Cablevision - They Give and They Give

Hey, did anyone notice it’s raining out?

Yeah, all night, all day, all night….

So on a rainy day in August what’s a slightly off  kilter blogger to do?  

Stay inside, ruminate, study that odd new crease in my ear lobe, ruminate, count the cracks in the ceiling, ruminate, watch the sump pump pump sump, ruminate...and watch old movies on cable, that's what.  Which reminded me….

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about the little nitpick (or nitwit pick, as I called it) I had with Cablevision’s News 12 Westchester's "Hyper-Local” claim.  I referred to it as “Loco-Local”, since basically it covers an area about 100 miles from end to end, and who knows—certainly not me— how wide.

I know…pretty clever stuff, huh?  Even if I do say so myself, which I have to, since no one else ever does….

I wonder why that is?

But I digress….

Anyway...I’m not done.

Hey, like I said...it’s cable.

Today's NWP is about this switcheroo Cablevision pulled back in February with the Game Show Network.

What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of the Game Show Network, let alone watched it, or know anything of this so called switcheroo. 

I get that.

But if you’re a senior, like my mom, and you spend a lot of time at home watching TV, chances are you have.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, The Game Show Network, is just that…a network that re runs game shows from as early as the 60’s & 70’s.

Things like The Match Game with Gene Rayburn

or Password with Allen Ludden...that sort of thing. 

I call it the "Network of the Dead or Nearly Dead TV Stars”.

Mostly because everyone on it is. 

My mom thinks that’s funny…but she’s my mom.

Of course, they have a few new, original game shows, but they’re not as good since most of those people are still alive…sort of. 

Anyway, GSN, used to be part of basic family cable, which meant you could just watch it as part of your basic family fee…until, like I said, last February. That’s when the Cablevision geniuses, and believe me, from a marketing stand point it is kind of genius, decided to add GSN to their Sports Package, for an additional fee of “only” $6.95 a month. 

Doesn’t sound like much, and, as Cablevison is quick to point out, you do get a whole lot of great sports programming to go along with Allen and Gene. But remember, were talking about seniors, lots of them women, in their 80's and 90's, who only want to watch Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson and Phyllis Diller crack their little sexual innuendos. 

So now they get to watch some great additional programming like the Cricket Channel—no kidding— described by Cablevison as "a cricket channel devoted exclusively to live cricket events and cricked-based shows".

So there's that!

And then there's tennis, baseball, hockey, extreme sports, horseracing, hunting fishing, golf, NBA, soccer from around the world and “combat related sports” whatever that is…plus the Game Show Network…cuz, you know, they show games.

Oh...and it also just so happens that GSN is owned by Direct TV and Sony Pictures, both  Cablevision competitors.  So this wouldn’t have anything to do with taking a competitors channel off of basic programming…would it?  

So that’s Cablevision for you…they give and they give and they give.

Which wouldn’t be so bad if my mom hadn’t gone out and joined a combat related sports league, herself. I can’t tell you how embarrassing that is for me.


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The Cablevision Trilogy

Click on any link below
News 12 Westchester- Hyper-Local or Loco-Local? -7/25/11

Cablevision - They Give and They Give - 8/15/11  

Cablevision...Again - "I Owe" TV – 8/29/11

Note: Some of the packages and pricing referred to have changed in the past year. What hasn’t changed is the level of frustration consumers must endure.

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