I guess the corporate moguls can’t come to an agreement on cable programming so the customers will suffer. At 2 am I got a banner ad on my TV saying that we were losing 18 channels like Nickelodeon, Movie Land, and more as of 12:01 a.m. 1/1/09 and to call some toll free # to stop it. Having to do all my own legwork all the time to try to correct everyday issues with Time Warner’s horrible service, I wasn’t surprised that a new “fast one” was being pulled. After calling this # for a good half hour and getting busy signals I decided to call Time Warner directly. After speaking with the customer service rep, she swore they were unaware that something like this was going down until early this a.m. (yeah right).

Here’s the gist of it though. 2008 was the biggest year for cable TV viewers on their networks in their 29 years of biz. You can read the article here . So, they figure they’ll charge the crap out of cable TV providers for their programming because they’re such a hit now. Problem is Time Warner and other cable providers don’t want to pay what they are asking.

So who suffers? Well, the people that work hard everyday for a paycheck to pay the outrageous cable bills each month. We’re already paying just under $100 a month for unreliable high speed internet and basic cable with box (70 something channels). We just got a notice in the mail saying they were increasing our rates across the board. Then if you want to switch to Time Warners wonderful Free HDTV programming that’s a joke too because the “service is free”, but they don’t tell you that you have to pay more for the HDTV cable box. LOL When I asked the Time Warner representative on the phone about making adjustments to my monthly plan because we are losing 18 channels, she said, “well we’re still currently at the bargaining table with them. As soon as a final decision is made, we will make adjustments”. That has bad news written all over it, why do I feel another “increase” coming on???

Point is that the consumers are already getting ripped off enough. Cable TV is such a monopoly and the government allows it. If there was a bigger market for cable companies, our programming would certainly be cheaper. It’s no wonder why people choose Satellite TV! Happy New Year from all the corporate jerks!