Spectrum cable $15 rebate

a “reckoning”

spectrumReading the article Disney vs. Charter Spectrum: The Sticking Points, Where Things Stand, and More in The Hollywood Reporter for September 4, one item jumped out at me. 

“Is Charter Spectrum giving customers rebates? Yes, Charter Spectrum is offering customers who call customer service a $15 rebate. If the dispute drags on, it is possible” that the offer will expand.

Hey, I still have Spectrum Cable. Unlike most of the other carriage disputes between cable providers and carriers, this one affected me. I planned to watch at least some of the US Open tennis tournament broadcast on the ESPN networks over the Labor Day weekend.

When I called Customer Service first thing Tuesday morning, I had a 12-minute wait. The first person I talked with had no idea what I was talking about. I was transferred to billing, which took another 14 minutes.

 

NOW I’m at the right place. After verifying my information, she activated the $15 rebate plus a $5 rebate for the next six months, which they added because they had just raised their rates by about $8. But it won’t affect my August 23 bill, but rather the following one.

Go somewhere else!

Per the article: “In an unprecedented move, Charter [Spectrum] is telling some customers to consider Fubo, the sports-centric vMVPD, and is offering a discounted rate for three months (yes, the cable company is giving its customers an offer to cancel their TV service).”

In my experience, this was correct! The billing person sent me an email. The last line: “For more information about the situation and to see what options are available, visit disneyespnfairdeal.com.” The link eventually directs me to two tiers of Fubo with a Spectrum discount. Alternatively, “Stream with another provider such as Sling or YouTube TV.”

I’m going to have to consider the options seriously. My phone/Internet/cable services are bundled. Currently, the phone service is reasonable, but the phone is high, and the cable is expensive. I could get the phone and Internet service for less from Verizon.

I don’t know if Fubo would work on my “old” (2015) television. The other issue involves getting a DVR, if that’s an option, because I hate watching live TV.

Less than a month ago, TechCrunch noted: “Linear TV viewing [cable and broadcast usage] sinks below 50% as streaming soars to new heights.”

THR quotes  MoffettNathanson analysts Michael Nathanson and Craig Moffett: “‘The stark reality is the media and distribution landscape has been building up to this moment for many years. Each media company owns some of the blame…’ Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall calls the [Disney/Charter Spectrum] dispute a ‘reckoning’ for the media business.” Is this “the end of the end?”

October rambling #1: Naturalist At Large

A Poem Can Help End a War

Roy Moore is a lawless theocratic lunatic

Scientology and the cult of tRump

The Rules of the Gun Debate: The rules for discussing firearms in the United States obscure the obvious solutions

My Daughter Was Murdered in a Mass Shooting. Then I Was Ordered to Pay Her Killer’s Gun Dealer

Sandy Hook mom: ‘We value guns, flags & fake acts of patriotism over people, pain’

Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns

Just What We Needed: More Inequality, Bigger Deficits

From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories

Forensic Science: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Statistical indicators of President Obama’s eight years in office

The Day Donald Trump Watched An Octogenarian Bleeding To Death And Did Nothing To Help

Adjunct professors in America face low pay and long hours without the security of full-time faculty. Some, on the brink of homelessness, take desperate measures

The Five Stirring Stanzas That Proved a Poem Can Help End a War

“The Closet” where a black camper slept is preserved in Schroon Lake, NY

How to Protest Without Offending White People

Comic: Back to the Future of Racism

Chuck Miller’s two-week boycott of ESPN

Finding Your Roots: Bernie Sanders and Larry David (may be available only in the US and until 31 Oct)

Free counseling for those affected by Hurricane Harvey from BetterHelp.com for up to three months

Want Change In Education? Look Beyond The Usual Suspects (Like Finland)

How to handle being “unfriended” on Facebook

Naturalist At Large environmental cartoons by Don Rittner and Raoul Vezina (1983)

“Mr Brunelle Explains It All” Cartoon Gallery

The Vast Influence Of Donald Duck

How one election changed Disney’s relationship with Anaheim

EU English

The Mary Tyler Moore Show Fall Preview

Y.A. Tittle dies at age 90. He was the first New York Giants quarterback of my youth

Sputnik’s 60th birthday

30 Of the Most Amazing Images from Electron Microscopes

Now I Know: The Town that Drives Itself and Why We Yawn and Why Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop and The Ben and Jerry’s Flavor that Left a Bad Taste Behind

Floss Firstenberg Alper Obituary: Floss was an amazing listener, a trusted confidante, the focus of many people’s erotic dreams, an oft-invited dinner guest and irreverent as hell

MUSIC

Waiting For The Waiter – MonaLisa Twins ft. John Sebastian

Coverville 1187: Cover Stories for Gerry & The Pacemakers and Everything But The Girl

Magic Moments – Perry Como

Merrily We Roll Along – Eddie Cantor

I just want the information, please

waterissacredmniwiconinodapl1. I get an alert from WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC on Facebook when a significant news story comes along. On Friday, the sky turned black around 5 pm, the result of a storm. As I watch the picture, a stream of FB emojis scrolls along the lower part of the screen. Sad faces, wow faces, likes at different levels floating along the screen.

A bit later, another alert: an accident that killed two people. A bunch of mostly sad faces, a few wow, and of course, the like button, buzzing across the screen as we see an aerial photo of automotive devastation.

It is a case of “Because we can, we do.” How are you FEELING about this piece of news, Carolina? This not only in bad taste, but a distraction from what’s taking place.

Maybe we can do this for the 2017 State of the Union. Wait, wait, I was saying I thought it was a BAD idea. (Expect someone will do this next year.)

2. I was watching the US Open tennis tournament on ESPN2. There was an exciting 4th Round match going on between Rafael Nadal and Lucas Pouille. They would cut away to commentators, not the ones who were following the match, but other people, interview people with less-than-insightful questions. This is during the match, where we miss some court action to find out, if Pouille wins, there will be three French in the next round. What in the water over there? or something equally banal.

I like watching tennis. Commentators telling me first-serve percentage or the number of unforced errors is fine. Taking me away from the action is not.

3. Meanwhile, I find it really odd that I had seen not one story, on NBC or CBS, at least, about the Standing Rock Sioux protest in North Dakota, with tribes gathering together to block construction of a crude oil pipeline until a confrontation took place, and still zero on the evening news. This story from The Guardian lays it out.

I HAVE read several stories elsewhere, many from the “alternative” press, such as Indian Country Today and Democracy Now and Common Dreams and Nation of Change and Truthout.

I am pleased to note that the Presbyterian Church (USA) offers support for the tribe’s efforts to halt the pipeline beneath the Missouri River.

ADDENDUM (06:10): North Dakota activates National Guard to protect the pipeline instead of our tribes

 

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