I'll Have My Cable À La Carte

I am in support of Senator John McCain's Cable Accessibility law.  I wrote Senator Elizabeth Warren this week asking her to consider voting in favor of it.  I also wrote two VP's at Comcast to suggest some "modifications" to their offerings. 

I know.  First I am in agreement with Kelly Ayotte last week, now I am supporting John McCain this week — what is happening to me?

The following is part of the text of the letter I sent:

I am writing you to ask you to consider the bill that Sen. John McCain is currently trying to pass through the Senate regarding cable television access.

I have two stories to tell you, but the bottom-line is that I would like you to work on making cable  television more affordable and friendly to people who want limited use of it, or who cannot afford the current high price of it. Not everyone wants all of the “bells and whistles” — and yet we have no clear choice but to be force-fed what the cable companies give us.  What is the return on investment for someone who is paying for 200+ stations, and has only a few hours a week to watch them? The system is all wrong, at least for part of the target audience, who generally has less income, such as retirees.

Story 1: Several years ago Comcast tried to move the EWTN Network and HallMark Channel out of their general lineup, and put them into two separate premium packages.  If you wanted both of those channels it would have cost you close to an additional $24/month more ($12 each package, these numbers are a little fuzzy but close).

The outcry from the target audience (Senior Citizens) for these channels was immense — my parents included. This became front page news in the Springfield Republican, and Comcast “decided” not to go ahead with this programming change; or, Comcast showed that it could be responsive.

Story 2: Last January 1st, I woke up and found that several channels that I regularly watch were being put into different line-ups as well, which will ultimately cost me ($17.95 + $7.95) an additional $26/month, which is an increase of 33% on my monthly bill, and even though the Comcast service reps told me that I received notice of this — I didn’t.  This is ridiculous and Comcast also wants me to believe that it is not a transparent move, it’s just part of “progress.” Yah, right.

If a landlord went up 33% on a rent, they would be taken to court. Where is the accountability here?  It certainly is not with the likes of Comcast, who is only one player of many.

I basically only want four channel choices (local news, national news, public television and TCM). Now I am paying nearly $100/month for that.  Not anymore.  I went out to Verizon’s website and found a similar package that normally goes for $64/month ($40 less than I’d be paying), and they will give it to me for the next six months at $29.95.  I am taking it.

I have several suggestions:

• To Senators Warren and McCain: I suggest a regulation be put into law as to HOW MUCH of a change a cable company can make to a current customer’s lineup and bill without their knowledge of, or request to do so — there has to be a limit! (10%, 15%...33% ?) this is just like the laws that Sen. Warren helped to pass for credit cards.
• To Mr. Juliano, Comcast: I am suggesting that ALL cable companies need to be more flexible, allowing the consumer to pick their own channel lineup, e.g. 14 channels for $65/month; 20 channels for $85/month and so on.  And I am not talking about premium channels either, just the basics.  Also, I think it should be against consumer guidelines for a cable company to take a channel that is part of a general lineup and put it into a premium one, as Comcast does regularly. I think that Comcast could become a leader with this;  we’re going in that direction anyway, so you might as well get in front of the parade.
• To Mr. Watson, Comcast: Finally, there should also be a way for loyal customers to be “grandfathered” into at least five different channels that can never be removed from their lineup, unless they go defunct. Not only is that fair, but it actually would increase brand loyalty, and could be a classic selling point in a very flat marketplace.  

Right now, as a loyal customer, the only thing I can count on Comcast to do is change my basic lineup and increase my monthly rate, which you’ve done now for the past ten years nearly every year. 

To All of You!:  I am not a lone person crying out about this.  At Thanksgiving, my family discussed how frustrating cable is — constantly going up while the satisfaction of the service is constantly going down. Several of my nephews have dropped cable (one of them calls it “cannibal”) and they just access Netflix and Hulu. You can’t be so dense as to see how problematic this is to your future growth, and the younger generation will get around it, if they already haven't.


And for every “me” out there, there are many more people equally dissatisfied and saying nothing to you about it.  We are truly ". . . tired and not going to take it anymore.”

Thanks for listening.



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If you'd like to write:

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Russell Senate Office Building, 2 Russell Courtyard, Washington, DC 20510

Senator John McCain, United States Senate, 241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Mr. David N. Watson, Exec VP & COO, Comcast Cable — One Comcast Center, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Mr. David A. Juliano, Executive VP of Sales & Marketing, One Comcast Center, Philadelphia, PA 19103