FCC Looks to End Cable Box Rentals
Washington — Federal regulators Thursday put the metal boxes most Americans rent to receive cable or satellite programming at the center of a high-stakes fight over the future of TV and video. The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to begin crafting rules intended to spur competition in the set-top-box market by developing technology standards so third-party devices and apps could decode pay-TV signals. Such...
Streaming TV Costs a Lot Less Than Cable, but Choosing a Service Has Proven Frustrating
Like millions of other consumers, Evan Hartstein was fed up with pay TV. The 40-year-old father of two was paying nearly $250 a month for a bundle of phone, high-speed Internet and hundreds of cable channels that he and his family barely watched. So Hartstein and his wife recently ditched their standard cable TV subscription and instead signed up for Sling TV, Netflix and a few other streaming services. Their monthly bill was cut in...
FCC: Internet Is Faster, as Providers Promised
Washington — Internet providers are keeping promises made in advertising about faster download speeds, according to a report from the Federal Communications Commission. Most of the time, consumers are streaming TV shows and surfing the Web at speeds they are paying for. Sometimes it’s even faster depending on the time of day or the geographic location of the home. On the downside, there is an increasing gap between those with access...
Future Cord-Cutters of America
San Diego — On weekdays in the Larsen household, Kirsten, 12, and Soren, 15, get up early and park themselves on the couch before school. But they do not turn on the TV. Instead, the youngsters each pull out their respective phones and fire up YouTube to get a dose of videos, essentially acquiring the information they need to know before encountering peers. Say hello to the future cord-cutters of America. Not only is cable becoming...
Consumer Confidential: Time Warner Cable Takes Baby Step Toward More Affordable Pay-TV Service
Dana Sutton is typical of many Time Warner Cable customers. It’s not that he dislikes the company’s services. He just doesn’t want so much of them. For instance, the $12.75 a month he has to pay for his cable box. “That seems high,” Sutton, 73, told me. Or the many, many channels he never watches. “I’d jump at the chance for a-la-carte channels,” the Los Angeles-area resident said. Could it be that Time Warner Cable feels his and...
