Why My Local Cable Company Sucks Unimaginably Large Ass

I can hear you saying it now: “so does mine.” I don’t doubt your local cable service sucks, but I’m 100% certain that it doesn’t suck as much as mine does. And what’s worse is that I feel like I just had a colonoscopy exam after reading their new rates list. So yes, I can prove it: my cable company sucks worse than yours.

Ah, Tele-Media Cable. Yep. I heard you say that too: “Who the hell is that?” Tele-Media is a small cable company that has been knocking around for about twenty years or so. They service south central Connecticut, and I first discovered them in the late 80’s, while still in high school. I was living in the one-cow town of Monroe, where we had sub-standard cable: only thirty or forty channels. A friend of mine lived in Shelton at the time, and he had Tele-Media, but at the time, they were the best cable company to have. In the mid 80’s they were cheaper than most and had 72 channels. They were awsome and I had a bad case of cable envy.

Jump ahead to 1993, when I moved to the Valley and landed squarely in the Tele-Media area. I signed up for it and blanched at the price: they had gone up about 300%. Also, they offered 72 channels.

Jump ahead to 1998, when I got my own place to live, and got my own cable. $78/month for the full service. Add to that the charge for having remote controls, the two box rental, and some other bullshit, and it topped $85. For 72 channels. 72 channels! We had HBO, HBO2, MAX, MAX2, SHO, TMC. No option for cable modem – I called and asked about it and they didn’t know what a modem was – and certainly no digital cable.

Some time in 2001 we got notices that cable modem and digital service was coming. I had DSL by then, so what did I care about the modem, but the channel list was heartening: 14 HBOs, 10 Showtimes, 4 The Movie Channels, 20 Starz/Encores, 12 Cinemaxes. And a shitload of “useless” new channels (MTV 4.5 still doesn’t play music videos – at least Fuse was included in this). On par with satellite plans, as far as what’s offered, but pricy… this was now at $84 and required the new digital boxes.

Hm. $6 more a month but I get almost three times as many channels. Tough decision. And yet, it was! Digital service was being rolled out in neighboring towns, but it wouldn’t be available to me until some time in late 2002.

*sigh*

Meanwhile, Steve out in WA was getting cheaper service plans with move channels. And I mean much cheaper. In 2003, his cable company started to offer HDTV broadcasts. I can’t call my cable company about HDTV because they might thing I’m asking about some strange LSD-like drug. Ironically, HDTV and PVR service just started to be offered to Tele-Media customers, over the last month or so. $10/month for the PVR service. HDTV is free to ask for but there’s some box you need from Tele-Media and that’s extra… and that’s when I read the fine print on the ads: Tele-Media is an Adelphia company.

Not only did do we have to suffer with the current management, who had a very narrow worldview, but now they go and get bought by a cable company that is already bankrupt!

*deeper sigh*

The kicker of it all is the new rate plan. They are adding three “basic” channels and two Flix (one east and one west): $93.20. The cable modem – just as an FYI – isn’t getting faster and is going up $1. Neighboring towns that have Comcast have doubled in speed and for the same price. Also, $14.95 for the receiver/remote, I think – hard to read the new form because they changed the plan names in some places but not in others… One of the boxes might be included, but I have two. Probably another $4.50 for the extra one.

Yep. I told ya… mine sucks worse.


15 thoughts on “Why My Local Cable Company Sucks Unimaginably Large Ass”

  1. You’re so so so wrong… i can’t even begin to start. If you were ever to come tp Pakistan and see the state of the ‘cable’ industry’ (i’m not even sure if it deserves that name) here…

    After looking at the services in South Korea, Japan, Sweden and even slightly backward places like the US – sometime i wonder how the local cable/internet people here can look in the mirror at themselves… (at least the educated minority of them).

  2. Yeah, but the problem I have with it is that in places just over the county line have cheaper and better cable. It’s just the isolated town (and the majority of this county) that suck so bad… there’s different conditions for cable all over the world, sure, but when it’s so vastly different only 30 miles away? Bah. The fact that it’s even better in WA irks me even more :)

  3. satelite sucks big shit too! telemedia makes ya really pay just to sit on our asses huh! Im starting to hate tv anyway. too much sex, violence and bull shitten politics. my children cant watch a descent tv commercial without watching a couple have sex in the bathroom stall. This is america the hell.

  4. You know? Everything sucks! If you type anything in “Google” with sucks after it, it sucks! I hate the pricing with cable, that’s about all. As a tech savvy person I understand that programming sucks, and I also understand that my cable equipment is like a computer, it locks up once in awhile, and I understand outages too! Servicing millions of customers is a hard thing to do perfectly. Especially that VOD, for Pete’s sake it’s a computer server with thousands of shows on it, IT’S GOING TO LOCK UP ONCE IN AWHILE WHEN YOU HAVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ACCESSING THE SAME BANDWIDTH!!!!!!

    I hate poeple who want to be pampered in their cable or DTV service. GET OFF YOUR FRICKING BUTT AND DO A POWER CYCLE, IT’S THE NATURE OF THE BEAST YOU MORONS!!!!!! JUST LIKE A COMPUTER YOU HAVE TO RESET IT SOMETIMES AND NO SERVICE IS PERFECT!!!!

    Ok enough hollering, my only pet peeve about cable besides idiot customers who want to be pampered is the pricing, pricing is getting out of hand for cable….

  5. well clientlogic now sitel has 200 ex employees in a class action suit against negative employment practices and if you’ve had negative experiences as well with this company i strongly suggest you get with the BBB, the consumer affairs div, Attorney General or even a lawyer to fight for your rights for proper customer service

    GET READY NOW FOLKS

    Having had worked for the call center over a year

    I must say I am sorry for the run around as it has been very common with members getting the run around due to lack of proper training and amt of qualified staff and product reliability.

    Although I will say Directv is a bit more stable and resigned their contract again than the other companies in the centers

    You’re dealing with call centers people

    Companies who outsource their work to uneducated or properly untrained employees or uncaring employees

    Mainly the call center of Clientlogic.com Now Sitel.com

    Employees that have little training

    So theres errors bound to happen due to their lack of proper management

    Sorry

    That’s how it is

    Therefore you get customer service system failure

    I’M NOT JUST BLOWING SMOKE

    THIS IS FOR REAL

    IF ALL ELSE FAILS AND YOU DON’T GET THE PROPER CARE

    SEEK AN ATTORNEY

    CONTACT THE AG

    BBB

    CONSUMER AFFAIRS DIV

    UNTIL YOU GET THE PROPER CARE

    AND GO TO ANOTHER COMPANY IF THE ISSUES ARE NOT TAKEN CARE OF

  6. well guess what… we are staying at my mom’s till our house is done and yes she only has 1 cable company option.. Tele-Media… oh yeah and she only has one phone company option. So how’s that for rustic in 2008

  7. I dislike cable, but I know my family well enough to know I can not cut it off. Lucky for us. When I got completely fed up with Comcast, I switched to DISH. I haven’t regretted it for one day since the switch! I save more in one month with DISH than I would have saved in probably 6 months, and not to mention the packages are better and more diverse. Shortly after I had made the switch, I decided to work there due to a lack of employment else where. I have loved every minute of it! I know it sounds corny but, I really am happy in my job finally and at home since my husband and son are equally happy. The service is outstanding (not just because I work there, because in the system you cant see who is and is not an employee), I have never been made to feel like an issue I have is my fault. I would recommend DISH to anyone.


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