TIME/Warner kicked OUT of my house - tell me BEST BLUE satellite company

[blm]

Please.


I can no longer bear paying another dime to the House of Saud that protects the House of Bush.

[wakeme2008]

1. Dishnetwork

Direct TV is own by Murdock (sp?)

[stop the bleeding]

2. I am not sure how "Blue" these are but they do carry some neat channels

Direct TV - just Link TV channel -

Dish Network - Freespeech TV, and Link TV channels

These channels will satisfy your liberal appetite.

on edit: we have the Dish Network and love the 2 channels that suit our "ideals"

[populistdriven]

3. Freespeech TV on Dish carries Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman for the win!!!

:toast:

[Skink]

4. Good for you.

:grouphug:

[Benhurst]

5. Is there one?

I quit Charter six years ago because I did not want to subsidize CNN, FOX and a host of right-wing religious shows -- and as long as you are paying for their "packages" as structured, that is exactly what you are doing.

Is there any satellite company offering packages which do NOT include fascist news and screwball religious programs?

I have actually enjoyed not having cable. I can get broadcast CBS, PBS and NBC, which provide me with more television than I want now; but it would be nice having an option.

[blm]

6. I have a 5yo who loves HBO Family and a husband who loves Larry David

(well, I love Larry, too) so we need the HBO. Plus, they deserve some reward for Spike Lee's Katrina documentary.

[Lost-in-FL]

7. You have cable?

:puke:



I have DirectV and no complaints for 5 years now. Just the rain every now and then, that the signal is lost for like lets say 10 minutes. In the past I had Time Warner and it would go down too often sometimes for over 8 hrs.

I know Directv is Republican but it does have it LinkTV. I have never tried Dish, I heard they too are GOP so I picked the lesser of all evils (with the little knowledge I had at the time). I do have XM and I know they are Libruls.

[mike_c]

8. turn the box off permanently-- your life will improve dramatically....

I'm serious-- stopping TV is like quitting smoking-- at first you miss it, but then one day you'll suddenly feel clean and unable to understand how you could EVER waste your time on that drivel. There are many more, better, and reliable sources of information, and far better ways to entertain yourself. The only thing you'll miss is the overtly mindless propaganda, bad sitcoms, infotainment, and an occasional good dramatic series, movie, etc-- but the good stuff is almost all available on DVD anyway.

[Benhurst]

11. I agree. At the time I quit cable, I was watching about four hours

a week and spending over $60 a month for the privilege -- it would be closer to $90 now. At the time I decided the $60 would be better spent not supporting fascist news and buying whatever entertainment I wanted on tape or DVD. As it turned out, there isn't enough worthwhile material out there to come anywhere near spending even $60 a month on. I find myself now buying 4 or 5 movies a year, tops.

[babylonsister]

9. DirectTV here, picked at the time because it was the

best per whomever my DH spoke to.
We like it and only have a problem when there's thunder/lightening in the area.
AND I get LinkTV!
You may have a tough row to hoe disconnecting any corp. from the House of Bush.

[blm]

13. Well, TIME/Warner has CNN and THEY are the ones who most actively protect

the Bushes for their major stockholder - House of Saud.

People should drop the fock out of AOL who brought this pestilence upon TIME/Warner.

[arwalden]

10. DirecTV is a superior service.

[johnaries]

24. Wanna bet?

I had PrimeStar until DirecTV bought them out. Direc pissed me off so much it didn't take me long to switch to DishNetwork. Dish has BOTH FSTV and LinkTV.

[arwalden]

27. Sure, Let's Bet!

:eyes:

Well... Whenever there's a takeover and CHANGE, many folks are bound to be unhappy simply because of the change (or because of the growing-pains) and other hassles normally associated with that type of growth.

I've been a satellite customer for just over two years now... both DN and DTV have had plenty of time to establish their routines, knock out the kinks, and work on their service and offerings. Neither company is in a state of flux or major change.

I started out with DishNetwork and overall, I found everything about them to be substandard. Although the signal and picture were better than cable, their tech support, website, and even the installers were lacking and left me wanting more.

The DishNetwork converters were cheesy, the menus were difficult to navigate. The converter had to CHANGE CHANNELS daily in order to trickle-stream in its channel guide data (usually during something that I was watching or recording). The worst part was their silly DishNetwork screen saver. WTF??

Yes... a fucking screen saver! If nobody changed channels after a certain period of time, a screen saver would pop up and display a bounding Dish logo until someone pressed the "clear" button on the remote control. No other button or keypress would do... pressing channel-up would not get rid of the screen saver... pressing digits to tune to a new channel would not work either... it HAD to be the "clear" (or exit) button. --- Needless to say, that screen saver "feature" rendered Tivo and Replaytv DVR's completely useless (unless you really want to record hours and hours of the bouncing Dish logo.

Based on my experiences, the DishNetwork is amateur. Fewer local channels were offered by Dish (unless I wanted to add extra dish) WTF?? Two dish receivers just so that I could get an extra 4 local channels? No thanks!

When I switched to DTV, I was delighted to discover that every concern and problem that I had with DN was nowhere to be found. A single DTV dish offered MORE local channels than DN... cleaner/faster on-screen menus/directories... there was NO idiotic screensaver, and the menu data was streamed in to the converter throughout the day NO MATTER WHICH CHANNEL it was tuned to... unlike the DN converter, the DTV converter didn't need to interrupt viewing for its regular maintenance and data collection.

I guess this is just another version of "Tastes Great / Less Filling" or the "Ford / Chevy" debates.

[johnaries]

32. I've been a satellite customer for 8 years, and a Dish customer

for about 6. I have never run into any of the things you mention. Never seen a screensaver, and I have no idea what you're talking about when you say your converter had to change channels. I have seen the converter lose signal during bad thunderstorms, in which case it will attempt other "channels" to find a signal. But I lose signal less often with my Dish than I did with my PrimeStar. And I get all the local channels.

I suspect your problems were a result of your local installer, and not DishNetwork.

You're right, it is really a "Ford vs Chevy" debate - but you started it!

:P

:hi:

[arwalden]

35. It Was Definitely A Function Of The "New & Improved" Converter Boxes...

... with the "new and improved" software that was the source of my biggest beef with them. Apparently the problems I experienced were unique to those units and they were aware of the problem (particularly with the screen saver).

I also thought it was odd that the converter had to change channels in order to pick up it's new data (but apparently that routine was written by the same guy who thought a screen saver was cool).

The one thing that you and I can agree on is that it's a HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN CABLE!!

My satellite service was installed and operating a few days before the cable was disconnected, so I had the chance to compare them both SIDE-BY-SIDE on the same TV. --- I hooked up the cable to my TV's "input-A" coax and I hooked up the satellite to my TV's "input-B" coax connection. Next I tuned both the cable and satellite to the same channel. Using my remote control I flipped between the two signals and the winner was CLEARLY the satellite signal. (I also reversed the hookups just to make certain there wasn't something wrong with the input-A connection... the results were the same.)

Heavy rains also cause me to lose the signal too... but it has to be a HUM-DINGER of a storm. Ordinary passing summer rain showers have no effect. But still... even when the storms DO cause the picture to go out, it still is MORE reliable than cable. And I know for a fact that when the storm is over, the signal will return, but with cable, whenever the signal went out (often) there was no telling how long it would take to come back.

Comcast sucks!! Even their Internet service sucks. -- Turns out that my new "slower" DSL connection is more reliable and faster than the "high-speed" cable Internet they provided to my neighborhood. Cheaper too!

[ToeBot]

36. It may be, but is Rupert Murdoch blue friendly? out

[elocs]

12. I kicked them all out.

I had satellite (Voom for all the HD channels) and cable until I got sick of the 57 channels and nothing's on and I got rid of both of them. I put up an antenna and now I get only 8 channels, but most of them are in HD and they are free over the air. I don't spend a dime on them and there always seems to be something to watch, particularly on my local PBS station. I also have an overhead projector which I can use to watch dvds on a 7' screen and surround sound for a movie like experience. So I don't need no stinking satellite or cable.

[NMDemDist2]

14. Dishnetwork

we love em

[nosillies]

15. I have DISH, because I will not support Murdoch

My parents have Direct. My service far surpasses theirs. They get crappy reception and picture quality, and have problems with tech support and the people who come for service calls. I have none of those problems.

[blm]

16. Thanks for the replies and KEEP THEM COMING. Will be deciding on Monday.

The replies so far have been very helpful.

[stevedeshazer]

17. We ditched all but locally broadcast TV years ago

I don't miss it at all. If something relevant is shown (about .01% of the time) it always gets on the internet, and I can watch it there.

[ovidsen]

18. Other choices? Besides DISH and DirecTV??

I'm not satellite shopping yet, but I can see it coming Are there any other options that might be "bluer" or "greener"?

[reichstag911]

19. Your sig pic:

Chicago River?

[ovidsen]

23. Yes it is!

A touch of the old home town...

[reichstag911]

37. That's the old Sun-Times bldg...

...on the right, correct?

Here's one of a bldg right on the river you might like:

[ovidsen]

40. Yep. Sun-Times building (RIP)

I see your pic shows the Wacker Drive side of the river, west of Michigan Ave., but I can't remember what building used to be there! You see, I haven't been back in 5 years, dammit!

VERY nice shot BTW!

Thanks!

[reichstag911]

42. I was on my way...

...to a Radiohead concert at the Auditorium, and the buliding/river/light just looked very cool, so I snapped it.

[blm]

20. That's what I'm here to find out.

My ears are open.

[Tarheel_Dem]

22. Ditto.....

I've been a cable subscriber for 20+ years, and I'd like to break away as well, especially since they moved Sundance to a premium package. I took an afternoon off a couple of weeks ago, and sat here waiting for the DishNetwork Tech, only to find that there are too many trees and other obstructions here, and that my reception would suck. I then called Cust Service to have my credit card refunded, and the Rep talked me into having a DirectTv tech come out, because Direct supposedly is a much stronger signal. I had no idea until today that Rupert Murdoch owns Direct :puke:

Seems I heard that Ned Lamont owned a cable company? Any truth to that?

[johnaries]

25. Nope. All other competitors were bought out. nt.

[ovidsen]

41. I was afraid of that. Thanks for the info (n/t)

[Uncle Joe]

21. I quit cable years ago, tired of the fascist news,

I just have broadcast television, P.B.S. is my favorite station, although it is being endangered now. :(

[otohara]

26. DISH

they are blue, only red when absolutely necessary. (when dealing with government/FCC) More so now than in the past.

I know this for a fact!

[NYCGirl]

28. Actually, they give 52% to Democrats, and 48% to Republicans.

http://www.buyblue.org/node/2922/view/summary

Edited to add: Looks like almost exactly the same as DirecTV (in fact, DirecTV gives a tiny bit MORE to Democrats.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/analysis/CompanyProfile.aspx?HOID=32374#Contribs

[otohara]

29. Yes, But

they haven't been giving much money to anyone lately. When Dish was trying to get DirectTV, they threw money to GOP, it didn't pay off and now the flow has stopped. Arlen Spector is about it.

[onenote]

30. Charlie Ergen (head of Dish): looks to McCain for help at every turn

If you follow the ups and downs and ins and outs of communications policy and regulation (which is what I do for a living), you know that Ergen's staunchest supporter is McCain. You also know that Ergen has built his business by ignoring and violating the law and the intellectual property rights of others at every turn. Its finally catching up with him. In just the past few weeks he's been hit with injunctions for violating provisions of the copyright law governing the retransmission of out of market broadcast signals and for violating Tivo's patents.

[NYCGirl]

31. It's interesting to note that in the 2006 cycle, Time-Warner has given 72%

to Democrats!

http://opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?Ind=B02&cycle=2006

[blm]

34. That's misleading since many of the artists and employees direct donations

towards Dems while the corporate types direct their donations to GOPs. And when it all comes down to it, it's the corporate suits who direct policy - and if that policy means keeping BushInc protected and propped to protect the overall agenda, that's what they'll do.

[pstokely]

33. what about a high speed ISP?

For me, it's either Time Warner or nsAT&T

[Rosco T.]

38. It's a little trickier to setup and get, but I have a Starchoice/FTA ...

... Starchoice (Canadian) system down here in the "Southern Provinces" of West Texas :D Costs a little less, get a LOT more channels and not chopped.. plus add BBC World & CBC to the mix.

I also have a FTA (free-to-air) system on a 36" Motorized dish and get other channels from all over the WORLD for FREE (free as in Beer, open broadcasts).

if you got any questions on either, I'll answer best as I can.

[madrchsod]

39. dishnetwork

very good service