@Gimpgeek1: Your analysis is faulty. Since you're that old, you must have realized how many OTHER aspects have changed over the years. What you're complaining about is a RESULT OF *those* changes, not the other way around. Viewers have changed not because broadcasters have changed them -- and the opposite is the truth. Broadcasters provide us the CRAP we demand, if that is what we demand.

Perhaps also you forgot all those wonderful series we used to have that essentially were just place-holders for ONE-OFF "series"... stories that lasted one or two or three episodes total.

I think if viewers were more consistent in their viewership, then there wouldn't be such situations with regard to broadcasters being consistent broadcasting programs. For example, if viewers behaved in a manner where there were logical blocks of weeks, all year long, where they watched television series consistently, then broadcasters would program broadcast schedules that way. Instead, we have periods of the year were viewers get distracted by holidays, and event programming (like the Olympics). These are realities. Expecting broadcasters to operate as if reality doesn't exist is unreasonable.

An argument could be made that perhaps they should just plan on presenting series in the Fall that are simply nine episodes long. Period. That would fit in the space between when viewers start consistently turning their attention to television again, at the beginning of the fall, through just before when viewers become inconsistent in their viewership, around Thanksgiving. However, then you get people whining about how short the seasons are. Essentially, viewers, not only as a group but remarkably also individual viewers, have diametrically oppositional requirements that they seek to impose on broadcasters. Therefore, it is not surprising that viewers are dissatisfied.

> You keep insisting that somehow, we as CableCARD using customers are expecting something unreasonable
> from the cable providers. How so? This is something the FCC has required them to do.

And they're doing it. "You keep insisting" that they're not. You're wrong. It's as simple as that. They're not perfect, but they do an acceptable job at what they're required to do. You continue to try to make people think that they're not. Again, you're just plain wrong.

> Honestly, I think I'm better for the cableco than the average customer

Maybe you are; maybe you're not. I doubt you're in a position to know.

> Thanks for the advice. It wouldn't be the first time a Cable employee/contractor attempted to fire its customers.

I'm not nor have even been a cable company employee or contractor.

However, you are correct in your assertion that some customers are worth keeping and other customers are worth dumping. Where I think your perspective is badly distorted is in your assumption that you, as a customer, are worth far more than you really are.

> The Cable industry is regulated by the government (the people)

And the people have thereby imposed on them the requirement to provide limited basic cable at a very affordable price. THEY ARE.

Again your distorted view projects your own personal wants onto that of "the people". The people have spoken. They have outlined the requirements. Cable companies comply with those requirements. Your personal desires are WELL BEYOND what "the people" think is fair for you to expect. Your PERSONAL expectations are unreasonable.

> Am I frustrated and unhappy that I don't have the "personal power" to actually make them follow the rules? Sure.

Your appraisal is self-serving and erroneous. They do follow the rules. You want to the kowtow to your personal desires. There is a difference.

> Your proposed solution is to "be a man" and... give in to corporate interests that have behaved in an egregiously unethical way.

Bull. They've behaved appropriately. Your perspective is clearly distorted by your own personal perversion of what is required and what is reasonable to expect. You want you want you want and you don't care about what you actually truly are owed. You evidently simply assume that whatever you want must be the same as what they're required to do, and that's not reasonable.

I put my money where my mouth is. Digital Starter is now more expensive than it is worth to me. What am I doing? I'm downgrading my service. I'm exhibiting consumer responsibility. You're just whining.

> Thanks for the advice. It wouldn't be the first time a Cable employee/contractor attempted to fire its customers.

I'm not nor have even been a cable company employee or contractor.

However, you are correct in your assertion that some customers are worth keeping and other customers are worth dumping. Where I think your perspective is badly distorted is in your assumption that you, as a customer, are worth far more than you really are.

> The Cable industry is regulated by the government (the people)

And the people have thereby imposed on them the requirement to provide limited basic cable at a very affordable price. THEY ARE.

Again your distorted view projects your own personal wants onto that of "the people". The people have spoken. They have outlined the requirements. Cable companies comply with those requirements. Your personal desires are WELL BEYOND what "the people" think is fair for you to expect. Your PERSONAL expectations are unreasonable.

> Am I frustrated and unhappy that I don't have the "personal power" to actually make them follow the rules? Sure.

Your appraisal is self-serving and erroneous. They do follow the rules. You want to the kowtow to your personal desires. There is a difference.

> Your proposed solution is to "be a man" and... give in to corporate interests that have behaved in an egregiously unethical way.

Bull. They've behaved appropriately. Your perspective is clearly distorted by your own personal perversion of what is required and what is reasonable to expect. You want you want you want and you don't care about what you actually truly are owed. You evidently simply assume that whatever you want must be the same as what they're required to do, and that's not reasonable.

I put my money where my mouth is. Digital Starter is now more expensive than it is worth to me. What am I doing? I'm downgrading my service. I'm exhibiting consumer responsibility. You're just whining.

Your self-serving drivel is unimpressive. You're clearly trying to hard to hide from the fact that you're just frustrated and unhappy that you don't have as much personal power as you'd wish.

I actually have a lot of exposure to the CableCARD situation. Your assertions in that regard are utterly ludicrous. Most people had little trouble, and as time has gone on, it has become increasingly rare to have problems. You just want to try to make it sound worse than it is, in a vain attempt to defend your weak accusations.

Let me give you some advice: If you don't like cable, then drop it. Do without it. If you don't have the personal fortitude to do without something that is not essential to life, yet you insist on appraising it so viciously, then you have no credibility whatsoever. If you're not that weak-willed, then be a man, and choose between the offerings that are the reflection of SOCIETY'S principles for right and wrong (not a reflection of your own personal wants and frustrations), or doing without.

I find the rationalizations for misdirected anger at cable companies to be laughable. You'd think if something like this really upset people as much as they claim that they would recognize that the solution rests elsewhere -- that they're wrong about their appraisals. But no: Clearly some folks here are so hell bent on spanking their favored whipping boy.

I don't work for any cable company nor have I ever. What I'm outlining for you is called REALITY; it doesn't require working for the company to understand and advocate for.

Let me ask you: Which consumer electronics manufacturer do you work for? Or do you work for some left-wing consumerist league?

Subscribers are getting what they're supposed to be able to get right now; you surely want more, and I understand that, but again your complaints are misdirected.

Sorry demon but even if they were acting like spoiled children that wouldn't matter much. They're are being forced to do what they're required to do, so how they "act" is noise, as compared to what I pointed out earlier, about the FCC, about satellite providers, about consumer electronics manufacturers. I don't understand how you can possibly justify focusing so much of your attention and ire at the cable companies who are, at worst, just being a little annoying, as compared to the real, substantial, serious barriers to what you want that are reflected in the actions of the FCC, satellite providers and consumer electronics manufacturers.

Yes, the cable companies support CableCARD. They do. That's undeniable. Surely, having the cable companies supporting CableCARD as they do is BETTER than the satellite providers NOT SUPPORTING any type of separable security, and is BETTER than the consumer electronics manufacturers shipping televisions that don't have CableCARD slots. You cannot HOPE to get what you say you want without fixing the satellite provider loophole, without fixing the problem with consumer electronics manufacturer shipping televisions that don't support what you want AT ALL. Again, you're complaints are misdirected.