Time Warner - You suck balls!!!

[TVDirector]

random weekly.
affected like 60% of TWC viewers...

I sorta think the TV gods thought that they were being kind to us by not having us watch the final :40...
now we can be more pissed at cable than Jer or MU or the announcers or the flippin mascot....

hope nova wins the tourny now.

couldashouldawoulda

[94Warrior]

Then that means his dish is pointed wrong, your boss should get that corrected.  We had people during Katrina that didn't even lose signal.

+1.
I agree with Chicos.  I've had Dishnetwork for 8 years.  It goes out maybe once/yr for 5 minutes.  Typically this has happened when streetlights are on in the middle of the day, sirens are going off, and my wife is running for the basement.  Really not an inconvenience.  I had far more outages when I was a cable customer.

Not to mention it has a better picture and sound than cable and is a fraction of the cost.  If you can put up a dish, do it.  You won't regret it.  Heck, I'll even send you a referral code for Dishnetwork if you need one.   

[BrewCity83]

random weekly.
affected like 60% of TWC viewers...

I sorta think the TV gods thought that they were being kind to us by not having us watch the final :40...
now we can be more pissed at cable than Jer or MU or the announcers or the flippin mascot....

Random weekly my @ss.  Some Badger over at Time Warner flipped the switch to piss us off.

[SERocks]

{clip}

Like I said, I like direct tv but the weather issue makes it tough in this part of the world. 

I live in the Midwest as well, just south of Milwaukee a bit and had DirecTV for years until I got tired of the monthly bill.  Rarely had weather related issues.  Maybe twice a year on average.  Just was not a big deal for me.  I installed my own dish when I got the system in about 1997.  Just dumped it about a year ago....

-SERocks

[Robyrd5]

I sorta think the TV gods thought that they were being kind to us by not having us watch the final :40...

Agreed. Made it easier to swallow since I didn't have to see any of the bonehead moves live. One second we're inbounding the ball, followed by forty seconds of me screaming "You've got to be kidding me!" at nothing, followed by shots of a stunned DJ/elated Nova players on the floor, followed by more screaming of "You've got to be kidding me!"

[Robyrd5]

Time Warner Apologizes for Timing of EAS Test
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/41205862.html

[ChicosBailBonds]

My boss is just one example. And his dish was professionally installed.  My brother in law likes direct tv but keeps a comcast basic package just for inclement weather.   I can't speak for new Orleans but in the Midwest it is very common, to the point if you're at a holiday party and it goes out, half the guys always say, "did you spray Pam on it before the winter?"

Like I said, I like direct tv but the weather issue makes it tough in this part of the world. 

Nothing to do with being professionally installed...if it's out of alignment it's out of alignment.  It can get out of alignment for a variety of reasons, especially if it's been awhile since it was installed.  If it's pegged properly, you shouldn't have any issues.  99.97% reliability. 

Sounds to me like the dish is out of alignment and that's easy to check with the signal strength of the various orbital slots. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

I live in the Midwest as well, just south of Milwaukee a bit and had DirecTV for years until I got tired of the monthly bill.  Rarely had weather related issues.  Maybe twice a year on average.  Just was not a big deal for me.  I installed my own dish when I got the system in about 1997.  Just dumped it about a year ago....

-SERocks

Yup, we are DEFINITELY not the low cost leader but that has served us well.  DISH, the low cost leader is getting absolutely destroyed.  We're growing like gangbusters.  We went after high end customers who are not impacted by the economy as much and it's paid off in spades.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

I doubt that there was any conspiracy behind this, but you really have to scoff and the claim that these things are completely "random" given that, as people have said here and elsewhere, they never seem to happen during a) commercials and to the best of my recollection haven't happened during b) packer games or c) brewers games. Etc. Completely "random" except for the times that Time Warner has programed for them not to happen. So not so "random" after all. It sounds about as "random" as some of the polls in the fall that were 40% one political party, 30% independents and 30% another political party.

[SaintPaulWarrior]

Also, while DirecTv has a superior product their outages here in the midwest due to weather are horrible.  My boss loses services 3-4 times a month.  I can't live like that.   

I have had DirecTv in Saint Paul for almost 9 years.  My "outages here in the midwest" have been few and far between.  I would guess maybe 6 times in 9 years I have lost service....and the loss was never more than 5 minutes.  Outages due to the weather are really overrated and played upon by Comcast for marketing.

[Tulsa Warrior]

over the past 30 years I have managed a public access cable channel and had dealings as a broadcaster with cable companies from the upper Midwest, to Virginia and Texas. To not get screwed over on my end you need a lawyer and patience.  I've worked out agreements that were never honored and without the help of an attorney I couldn't get a return call or meeting.

Cable management as a group has been an "arrogant group" protecting a monopoly.  Competition is needed to break that -- bring on satellite services and phone companies.  Allow customers to pay for only the channels they want - ala cart. 

This comment toasted my brownies.  "It wasn't deliberate, it wasn't intentional, it wasn't incompetence," the Time Warner manager explained.  "It was merely the bad luck of the draw."

No sir what is was came down to an arrogant company with a manager who was asleep at the wheel.  You can schedule those tests and you can change the time -- just so you stay within the guidelines set down by the federal government. 

Customers can exercise their feelings about that level of service by seeking other options.  They are out there.

Congress and city council need to foster a more competitive environment.  Too often city councils have been asleep at the wheel when franchise agreements have been voted on -- many times cable attorneys write those agreements and councils just rubber stamp them.  Congress also needs to step in to encourage competition rather than letting the cable industry write legislation for them.

This is much bigger than the screw over on the Marquette game.  Families across the country are getting ripped off financially by cable companies who are giving lip service to being responsible members of their community. 

The cable industry is spending tens of millions of dollars lobbying congress, state houses and city councils to protect their interests against competition.  At the same time they are using a massive amount of air time on hundreds of channels for an advertising campaign that is aimed at protecting their interests.  It's a slick campaign but it is not an honest one.