually there is not much good TV viewing.
I also noticed A&E removed its top rated show Longmire because it drew older people