Cablevision BLOWS!!!

[T-Bird76]

I'm done with Cablevision...last night at midnight Cablevision dropped the Food Network and HGTV..two of the most popular and my favorite channels. They keep raising rates through the roof and keep cutting back on essential service while adding fluff that people didn't ask for or need (i.e Optimum Wifi and Optimum Select). Its time this company gets its act together and begins to cut costs internally vs. cutting service to their consumers. I’m giving them a month to get these networks back and then I’m switching to the Dish.

[moose135]

...the Food Network and HGTV..two of the most popular and my favorite channels...

Seriously man, you have got to get a life

[Steven Holzinger]

I feel your pain - Comcast is doing the same. They've gotten rid of THREE of my favorite channels over the years!

[hiss srq]

Cablevision is indeed rediculous with the way the Dolans manage their company. Beleive it or not though, the TV product alone does not make them any money. They actually take a loss on the TV product when it is sold alone seperate from the OOL and OV products. Their real profit comes from OOL and OV because there is no overhead above what there is already for the TV product. The way the TV side of things works at Cablevision is they will go to companies like ABC etc... and say "okay, we can give you 7 million viewers and garuntee you that your going to be viewed x amount of times" at which point ABC or other provider of service will come back with a per customer number to charge Cablevision. Almost always because of the size of the company compared to say Comcast they take a loss on this. That is why when you have the TV product alone they work so hard to push OOL and OV on your or simply put they are not going to make money on it. Than, once they have you on the whole basic triple play package that is when they can start to make money off you. They rape you on those Scientific Atlanta DVR's which since about last year are mostly refurb's with hard drive problems. Or they get you with the silver/gold TV package. Not to mention the whole Boost and Boost Ultra thing. It is factual that Boost Ultra is the fasted private internet available though on the planet. At least it was as of summer 2008. There are not many places to cut cost though at the company internally. Contrary to assumption Cablevision pays pretty dismal rates to employees and is hacking the corners on everything they possibly can. They recently stopped using contractors for Field Service all together and canceled a large order of new boxes in various models that were supposed to come from Scientific Atlanta. Plus, they put a freeze on fleet renewal across the board. They need it though. Alot of the trucks are really beaten to shreads. I am by no means defending the company, for the most part I dispise Cablevision for their business practices but they are not making as much money as people beleive them to at least on the Optimum branding of the company side. The channels they own and sports franchises etc etc do make money but Optimum does not make a whole lot once all is said and done. A little secret though. The whole iTouch promotion that they are currently offering ties in with a cellular plan which is in the middle stages of development. When the whole digital cutover took place Cablevision bought up some of the analog stuff quietly and are working on a cellular phone program. I do not have very many details past that to provide but thats a synopsis of how it works over at CVC at least for the O and OB side of the company.

[Gerard]

Cablevision is blaming the Scripps Networks and their financial difficulties and apologizing for the inconvenience.
According to them Scripps pulled off the channels. Cablevision wanted to continue to bring the channels while they
negotiated terms but Scripps decided to pull the channels.
Is it possible Scripps is doing this with all their distributors and not just Cablevision?

[cancidas]

this is part of the reason why i don't watch tv...

[Matt Molnar]

I'm done with Cablevision...last night at midnight Cablevision dropped the Food Network and HGTV..two of the most popular and my favorite channels. They keep raising rates through the roof and keep cutting back on essential service while adding fluff that people didn't ask for or need (i.e Optimum Wifi and Optimum Select). Its time this company gets its act together and begins to cut costs internally vs. cutting service to their consumers. I’m giving them a month to get these networks back and then I’m switching to the Dish.

Scripps raised the price Cablevision would have had to pay per subscriber, and Cablevision refused to cough it up. It could actually be a rare example of the cable company doing the right thing for its customers. If they agree to a high price for one network, other networks will demand the same treatment and prices go up.

Time Warner is in a similar dispute with Fox, which was supposed to go dark on TWC last night as well, but they decided to take a cooling off period from negotiations for a few weeks.

[PhilDernerJr]

A little secret though. The whole iTouch promotion that they are currently offering ties in with a cellular plan which is in the middle stages of development. When the whole digital cutover took place Cablevision bought up some of the analog stuff quietly and are working on a cellular phone program. I do not have very many details past that to provide but thats a synopsis of how it works over at CVC at least for the O and OB side of the company.

Source?

[hiss srq]

Myself. I worked for them for a year in Outside Plant.

[Matt Molnar]

iPod Touch does not connect to cell networks, only WiFi. Cablevision has started deploying "Optimum WiFi" hotspots in various locations which offer free access for Optimum Online customers. They also concocted some scheme a few years ago to connect their home telephone customers to cell networks, allowing people to transfer a call from their house phone to their cell. I don't doubt that they've considered it, but I would be shocked if they entered the cell market at this point.

Breaking News: Fox and Time Warner have settled on a deal. I would imagine Time Warner customers will be ripped off even more soon.

[hiss srq]

I understand that the i touch doesnt connect to cellular networks. It is not ment to be used as a phone but it is linked into the program which they are trying to develop. As far as the WiFi hot spots go, they have been around now a while. The feature you speak about (A form of call forwarding) is called the Find Me function.

[mirrodie]

Actually, since the vast majority of what we watch is on the major networks, I may just get a digital tuner
and be done with it.

[mirrodie]

edit: I mean I have get a digital antenna, as I already have a digital tuner. Plus I'd probably get more done around the house.

Whether you pay for Cablevision, DIsh or Fios, in the end, it seems you get a ton of useless channels along with a selective dozen or so that you actually watch.

[T-Bird76]

I understand that the i touch doesnt connect to cellular networks. It is not ment to be used as a phone but it is linked into the program which they are trying to develop. As far as the WiFi hot spots go, they have been around now a while. The feature you speak about (A form of call forwarding) is called the Find Me function.

The Find Me feature and Cable's former deal to link cell and home have nothing to do with each other. Find me is calling forwarding and nothing more.

Hmmmm you sure you worked their Ryan? What corp did you work out of? Which service office were you assigned to? Which trainer in Hicksville trained you...and don't say you don't remember, Everyone remembers the trainers in Hicksville, and don't say you weren't trained in Hicksville....all Outside Plant aka Pole Monkey's are trained in Hicksville. Only latest a year? I’m surprised you left; surely you were making more money with far better benefits then what you were making at US.

As for your infor I just forwarded that to Bill Gang VP of Training and Development and my former Boss of 10 years at Cablevision (along with my rant about Food Network, hehe)..his response. Well it’s against forum rules to post foul language. Let just say you’re not accurate in your first post.

[hiss srq]

I was in corp2 58 and 28 (Freeport Shop) Dester Ellis was my primary and Mark Millwater my other trainer. And Hicksville isnt the training center for OSP or Field Service anymore. The shop on Grumman Road is where all Field Service and OSP training is done now. Sounds like you did some timewith them too. across the street from the NCPD helipad is the training center. And I was making more than USAirways but I am making double and than some between my two jobs now. Plus frankly, I am not a fan of running drops, dinking off with nodes, frozen taps, and having to sit on a damn pole for 3 hours looking for signal distortion and low Dbmv that doesnt exist.