Tuned In: MSNBC says money, not politics, drove Comcast decision

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Word of Comcast's decision to move MSNBC from standard cable to Channel 183 on a digital tier has not escaped the notice of Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann." But even he acknowledged the channel was not moved out of an anti-liberal bias on the part of Comcast.

"Having gone to my bosses and said, 'What the heck?' and as much as it would be great to say, 'This is where they're trying to silence him,' no, no, it's money," Olbermann said Monday at NBC's star party during the Television Critics Association summer press tour. "Either we didn't pay them enough, they found some way to make more money off of us, I don't know. But my understanding is it's a money thing."

Olbermann wasn't optimistic that Comcast will reverse its decision.

"I think they really have the right to do this," he said. "There's very little that can be done. Villagers and flaming torches might do the job on Comcast, but I can't think of anything more direct than that."

MSNBC president Phil Griffin said he's "reaching out to Comcast" to protest the change, but he does not believe Comcast has a political agenda either.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899367-67.stm

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If so, then MSNBC needs to pony up to stay in the tier with Faux and CNN! I hate Comcast but MSNBC has its faults as well. They also need to be serious about being a serious news/politcal network - like get rid of the stupid doc block Prison, To Catch a Predator, etc., programming and have news/politics on the weekend as well!

[Oceansaway]

1. does this mean you need digital

TV to get MSNBC ?....

[LiberalFighter]

17. It probably means you need a special box to receive the signal.

If you only receive basic channels then a box shouldn't be necessary.

I have basic Comcast which I rarely use cause it was part of my cable internet package. But, I discovered that I receive their channels such as 5.1, 60.3 and a few others. Even receiving some earlier.

[RamboLiberal]

24. Everything is going digital in February

So I guess unless you have a digital ready TV or a box you're screwed.

[LiberalFighter]

25. If you don't have cable or satellite you will need the box or a HDTV.

If you have an analog tv and rely on over the air signals then you can request up to 2 coupons which will reduce the price of the converter box.

[onenote]

26. no. Broadcasting is going digital in February.

DirecTV and Dish have been "all digital" for some time now -- they send their signals in digital and subscribers use a box to convert those signals into analog so that they can watch them on their televisions. If you have DBS and a new digital cable ready set, you still need box, not to convert their signals into analog, but to decode the encryption that the satellite companies use to protect their services from theft.

Over on the cable side, operators are moving towards digital transmission, but are not all-digital yet and, for the most part, won't be for several years. There are exceptions -- a number of smaller operators in particular are going "all digital" in the next few months -- not because they are required to but becuase it will allow them to offer more services. Those operators that aren't going all digital in the next few months are moving some portion of their service offerings to digital in order to reclaim bandwidth that they need to provide more HD programming and faster high speed internet services.

[fasttense]

2. Funny how unresponsive COMCAST is to its customer's desires.

They are a corporation and of course their goal is to make money no matter how many customers they lose. Oh wait, they wont lose customers because in most places they have local monopolies.

This is why the US should never privatize government functions. Corporation don't respond to citizens.

[blue52power]

4. Corporate greedy scumbags

Those greedy corporate scumbags. That fuckin pisses me off.

It's probably a cut deal between Murdoch and Comcast to get back at Olbermann for his attacks on Bill Oreilley. This stinks. If I still lived in Comcast's territory I'd throw my TV through the wall.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. People need to demand that their cities allow competition

Although Comcast is available in my city, I have a different cable/internet company.

[onenote]

19. how are they local monopolies in most places if you can get dish or directv?

[Angleae]

32. You try mounting a dish in the middle of an apt building

[radfringe]

3. we dumped comcast last year

they increased the rates for basic but offered movies on demand for $2 more. So we signed up for movies on demand, after 2 weeks of not having multiple problems with the movies on demand, went through 2 different boxes, had cable-guys at the house running new cables, connectors, checking everything out, and numerous phone calls to local comcast office and the "helpless desk" we dumped them

we went to dish - costs about the same, more channels, DVR service. we will NEVER GO BACK to comcast

my parents have comcast for phone, internet and TV. phone frequently cuts out in middle of conversation, and many times when I've called them I've gotten the "number has been disconnected" or "not in service" messages. Their internet has slowed to the speed of dial-up, and tv loses channels. They are looking at dish and direct tv this weekend and figure out which one they want.

[Highway61]

6. Hey...

How are ya doing? Good to see you...:hi:

[radfringe]

12. doing ok...hanging in n/t

[rox63]

8. I'd love to dump Comcast

But my condo association doesn't allow satelite dishes. :(

[Kolesar]

14. The satellite signal will actually travel through a glass window

The Dishnetwork satellite is in your southwest sky. If you had a room on the west side of the condo with a western view, you could set up the dish inside the window, and a bit to the right of the window. You would need an "extra" room without a lot of foot traffic.

A south window may work, too.

Put the mast for the satellite dish into a five gallon bucket filled with concrete. That ought to keep it in place.

To get MSNBC on Dishnetwork, you have to go "up" to a more expensive programming package. Fox News "fans" have to pay that, too.

:)

[onenote]

20. its against the law for your condo assn to ban dishes

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

[snooper2]

5. Everyone I know has been switching from Comcast

They must be losing customers like crazy...

I know of 5 folks sitting in my immediate area who dumped Comcrap for FIOS over the past year...

[RebelOne]

21. I just dumped Dish Network for Comcast.

I was sick of losing reception every time it rained or clouded up. Sometimes, the dish would be out of commission for hours at a time.

[rox63]

30. FIOS isn't available in my area

I'm told that's because it's a small city with a lot of low-income and/or "transient" residents. Verizon doesn't want to lay down the fiber around here, because they don't think they'll make enough money. And I heard this from a friend who works for Verizon.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Fuck Comcast - we went to satellitte. Its cheaper for more channels and better service

And the satellite company doesn't make me pay 2 months in advance etc etc.

And what is up with all that stupid prison programming? Drives me crazy. Who wants to watch that garbage?

[Phred42]

9. This will push me in taht direction too

[Retrograde]

15. I changed to satellite for better service

Comcast had a habit of losing my payments - which were made electronincally. The 3rd time in 9 months that I had to have the bank argue with them I called DirecTV: I've been happy with them ever since.

[Indenturedebtor]

16. Yeah they make all sorts of "mistakes" that result in more money for them n

I had the same problem with Verizon in the past.

[stratomagi]

10. I was freaking out about this yesterday.

I live in Pittsburgh and wanted to watch Obama's speech and even though I don't watch a lot of TV i usually turn to msnbc for coverage. 10 minutes before the speech to my amazement I couldn't find the channel. I ran over to the computer and went on the Comcast web site to see if it was really gone. I scrolled through their channel listing and found it on 183. I was like wtf? Anyway I'm relieved, but concerned that those too indifferent will end up not watching MSNBC any longer, I mean out of the 3 cable channels its probably the best.

[bagrman]

11. Well time to get their attention and walk, a small step but it's a start.

[AngryOldDem]

13. I have to agree with your assessment of MSNBC,

It needs to make up its mind what it wants to be -- America's Place for Politics or the National Enquirer of the Airwaves. It is a totally different network after 10 at night and almost all weekend -- not worth watching at all. If you want to be taken seriously, you can't half-ass it. And while they're at it, they should hire some more-intelligent and more-informed anchors. Give me 20 Tony Harrises (CNN) to 1 Contessa Brewer any day. And, while I'm at it, someone robbing an Office Max in some town in Florida does **not** qualify as "Breaking News" on a national scale, as MSNBC covered it earlier this week.

Either it's growing too fast for itself to keep up, or if it's barely holding its head above water -- MSNBC often gives the impression that it really has no clue as to what it's doing. (KO is an exception, of course.)

[RockaFowler]

22. After I quit working for Comcast I left their service

The day I quit we got DirecTV and have never looked back since. We get better quality picture, more channels and less money. I worked for Comcast for 5 years. Every year we would take calls from people regarding the rate increases, and every year we would get the same script. When we switched to digital service, it was the worst service ever. The only channels that were on digital were the pay channels/pay per view and the music choice channels. I loved the company, but when Adelphia took over the area, it was never the same again. A few friends of mine still work there and hate it. Comcast (like other companies) has gone on the cheap on everything. They are paying less in commissions to sales reps and customer service reps.

[Supersedeas]

23. do you smell a pretext?

[Quantess]

27. I wonder if Comcast will go the way of AOL

and become an obsolete, inefficient, dinosaur that nobody likes.?

[depakid]

28. Hogwash

When they did this last year in Portland, they all but admitted it was political- and they were losing customers, so if you called them up and bitched, they upped your tier FOR FREE.

[Uncle Joe]

29. Politics is money, the corporate media want corporate loving candidates to win and it is

an anti-liberal bias if your definition of liberal is someone that supports government that represents the best interests of the American People instead of the best interests of corporations, but I didn't expect Olbermann to have a different opinion, he works for the corporate media.

He knows which side his bread is buttered on.

[Metta]

31. Watch Olbermann for free.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6543906