For a long time you could not get MSNBC if you had Comcast.

[Maraya1969]

or Dish Network. I'm not quite as sure about Dish though.


I remember thinking about this several times because I had friends who I couldn't talk about Keith O with because of it.

I think when everyone had to get boxes is when MSNBC was shown on all.

Does anyone else remember this?

[SheilaT]

1. If those friends had access to the internet

they could still have watched Countdown. Too bad they didn't know that.

I live without a TV or cable or a dish, and what with the internet, Hulu, and now Netflix, I see pretty much everything I want to see.

[Maraya1969]

10. This was before all that was easy on the web or even available

[SheilaT]

12. I've been watching Countdown on the internet

for about two and a half years now, exactly the time I've been without TV/cable.

[Ricochet21]

2. And my local Pittsburgh Comcast

moved MSNBC one month before the presidential election up a couple hundred numbers, while no others moved.
coincidence

[femmocrat]

6. I remember that very well. ( Now it seems like a precursor.)

That is when we got DirecTV.

[drm604]

3. How long ago was this?

I've gotten MSNBC on Comcast for years.

[Diamonique]

4. So have I. It's always been on my Comcast cable.

Maybe it's the local cable companies that wouldn't purchase MSNBC in their packages from Comcast.

[Maraya1969]

9. It might have been dish tv. But I'd say 5 years ago.

[sharp_stick]

5. Really?

Maybe it's regional, but I've had them both for about as long as I can remember.

[davidwparker]

7. I had MSNBC on Dish until last night. You can get it, but

you had to pay for the tier in which it came.

Dish is suppose to be more liberal-leaning from what I've read. I have no issue with Dish. But, I dropped MSNBC for obvious reasons.

[silver10]

11. That is very true.

The repukes are in the big cable and telecommunications pockets, and they hate the competition from satellite-TV. Why do you think you can't subscribe to any regional local channel you want if you subscribe to sat-TV? The cable companies don't want the sat-TV companies to have this competitive edge, and advertisers fought it as well for obvious reasons. So it is not legal to sell or buy local programming out-of-market except with the permission of the local affiliate for very extenuating circumstances. If you want to purchase a NY Times newspaper, you are free to do so anywhere you are in the country, or in the world for that matter. Not so with NY local channels.

Also, because of the high overhead of the cable infrastructure which sat-TV does not have, cable company lobbyists are constantly working on state governments to levy taxes on sat-TV subscriptions to help level the playing field - and they have succeeded in about 10 states with more to come. The sats are not as big as cable and the telcos, hence don't pay as much for influence I am assuming, so DISH can't really be said to be a right-leaning company as far as the industry they are in - sat TV. Rupert Murdoch owned DTV, so who knows what influence they may have with FOX and of course they are now owned by News Corp.

And it can't be stated enough how a merger like Comcast and NBC Universal is not in the sat-TV companies' best interests. With that kind of control over content and programming carriage rights...it is not good for consumers or other carriers. DISH also has a press release out on its support of rigorous Net Neutrality rules, which of course, is being heavily fought against by the right as well.

The rethuglicans call dems commies, big government, fascists, nazis, etc. But corporate socialism is fine of course.

[On the Road]

8. Really? I Used to Get MSNBC in a Couple Places in Maryland

on the standard cable package.

[The Wielding Truth]

13. Was Phil Donahue with MSNBC?