Here is one great example of how cable TV is willing to

Feb 18, 2021, 7:53 PM

shoot itself in the foot.

Time Warner cable was bought out, merged, whatever, by Spectrum. Spectrum allowed existing customers to keep their Timer Warner packages if they wanted. I had Time Warner Signature Home, which is the most expensive package other than paying for ALL channels available. It had pretty much everything other than the premium movie channels, and even had some of them. It also had a feature we liked, which was that you could record a show on any dvr box in the house, and watch it on any other dvr box in the house. Since we have two dvr boxes, that allowed us to record up to four shows at a time.

Fast forward to the impending launch of the ACC Network. I was informed by Spectrum CSR that it would not be available on the old Time Warner Signature Home package, that I would have to switch over to a comparable Spectrum package to get it. Channel wise, they truly were comparable, and the dollars was also nearly the same. No physical hardware changed needed, we got to keep all the same dvr boxes, etc. It amounted to a central office downloaded software change. All is well, right? WRONG.

Immediately upon going with the new package we suddenly discovered we could only view recorded programs on the dvr box that initially recorded them. Bear in mind, this is the same box that previously had this option of viewing in any room in the house. I called up Spectrum CSR, and was informed that Spectrum does not offer that service. I pointed out that they were in fact offering it to existing TW customers who had not yet switched packages. No matter, they stood firm that it was not going to be offered, and has not been offered, via Spectrum. All it would take is a few lines of code, since I know the box was previously capable. Since my wife is a huge "soap opera" fan, this made her very angry. That, in turn, as any man knows, has made my life not nearly as sunshine and apple pie as it once was.