NCTA's Sachs Talks About the 'Pig'
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Yes I am amember of a cable television mailing list and this new feeding the pig is really upsetting the cable guys.
I understand they will be doing some commercials about cable keeping you safe and asking if your satellite can do it.
The premise is there is an emergency in your area, and the EAS goes off on your cable TV, the family with EAS is able to evacuate while the satellite guy knows nothing is going on in his area.
The Cable Customer survives while the Satellite customer dosent. With the story being is it worth risking your life for satellite tv?
I kid you not.
I understand they will be doing some commercials about cable keeping you safe and asking if your satellite can do it.
The premise is there is an emergency in your area, and the EAS goes off on your cable TV, the family with EAS is able to evacuate while the satellite guy knows nothing is going on in his area.
The Cable Customer survives while the Satellite customer dosent. With the story being is it worth risking your life for satellite tv?
I kid you not.
Scott Greczkowski said:
Now that is funny! I cannot imagine that the cable company knows anything about emergencies in my area, let alone how to turn on this EAS, since they don't even know how to provide standard cable service reliably.
I would counter that my TV shows aren't interrupted by three minutes of an annoying buzzer sound and the preempting of my shows for the constant tests that they do (they can't do the test at 3AM?)
Also, if there WAS an emergency having 5-30 minutes notice isn't gonna do anything for me as me and my fellow Jerseyans are packed into this state so tight that there is NO way I could get anywhere safe.
The only possible benefit I could see would be a tornado warning, and the high winds and power going out would probably give me the hint to head for the basement. Hurricanes, I've got three days notice to prepare.
Charlie nailed Cable right between the eyes with a 2 x 4 with the pig ads. I especially love the reactions of the family members (my DOLLS!). The only thing he missed doing was putting up a powerpoint slide with the percent price increases over the last ten years for cable and for E*.
Also, if there WAS an emergency having 5-30 minutes notice isn't gonna do anything for me as me and my fellow Jerseyans are packed into this state so tight that there is NO way I could get anywhere safe.
The only possible benefit I could see would be a tornado warning, and the high winds and power going out would probably give me the hint to head for the basement. Hurricanes, I've got three days notice to prepare.
Charlie nailed Cable right between the eyes with a 2 x 4 with the pig ads. I especially love the reactions of the family members (my DOLLS!). The only thing he missed doing was putting up a powerpoint slide with the percent price increases over the last ten years for cable and for E*.
If this is true then why don't they just pass on the increased costs to those who receive the increased benefits? I don't benefit at all from programming on ESPN or from VOD or HDTV or cable internet service. Yet Adelphia, the cable co. in my area, passes along the costs for the infrastructure to provide these services to all customers, as I am sure most others do. I am glad I have a choice! Seven years ago there was no such choice and we all had to just sit there and take it. Today we can vote with our wallets as to which of four or five providers give better value for money based on our personal needs - cable or one of several satellite providers.
Scott Greczkowski said:
Ohh and not once when we have had a Tornado Warning has the cable company activated the EAS to force people to know about the weather (they have the ablity to lock you to a channel and feed you the weather data for an minute or whatever)
Heck now you mention it, I have not seen my local cable company "insight" run a "required Weekly Test, or the required Monthly test" that im familure with having worked in Radio.
When I want weather I turn to the local stations or more importantly tune to my weather radio sitting across the room that is programed for the same info as those EAS receivers the cable company tout being able to save lives point to. Oh yes, what happens when the tornado nocks out the cable trunk? So much for their EAS if all I get is Snow on the screen.
Reguarding the cable companies being ticked... You know, they had it coming, what about all these ads they have had where "the dish goes out everytime it rains" etc...
My cable used to go out far more often than my satellite service ever has. What about "the cable goes out every time a drunk hits a pole"? Now THERE'S an idea for a DBS marketing campaign!
I think you have to be tuned to the channel for you to see the EAS information anyway. If you are watching HBO, whether on DBS or cable, you won't see the EAS information. A cheap weather radio with the alarm feature is probably better anyway. If I lived in an area with frequent tornadoes or other hazardous weather I know I would have one. Here in sunny SoCal the biggest concern is the UV index and how fast you will get a sunburn!
EAS is important in today's world. With spotbeam technology this problem should be solved by the DBS providers. The Weatherchannel gets those NWS warnings display sometimes quicker than the local channels. I asked charlie this question once live on the chat. If a company wants to provide your television picture than EAS must be worked into your picture. Deaf people, older citizens and baysitters need warnings along with everybody else. EAS saves lives.
Well people also need to consider the raises that Dish Network has had the past three or four years. Cable may have rose 40% but satellite has raised as well from 25%-50%. Top50 went from $20 to $25 while DirecTv's basic package went away which could also be considered a price increase from $20 to around $35, thats about 85%. The premium movie packages have went up at least 30%. Even if Dish only went up 25-30% that makes cable's price increases about 10-15% higher than what Dish made. When Dish advertises up to 40% it makes it seem as if Dish did not raise their rates any or very much while cable had a MUCH larger rate increase when that may not be the case.
Randy_B said:
Cable Companies are ALSO required to have this Equipment installed and to direct people to tune in to a specifc channel via a scroll bar upon activation of a warning.
Our local cable company has EAS and when it goes off the EAS message is scrolled on the bottom of EVERY channel. (I believe that 1 channel kicks in and overrides everything)
Its annoying when they do tests and your watching HBO and the screen turns blue with the EAS Test message.
Its annoying when they do tests and your watching HBO and the screen turns blue with the EAS Test message.
And how often is your cable out during inclement weather when you need to receive the EAS signal anyway? Today's day and age there are too many options for receiving the same weather information. I have a program on my computer that automatically alerts me to any warnings. Who needs cable's poor picture, lousy customer service and high costs to receive weather info?
That door can swing both ways, no? If I were a cable subscriber injured during a storm and somehow I wasn't warned due to a cableco failure could I not get me a greedy lawyer and sue the cableco?Scott Greczkowski said:
And... this lame argument assumes that people must be watching cable TV 100% of the time - what will the cableco EAS do for me at 4AM while I am asleep with the TV off?
This EAS argument really torqes me off becuase I don't rely on television to warn me about weather situations - that's what my eyes, ears and SAME weather radio is for.
