September 01, 2004

• That's BS. Comcast Digital has MTV and all the others.
• Yeah, same here. What it sounds like to me is that your cable provider doesn't want to pay Viacom money for their digital channels.
• yup. i have comcast and get all those; my sweetie has starpower and gets all those. both digital. call 'em back and bitch. tell them what you want to see. only if enough people do that will you get your channels.
• Yup, total bullshit. They don't want to pay, that's all.
• That's what I thought....they keep telling me that their provider is in negotiations with Viacom and that there is nothing they can do. I thought I smelled a rat.
• MTV - Not worth the money (even if it's free). It's not about music anymore. VH1 - ditto Lifetime - the ultimate "men-are-always-wrong" network. Hey, we already know this - there's no need to rub our faces in it. USA - if this was a movie studio, they'd put out c-grade movies on a weekly basis. Since it's a TV network, it's b-grade at best. Don't worry, you're not missing anything. Get a satellite dish and watch MuchMusic. Last time I heard, they still actually show music videos.
• Yea, I'm with drivingmenuts on this. Your definately not missing anything by not having those channels.
• I agree with the both of you, however...the fiance may not.
• The cable company was not identified. But is it possible that they are a small-time company, and are being squeezed out of the market by unfavorable terms/rates? Are Comcast/Time Warner and Viacom in bed together?
• I have all of the Lifetime movies on tape if you need them.
• I had MuchMusic way back when I had Primestar. I found it to mostly be a joke. Like a supermarket generic version of tomato paste, only with music.
• rolypoly... that's possible, but that wasn't the issue. They gave the excuse that MTV doesn't want to be on digicable because the videos could get swiped/dumped - which is BS. My guess is that this is a smaller provided and terms are harsh.
• Anyone here has access to MTV2? From what I've been told, they still happen to show more videos than reality shows, and from 'alternative' groups... just like MTv used to. But it's restricted to Europe on satellite, is it? And yes, I wish a la carte channel selection would be available. I have satellite TV, and have to pay for several can't be bothered with because it's the entire package or nothing. So for the 'privilege' of NHK, France's TV5, BBC World and such I must pay for MTV, two cooking channels, half a dozen sports, the Cosmo channel...
• You can get MTV2 in the US. We have it on our Charter digital lineup, along with MTV Jams, MTV Espanol, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, and VH1 Country. they're all leaps better than empty-vee. I only see them while playing switch-o-vision or when there's nothing on, but I've yet to see them doing anything other than: (1) Showing a video (2) Introducing a video or leading out of one (3) Showing a commercial
• MTV2 is slowly becoming MTV of six years ago. They're playing more shows and documentaries. They used to be like 120 minutes all day. Now they're the commercial bore that the main station is when they play videos. The real gold is MTVX or MTVU, although both of them play their fair share of "the same old crap".
• Actually, Flagpole, a la carte could potentially cost you more money. The reason channels like Cartoon Network, Game Show Network, etc, got off the ground was because the extra revenue that grouping brought in helped offset losses. With a la carte, I imagine there would be quite a few channels that, while they have a loyal audience, would not be able to sustain themselves.
• We don't have cable or dish, but still get MTV2. (good antennae). I caught "Backstage With The Darkness" one evening and really enjoyed it. (Yup, I'm pathetic.) It seems to run lots of videos and Beavis & Butthead episodes.
• MTV2 still shows more videos than MTV but it's still more non-video shows than video shows most of the day. A few weeks ago, though, I noticed that at a certain time of day, MTV, MTV2, VH1 and Fuse (formerly Much Music USA) were all 4 playing videos at the same time. So, naturally, 2 of them (Fuse and MTV, I believe) were playing the exact same video. If it's videos you want, though, Fuse is the best option. The channel is probably 85% videos with the other 15% being music related shows and the infomercials that play for a few hours in the early morning. Fuse also has the show "Oven Fresh" which plays new videos, often from unknown artists, and allows people to vote on whether those videos should stay on the play list.
• rolypoly...that could very well be the case, they are a VERY small local company. Most of the people they serve live out in the country so it's very possible they don't have the influence they could have. Like I said...I JUST got digital cable and it's not like regular digital, either. check this out. 1: I can only have three televisions in my house that get the digital cable. 2: When you change the chanel on one of the tv's that is not at the 'base station' it sends a RF signal to the 'base station box' that is on the main TV. 3: You have to have the second TV on chanel 7 for it to pick up the secondary stream...and the third TV on channel 13 to pick up the tertiary signal. weird stuff. Now...imagine getting a Tivo to work with all of this. yeah...it was a pain in the ass, but at least I can finally watch my FIA World Rally Races.
• I sure hope that it's cheaper than going with a dish for you.
• I caught "Backstage With The Darkness" one evening and really enjoyed it. (Yup, I'm pathetic.) Yes, yes you are.
• VH1 Classic is great. All videos all the time. However, don't expect to see anything NEW. I will admit, nothing makes me happier than "We Are The 80s" and their new Alternative hour.
• My favorite part of my favorite Darkness song: Monday rowing Tuesday badminton Dancing on a Friday night I got ping pong on Wednesday Needlework on Thursday Dancing on a Friday night With you, with you He definitely looks like the type to do needlework! ;o) On preview: VH1's I love the 80's absolutely, hands-down, rocks! I wasted an ENTIRE day one weekend when they were having a marathon. Now who's pathetic? ;o)
• On our cable (Time Warner in a small town), it's a weird digital/analog hybrid. When you get the digital cable, you get the same analog stations as everyone else, with digital channels added on to that. Sometimes, the digital feed goes out but the analog doesn't, and vice versa (and sometimes there's a noticeable difference in quality between the two). We have MTV and Fuse (which used to be Much Music USA) on analog, and MTV2 and VH1 Classic on digital. It could be that your cable company is similar, swive. Lord knows our version of Time Warner is the weirdest I've ever heard of. (Don't get me started on them -- we don't get WGN because of a years-long dispute. If I were allowed by my landlord, I would have gone with a dish years ago.)
• I think all "digital" channels are analong onteh lower stations and digital on teh upper stations. At least the two I've had experiene with. Which is why I laugh at those dish network commercials that brag about "all our channels are digital," well that's because they digitize them. The analog channels like MTV and TBS, to the best of my knowledge, don't have digital streams. On the other hand, that digital cable system swive talks about is just strange. What is the brand of the equipment? I've never heard of such a thing. It sounds like dish network would be worth it just to get rid of the hassle.
• Music videos are an abomination, a contradiction in terms, and just plain wrong.
• strange...when I got home I had a message on my machine. Seems that they just added MTV, VH1, NICK, CMT and TVLAND. weird how things work out, isn't it?
• they were reading this thread and saw the recommendations that you get a dish - didn't want to loose your business, obviously.