I have received a number of complaints over actions by Comcast TV. Apparently they are only providing CNN and Fox news in their basic package. The recent move of MSNBC to digital has created great concern on the part of Democrats that the news is slanted toward a more conservative message.
Here is the message:
In the past few days, Comcast TV has moved MSNBC to the Digital line up. What seems strange to me is the fact the the 2008 Democratic National Convention is coming to Denver and that Colorado is going to be an important state in the next election. MSNBC is a moderate left National News channel that features informative interviews on such programs a Hardball, Countdown and Scarborough.This channel is probably has a high percent of Democratic viewers. FOX News has a high percent of Right Wing Republican Viewers but the FOX channel remains on the less costly lineup. My question is why are Democrats having to pay more to view their prefered programming (forced to buy the Digital upgrade) and FOX viewers are not?
Robert
Littleton
Anyone who has additional comments should call or email Comcast and let them know what they think.
This is not limited to Comcast. I have had Dish network’s basic package for the past year. It has only one major news channel, CNN. Thank God it’s not Fox, but I really wish it had MSNBC.
When we visit Denver we return sooner than we would otherwise because we miss MSNBC – I thought it was just me – but I do not like to watch any of the other new channels. Especially we miss Countdown with Keith Olberman.
Notice that Comcast did not offer any substitutions for the three channels that they dropped from their basic package. For Comcast, the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. Pay us more if you want the same service that we just took away from you. This action doesn’t apply to just new customers — everybody is affected. No rewards for a loyal, many year customer like myself.
No wonder customer loyalty to many corporations is low in America.
I guess that Comcast has to get additional revenues as soon as possible in order to provide all the goods and services that we’re leaning on them for for the 2008 convention.
Comcast in Johnson City, TN recently changed MSNBC from channel 30 to 185. I called Comcast. They told me that MSNBC had chosen to provide a digital-only format, necessitating the channel change. I wonder if the real reason behind the move though was instead to force customers to pay for a more expensive tier in order to receive MSNBC — channel 30 being available on a less expensive tier.
Could there be political reasons behind the change? Would Comcast move FoxNews, channel 32, like this? I doubt it. Would they prefer you to watch FoxNews instead of MSNBC for some reason? I wouldn’t be surprised.
In our backward, primitive, technologically challenged environment, one should not expect that companies would be able to provide both digital AND analog service at the same time. It’s just not possible. The greatest electronic minds have probably worked on this challenge, but to no avail. Any conversion equipment would probably fail at the gate. It probably has something to do with matter/anti-matter risks, or costs, or upselling, or as Gary says, politics.
I’m with you. What can we do about thsi? I am appalled that I can no longer get MSNBC on the basic package, but that Fox remains untouchable. We need an action. What is it?
I wonder how pervasive the move is. Are all comcast customers required to get digital. The rep also told me that they had no choice but to move it to digital. But the other cable carriers haven’t changed. Why hasn’t NBC or Olbermann said anything about this?
Only a few web chat sites have any info at all. Google news and other searches turn up almost nothing.
From my experience, MSNBC is never carried on basic cable. Which is why I wonder why there is never any mention of this when reporting viewership. CNN and Fox are always on basic cable so they have many more viewers. So how can you really compare MSNBC viewership to those two without taking into account the number of households available for MSNBC?
I don’t have Comcast so still get MSNBC. It may be that FOX was smart enough to stay at the lower level,in order to trap more viewers. Think about it, if you have 2 choices you have a 50% chance that someone will watch.
What bothers me SO MUCH is the evangelical crap I am forced to pay for. I have counted 7 different shows at different times. I do not want these, I am not of their religious belief and am angry that I don’t have a choice.
I don’t know if it is Comcast being political or simply greedy. When Comcast took over from Adelphia, the cost immediately started increasing multiple times. It got to the point not too long after they took over that having DirectTV was significantly cheaper than subscribing to Comcast. Ratings for Olbermann are increasing and maybe Comcast is trying to cash in on this. But then again, maybe they are just rabid Chamber of Commerce types and will do anything to hurt the populists out there.
Direct TV has a feature called “News Mix” – where all the news channels are displayed (8). It’s default news channel is Fox – which I find irritating.
My cable has MSNBC at channel 41, CNN is 29 and FOX is 37, all on the lower tier – no extra charge. I think you out there in Colorado are in a very reactionary and right wing environment (I’m former USAF – and what has happened to that great organization simply makes me red with anger), and they are deliberately controlling what you see. The US is not the US I served to protect. It is so very sad. PEACE
msnbc is moderate-left? because of one single program, olbermann? don’t get me wrong, he’s the best thing on any cable channel, but msnbc is hardly moderate-left because of two out of 24 hours of programming. (i know it’s one hour, but they repeat most if not all of the shows)
comcast is horrible, but i question the political nature of this.
Comcast is based here in Philadelphia. I would call their politics middle of the road, although as a huge corporate entity, they have obvious business interests.
You can find out more about their donations here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?ind=C2200
Regarding the elimination of analog channels…each analog channel takes up the same bandwidth as a number of digital channels, I think around 6. So it’s really a technical aspect regarding these changes.
The downside is that most digital channels require some sort of set top box, and usually a more expensive subscription.
Punishing a decent CNBC program is par for what has happened to our Media and our Country.
Complete Media Control with every KGB tactic available is no surprise coming from Corp. America and GOP.
The only option for change is to vote for ANY Democrats running, and while imperfect
they leave our current disatrous thugs in the dust where they belong.
GOP control of the Press and Media is intolerable. There are also no regulatory safeguards for Corporations who find truth inconvenient.
Comcast in my area offers no news channels as part of the basic cable package. You have to get the extended basic (one level below digital) for that. And then you get CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and something else…CNN Headline News, maybe.
It might have more to do with the fact that MSNBC is seen as a second-tier network behind FOX and CNN than politics, but given that it’s Comcast, I would not be surprised if they are bowing to some kind of political pressure.
From my experience, MSNBC is never carried on basic cable.
Perhaps not on Comcast, but it’s still available on basic cable with Cox Communications.
LAWL, vote for ANY democrat, that will fix it. How stupid can you get. Dems seek the same control of the media that repubs do. To think that voting for a democrat is going to do one thing to stop corp america is simply stupid.
In Huntsville (Alabama) Comcast doesn’t even have MSNBC ANYWHERE.
Not on Basic analog cable [70 or so channels].
Not on Digital cable [160 channels?].
Nowhere.
We’ve been calling & requesting it every few weeks, but nothing.
We do still have CNN, Faux News, CNBC & CNN-HN on Basic, though.
In Marin County California we have Comcast. It never fails that durring Countdown with Kieth Olberman the screen will suddenly go blank for a few seconds and then come back on. I have only seen this on Countdown and it never happens on any other station. I knew Comcast was pretty right wing and I always suspected it was their way to get people to switch to another staion durring the show, but this pretty much convinces me. It’s time for me to look for a good satalite provider.
MSNBC is still on basic cable here in Santa Clara, CA.
Here is something somewhat radical….
i have always been disturbed with the presence of Fox “News” on my cable system. I finally did something about it. I cancelled all channels except my local network stations and the weather channel. This is saving me $50/month.
I do miss Keith but try to keep up with him by the various clips on the web.
Comcast is way too big; as is Time Warner….
A little competition is needed to improve this situation..
Ever wonder why “conservative” radio is 13 times more available than progressive radio is on our public airwaves?
Even in ultra-liberal Massachusetts, Comcast does not list programming for MSNBC. In the on-screen programming guide all you get for MSNBC is “LOCAL PROGRAMMING”.
Not so for Fox, CNN, New England Cable News or even BBC.
It has always perturbed me but now I know it is a habitual dig by Comcast.
If you stay at a Marriott chain hotel, you will probably be unable to watch MSNBC, since it is blocked out at most Marriott hotels.
I’m on Comcast in the SF Bay Area and get MSNBC on basic. Also, a while back, one of the local PBS stations (KCSM) started broadcasting in digital and stayed on basic with no interruption in service. Your local Comcast folks are straight-up lying.
Not only that, even when local analog over the air signals go dark, the FCC has required that local cable companies continue to provide analog cable to those who do not use a digital box (mostly senior citizens) until the year 2012. So converting from digital to analog should not be a problems.
For those who can’t watch Olbermann, there are archived shows here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=clyde1952
and older episodes here:
http://www.veoh.com/broadcast/myVideos.html
I know it’s not much but at least it’s something. I have Dish, and I believe you have to get into their top 200 package in order to get MSNBC. But you’re right, other than Olbermann there’s not much difference. With Abrams you can flip a coin to see what side of an issue he’ll take. Tucker Carlson is a total waste and Joe Scarborough has the morning gig now.
comcast illinois will be moving c-span2 to the digital side of things (we don’t get c-span3 to begin with)
That second link should have been this instead of the one I posted. My apologies.
http://www.veoh.com/userVideos.html?username=Clyde1952
Comcast in western KY provided me with a free digital cable box that allowed access to a few channels that had moved to digital, including MSNBS, for free.
We dropped Comcast and went with their only competition over this very issue of MSNBC’s mysterious disappearance.
In Long Beach, we get cable through Charter Communications. MSNBC has always been part of the standard package. MSNBC, CNN, CNN Headline, FOX, and CNBC.
To Gary Pleasant: Comcast lied to you when they said that MSNBC only provides their feed in digital format. In Madison, WI, we get MSNBC on the standard-def analog channels just fine.
I just got a letter from Comcast today saying I was “Mistakenly” given MSNBC, CNBC, CSPAN and CSPAN2 as part of my basic cable package for the last month+. Seems odd given they are now moved to digital. This is just Comcast trying to get a digital converter in everyone’s house.
and CSPANs arent included in basic???? Arent they virtually free channels for Comcast?
I watched MSNBC & Olbermann while passing thru Wyoming (about as red a state as you can get), yet our cable co. in Oregon (but a more conservative area of Oregon) does not carry it. I have no idea what the cable co. in WY is.
I want my Olbermann! Am going to call our cable co. (AGAIN!).
got comcast here in Fort Collins, Colorado and we have CNN, Headline News, Fox News, CNBC and MSNBC on basic cable here. Something tells me that this poster is overreacting.
The same thing happend on XM satellite radio last year. MSNBC was yanked from the line-up.
It makes sense for the DirectTV News Mix channel to default to Fox News. Both DirecTV and Fox are owned by the same corporation.
However, DirecTV does not discriminate against MSNBC. The only news channel that DirecTV has in their least expensive package is Headline News. The next step up contains Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.
I feel in a quandary having DirecTV since it is part of the Murdoch empire, but unlike DISH Network, DirecTV carries LOGO and the DISH still refuses to offer it at any price.
I work in the the telecommunications industry. Cable companies are required to steadily shift to 100% digital under Federal Law, but to claim they can’t provide both is a lie. The companies format the channel for analog or digital at their headends (central distribution stations).
I doubt this actually has anything to do with politics and everything to do with money. They have probably noticed MSNBC’s ratings going up, and some guy in marketing targeted that as something to move to digital. The company I work for did that with a number of channels. It is all about the cash.
The problem is the law doesn’t force these companies to compete. They have little mini-monopolies in their area. They claim their competition is satelitte. Recently, AT&T and Verizon started offering fiber-optic cable in a lot of wealthy areas. It has put my company into a panic, with them offering as much as 50% off on all services for a year.
Call your cable company, and claim you are going to a competitor for all of your telecommunications services. They will panic and give you discounts. Keep in mind they have representatives who specialize in trying to convince you to stay. I know… I use to be one. Know your stuff when you call. Know what you will be getting. I was able to pick out the people who were telling me BS. Actually have them set up the disconnect. Have them date it out about a month or two. Most won’t bite on your call unless they start to process a disconnect order. Most of these representatives are paid by the amount of money they loose, so if they see a big account about to impact their paycheck they will give. But, don’t be a jerk about it, because some representatives are willing to cancel your services if you are mean or rude, because they see it as causing you trouble.
Pam Carlson Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
“From my experience, MSNBC is never carried on basic cable. Which is why I wonder why there is never any mention of this when reporting viewership. CNN and Fox are always on basic cable so they have many more viewers. So how can you really compare MSNBC viewership to those two without taking into account the number of households available for MSNBC?”
————-
You’re wrong, Pam. In Philadelphia, on Comcast, MSNBC is the ONLY news channel carried on its basic cable service. CNN & FOX are in the next tier up. And whether Comcast (or anyone else) carries a channel is dictated as much by that channel’s whims as Comcast’s. If a channel tries to get too much for its service, it won’t get carried. There are contract obligations to consider, package deals the big companies work out, etc. It’s not about ideology.
You’re turning limited experience into universal truth. Doesn’t work.
N.B. I should have said that — in my area of Philadelphia Comcast carries only MSNBC. The service has slightly different channel lineups in different parts of town, a result of some mergers and honoring existing contracts.
I’m considring getting rid of Comcast altoghether and just getting my info from the Internet. However, the Internet will be the next medium to attacked!
Here in eastern WA state Dishnetwork top 180 is actually cheaper than the crap Charter cable offers in their basic cable! Dishnetwork also has Free Speech TV and Link TV on even thier lowest level and those channels are way more left than MSNBC. They both have news programs (Democracy Now, and INN) that offer a totally different view from MSM type channels. They, Olbermann, and the internet are the only things that keep me sane these days, well sort of, when I’m not really mad or wish I lived in Canada….
[...] Concerns over Comcast TV (Colorado Democratic Party, thanks to AMERICAblog) I have received a number of complaints over actions by Comcast TV. Apparently they are only providing CNN and Fox news in their basic package. The recent move of MSNBC to digital has created great concern on the part of Democrats that the news is slanted toward a more conservative message. [...]
Get DirecTV or Dish network satellite service and write a letter on why you are switching. Only the worst storms knock ours out. We also have the satellite for the Internet, which stays up even longer during a storm. Both satellites have been through a hurricane and a severe tropical storm — both working great still.
Only thing I really miss by being on DirecTV is the Weather Channel during a storm, but now that they only show “Storm Stories” while a storm is passing through my area (usually at night), they are useless now anyway.
Our cable company used to take down the entire Internet connectivity every Sunday from 9 am until whenever, not to mention the off again on again nature of the rest of the week. Satellite does have a bandwidth monitor but we rarely run into getting slowed down aka “throttled”.
Satellite is so much better.
Similar problems with Time Warner – at least in my region. Could get Democracy Now and Link on satellite – when I switched to cable – nada.
Pull the plug, and set your TV’s on the curb.
I did this over 15 years ago, and life without it is amazing.
If people really want to send a message about the lack of quality programming on the air, this will get their attention – put it on the curb.
I endure being a customer of Comcast in Pennsylvania. I get expanded basic – more channels than “basic basic” but less than “basic digital” and much less than “expanded digital”.
Expanded basic in this area provides CNN, CNN-HN (unwatchable due to a precipitous decline in content – I will never watch any network that carries slime like Glenn Beck or that Grace-less woman), FNC, CNBC, and MSNBC. I’m also able to watch Democracy NOW! and FreeSpeechTV on local access with the same expanded basic service.
Comcast is awful as far as customer service, but in fairness I must say that so far they have provided all the main cable news networks at the expanded basic level.
Wild West, I have a question: who is the “they” you refer to when you say putting your TV on the curb “will get their attention”? Trash collectors? Neighbors in need of a free TV? Or is your neighborhood under super-secret surveillance by Comcast execs looking to gain information for use in their corporate planning? Congratulations on your amazing life – my family owns five TVs, and we find life with them to be pretty amazing as well. The hour I spent last night watching “The Universe” for example was not only scientifically interesting but visually stunning as well.
I’m in San Francisco where Comcast offers Faux News, CNN, CNBC, HN, and MSNBC on the package just above basic. Until this week they also offered C-Span and C-Span2 on that package. As of Tuesday they have moved C-Span2 to the “Digital” package and added C-Span3 to that package as well. (I had complained some month ago about not receiving C-Span3 and was told that when they received sufficient requests for it they would provide it. I urged friends to begin lobbying).
I’d suggest that folks who want to receive MSNBC/Keith Olbermann begin to demand it from Comcast. Call them daily and enlist friends and family to do so as well. You’ll need to contact the local Comcast outlet if you want to have an impact as programming is planned at the local level. If you use their 800 number they’ll ask where you’re calling from and your phone number which ensure they’re talking to a local person.
We could read all kinds of nefarious motives into this situation but I prefer to take action. Complaining only gets results if you complain to the party who can change the situation. Call Comcast today!
MSNBC “moderate-left”?
Give them credit for Olbermann, OK.
But this is the same MSNBC that cancelled Phil Donahue’s show, supposedly because of low ratings. In fact it was one of their highest-rated shows at the time — but they were terrified of losing advertisers, because Donahue was outspoken against going to war in Iraq.
Prior to giving Donahue the boot, the MSNBC higher-ups forced the show to institute more “balance”, by increasing the number of right-wing guests. However, the host was regarded as too liberal: so the result was often that Donahue couldn’t have any liberal or left guests AT ALL.
The “wall” in news, separating content from advertising, is ancient history. Advertisers don’t want their carefully-crafted messages–appearing during time purchased at tremendous expense for national shows–to be juxtaposed with anything that might make viewers uncomfortable. Such as anything challenging conventional wisdom, even in small and seemingly innocuous ways.
The U.S. political spectrum is so tilted that moderate conservatives like Ingraham and Broder are described as “liberals”, while Franken (who rarely goes beyond Democratic party talking-points) is considered FAR LEFT.
I just got a letter from Comcast announcing they’re moving MSNBC to digital as of November 1. When I called to ask why MSNBC is the only news channel being moved, the answer was “I don’t know.” A dish is looking better and better every day.
I’m in SW Washington, so Comcast is probably doing this in Portland, OR too, but that’s a guess.