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May 27, 2009

Court of Appeals Upholds FCC Ruling Against Exclusive Cable Deals

Filed under: In the News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:57 pm
Chalk one up for the consumers!  Read all about it at Boston.com The FCC voted in October 2007 to cancel exclusive agreements between cable companies and apartment owners, opening the way for competition from other service providers. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (i.e. COMCAST) appealed, saying the agency had exceeded its authority. Yesterday, the [...]

Chalk one up for the consumers!  Read all about it at Boston.com

The FCC voted in October 2007 to cancel exclusive agreements between cable companies and apartment owners, opening the way for competition from other service providers. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (i.e. COMCAST) appealed, saying the agency had exceeded its authority.

Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the FCC.  The FCC rule bars cable companies from enforcing current exclusive-access deals, or making new ones, in residential buildings such as apartment houses and condominiums.  There it is folks!  If you live in an apartment or condo and have been stuck with Comcast because that is who the Property Management company signed up with, you now have the GREEN LIGHT to shop for an alternate provider!

“Contracts helped building owners get lower prices and better service (HA HA HA) from cable companies”, said Betsy Feigin Befus, a vice president with the National Multi Housing Council, a Washington-based trade group representing the apartment industry (who is obviously in Comcast’s pocket) that took part in the case.  “The FCC took away an important incentive for cable firms to negotiate.” 

Betsy Befus been BEAT!  She better begin belting down Bailey’s at the bar.  Bigger bucks from Comcast’s “Back-Slapping” budget wont budge Big Brother.  Bye-Bye b-b-b-Betsy.

 

May 19, 2009

Comcast spent $12.5M lobbying in 2008

Filed under: Insider Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:05 am
This item can be found at FierceTelecom.com Comcast’s lobbying budget grew from $570,000 in 2001 to more than $12.5 million in 2008, according to a report by the Center for Responsive Politics. “Comcast is the big elephant in the room … (it’s) acting more like a telephone company than a traditional cable company,” said Gigi [...]

This item can be found at FierceTelecom.com

Comcast’s lobbying budget grew from $570,000 in 2001 to more than $12.5 million in 2008, according to a report by the Center for Responsive Politics. “Comcast is the big elephant in the room … (it’s) acting more like a telephone company than a traditional cable company,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a non-profit organization that aims to “defend citizens’ rights in the emerging digital culture.”

Comcast and the cable industry are facing a raft of political issues, including backlash over cable TV prices and concerns the cable giant will squash competitors on the Internet.

…and you thought that they were raising the rate to fix all of the pixilization issues.  PSYCHE!!!

Comcast Slapped with Anti-Trust Class Action Suit

Filed under: In the News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:45 am
Read the news at HuntingtonNews.net Gordon Ramey II has filed a federal anti-trust complaint against Comcast due to mandatory rental fees for “cable box” or “set-top-boxes,” which are mandatory to view premium and/or digital cable.  The suit alleges that the company’s actions constitute an unlawful tying arrangement resulting in an impermissible restraint of trade. Due [...]

Read the news at HuntingtonNews.net

Gordon Ramey II has filed a federal anti-trust complaint against Comcast due to mandatory rental fees for “cable box” or “set-top-boxes,” which are mandatory to view premium and/or digital cable.  The suit alleges that the company’s actions constitute an unlawful tying arrangement resulting in an impermissible restraint of trade.

Due to a monopoly in cable markets and its dominance in the industry, the company’s “sufficiently strong economic power” , cable box competitors have “little motivation” or are “foreclosed” from entering the market, since Comcast which has more than 50% of the cable market.

Ramey’s attorneys allege that the cable provider purchases the boxes from Motorola or Scientific Atlanta “at a fixed and low cost… only to turn around and rent the same boxes to the class (for a hefty profit) with full knowledge that members of the Class have no choice but to pay the rental fees.”

A Comcast spokeman wants to say “Bring it on!  We’ll tie this up in the courts for 20-years and out-spend you into the ground.  By that time, set-top boxes will be gone and customers will be forced to buy Comcast-branded TV sets”

May 18, 2009

Which Digital Transition are you talking about?

Filed under: Bully Tactics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:01 am
Read all about it at MercuryNews.Com This article clearly illustrates how Comcast has and continues to deceived the public in regard to the impact of the governemnt mandated digital transition on their customers. Comcast has stated in TV ads and on its Web site that customers don’t have to be concerned about the government transition because if they have analog televisions, Comcast [...]

Read all about it at MercuryNews.Com

This article clearly illustrates how Comcast has and continues to deceived the public in regard to the impact of the governemnt mandated digital transition on their customers.

  • Comcast has stated in TV ads and on its Web site that customers don’t have to be concerned about the government transition because if they have analog televisions, Comcast will translate the digital signals to analog ones.
  • The original governemnt transition date was for mid-February, but has been rescheduled to mid-June.
  • Comcast is in the midst of its own digital transition project which began in March…JUST WEEKS AFTER THE ORIGINAL GOVERNEMNT TRANSITION DATE.
  • Comcast customers with analog TV sets WILL REQUIRE a converter box to translate the signal from digital to analog.

Comcast’s ads assuring customers they didn’t have to worry about the digital broadcast transition have never made note that they would soon need to deal with a digital cable transition. And while those commercials have been running widely on Comcast’s networks for a year or so now, long before broadcasters were slated to shut off their analog signals, the company didn’t start talking about its own transition until early February, about six weeks before it planned to start rolling it out.  Even then, the marketing messages have tended to target customers in specific communities immediately before Comcast upgraded its system in those areas, rather than in a mass-marketing campaign like the ones use to deceive.

The Shaqnstein monster is out of control.  Bring on the FIRE and we’ll burn it down!

May 15, 2009

Tuscaloosans Drop Comcast for AT&T U-Verse

Filed under: Rants — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:27 am
Read about the excitement in the TuscaloosNews.Com Forums section. Consumers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama are elated that the Comcast monopoly in their area has finally been broken by availability of the AT&T U-Verse product.  Here are some of the more notable comments: the COMCAST office was overflowing with AT&T converts turning in their boxes You could [...]

Read about the excitement in the TuscaloosNews.Com Forums section.

Consumers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama are elated that the Comcast monopoly in their area has finally been broken by availability of the AT&T U-Verse product.  Here are some of the more notable comments:

  • the COMCAST office was overflowing with AT&T converts turning in their boxes
  • You could hear the joy in their voice
  • the quality is noticeably better and the features and channel selections are awesome
  • Comcast has been a monopoly (in Tuscaloosa) and as such has become fat and lazy
  • I could not be happier if Comcast went out of business
  • It was hasta la vista, etc. And we haven’t looked back.
  • Comcast is terrible, eventually everyone’s quality of service (or thier lack of) comes around to bite them in the arse
  • I have a neighbor who calls them concast. His theory: they are conning us out of our money, and casting us into the ignore bin of customer service
  • The only people I feel badly for with the Comcast situation are the people who may loose jobs over this. But the company has no one to blame but themselves for their lousy service.
  • Comcast had the most horrible customer service in town. I’d probably smile inside a little if they closed.
  • Comcast was the slowest “high-speed” internet I ever had. And we’ve had internet all over the country, including in Hawaii

Just one last comment to celebrate all former Comcast slaves…

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”   -MARTIN LUTHER KING JR-

May 14, 2009

Comcast Stockholder Proposal on Executive Pay Fails

Filed under: CMCSK,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:39 am
Read this story at BusinessWeek.com At the Comcast annual stockholder meeting, a  proposal to give shareholders an advisory vote on executives’ pay packages failed. It is the third consecutive year that an annual vote on pay has been proposed — and defeated.  Such “say on pay” proposals have been around for a few years but [...]

Read this story at BusinessWeek.com

At the Comcast annual stockholder meeting, a  proposal to give shareholders an advisory vote on executives’ pay packages failed. It is the third consecutive year that an annual vote on pay has been proposed — and defeated.  Such “say on pay” proposals have been around for a few years but gained traction of late, especially after President Obama required the vote for companies getting government bailouts.

Roberts’ pay has long been a sore point for shareholders. This year, shareholders put forward four proposals to curb pay and diminish Roberts’ control over Comcast:

  1. allow an annual vote on executive pay,
  2. identify executives making at least $500,000 a year,
  3. abolish a dual-class structure that gives Roberts voting power that’s greater than his ownership and;
  4. remove all “golden coffin” deals that provide executive pay and benefits even after death.

CEO Brian Roberts offered such quotable quotes as:

  • “executive pay has long functioned within the purview of a company’s board of directors”  …because only the inner circle of GOOD OLD BOYS understand that the Country Clubs, Private Jets, and Car Collections aren’t getting any cheaper.
  • “a shareholder vote on compensation raises the troubling aspects of how capitalism functions in American business and the world economy” …so Obama, just keep your nose out of my business!
  • “The current system in which the board of directors determined compensation worked well in America for a long time”…just look at how well it has worked for ENRON, AIG, GM, and the list goes on.

Last month, Comcast said in a regulatory filing that Roberts has agreed to give up the salary, annual bonus and insurance-related benefits that would have been paid to his heirs for five years after his death.  GEEZ, I hope they don’t go hungry.

May 11, 2009

Comcast settles with Boston for $1 Million

Filed under: In the News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:38 am
According to The Boston Herald on May 6th, 164,000 Comcast subscribers will each get a $6.08 credit as part of a $1 million settlement agreement that the cable company brokered with the city of Boston. The city charged that Comcast “erroneously” passed on to customers expenses it incurred for installing fiber optic cables. Comcast agreed [...]

According to The Boston Herald on May 6th, 164,000 Comcast subscribers will each get a $6.08 credit as part of a $1 million settlement agreement that the cable company brokered with the city of Boston.

The city charged that Comcast “erroneously” passed on to customers expenses it incurred for installing fiber optic cables. Comcast agreed to reimburse subscribers for the charges but did not admit any fault.

A Comcast spokeperson wishes that they said “Of couse we’re not at fault, and here’s a million dollars to prove it.  What’s the matter?  We didn’t pay you politicians enough to look the other way?  Now take the money and PISS OFF”.

May 7, 2009

San Jose State Student gets the Comcast Treatment

Filed under: Rants — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am
Ralph Warner writes in The Spartan Daily an item titled “Comcast Loves to Empty Wallets”. Here are a few awesome snippets from the piece: “…upon showing up to their offices – which had a stunning resemblance to the DMV with about 14 numbered windows, a ticketing machine and plenty of disgruntled customers…” “According to a [...]

Ralph Warner writes in The Spartan Daily an item titled “Comcast Loves to Empty Wallets”.

Here are a few awesome snippets from the piece:

“…upon showing up to their offices – which had a stunning resemblance to the DMV with about 14 numbered windows, a ticketing machine and plenty of disgruntled customers…”

“According to a 2004 survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Comcast’s customer service satisfaction rating was the lowest of any organization or company finishing lower than the IRS…Comcast also has false or misleading claims of offering the most HD channels in their advertisements.”

“Underneath that witty inviting exterior lies a corporation that exudes greed and shows no gratitude toward loyal customers.”

Well said Ralph.  CUT-THE-CABLE gives you an A+

May 6, 2009

Comcast Needs Some Serious Help in Albuquerque

Filed under: Insider Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:24 am
I love this one right from the TeamComcast website. Comcast is advertising for a “Retention Representative” in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The job description states, “Position is responsible for right packaging customers in order to save them from disconnecting/downgrading services due to perceived lack of value. This individual will reaffirm the customer experience and relationship by [...]

I love this one right from the TeamComcast website.

Comcast is advertising for a “Retention Representative” in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The job description states, “Position is responsible for right packaging customers in order to save them from disconnecting/downgrading services due to perceived lack of value. This individual will reaffirm the customer experience and relationship by reevaluating the benefits and value of Comcast’s products and services as it pertains to the customers needs.

Requirements: High School diploma or general equivalency degree.

Here’s an idea…how about actually PROVIDING VALUE so that you don’t have to create a position to try to convince customers otherwise.  Talk about a job description that is set up to fail…ROTFLOL!

May 5, 2009

Comcast Rates Up 8%

Filed under: CMCSK — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:03 am
Read the story at PCMAG.COM Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says “”Our results for the first quarter mark a solid start to 2009, demonstrating the underlying strength of our subscription businesses and our ability to continue to manage effectively in a challenging environment.  Looking ahead, we remain focused on delivering superior products to our customers, strengthening our [...]

Read the story at PCMAG.COM

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says “”Our results for the first quarter mark a solid start to 2009, demonstrating the underlying strength of our subscription businesses and our ability to continue to manage effectively in a challenging environment.  Looking ahead, we remain focused on delivering superior products to our customers, strengthening our competitive position and building value for our shareholders over the long-term.”

In English, what he said is “Damn, we’re good!  I can’t believe these stupid customers are falling for this…and in a recession no less!  We’ll keep sending more garbage down the line and they’ll eat it all, AND LIKE IT!  The only thing you stockholders have to fear is an educated consumer, and that wont happen anytime soon.”

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