A New TV!
May 3rd we upgraded our main living room TV to a smart 55" Samsung 8 series NU800D.
Such a big improvement over our 10 year old 42" JVC.
The picture is crystal clear and much larger.
Dozens of internet streaming channels now available via the Samsung too. I've really been enjoying the Pluto TV streaming channels.
I moved the 42" JVC to the man cave in the basement, moved the 32" Vizio up to bedroom #3 and the 18" LCD down to the basement office. That meant adding a 5th TV to the attic antenna system. I was concerned about the signal degrading too much by adding another TV but there is no detectable signal loss. Works just fine even with the Channel Master DVR in the living room which actually makes it six/seven TV tuners.
Between the new Samsung and the Channel Master DVR there are now too many channels to even list. Lets just say there are well over 100+ channels available via the antenna and/or streaming. All free but of course not commercial free. We also have Sling Blue ($25/month) and Netflix (free through our T-Mobile account) and MLB (also free through our T-Mobile account) to choose from. If we can't find something to watch, we're not trying.
Why in the world anyone would still be subscribing to expensive cable TV is beyond me. An ex-coworker of mine said her cable TV bill was around $300/month! ($3,600 year!)
"You've got to be joking", as James Bond once said.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Current Channel Master DVR+ Channel Lineup
Here's my current Channel Master DVR+
channel lineup.
2.1 ~ KDKA (CBS affiliate)
2.2 ~ KDKA Start TV (television drama
series from the 1980s through the 2000s)
4.1 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate)
4.2 ~ WTAE (COZI TV Network) (classic
television series from the 1950s to the 1990s)
4.3 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate) (North Hills
translator/repeater for a better signal)
4.4 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) (North
Hills translator/repeater for a better signal)
7.1 ~ WTRF (CBS Affiliate) Wheeling WV
7.2 ~ WTRF (FOX and/or myTV network)
Wheeling WV
7.3 ~ WTRF (ABC affiliate) Wheeling WV
8.1 ~ WWCP (FOX Affiliate) Johnstown PA
8.2 ~ WWCP (ABC Affiliate) Johnstown PA
Simulcast of WATM-TV Channel 23.1
9.1 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (NBC
Network affiliate)
9.2 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (FOX
Network affiliate)
9.3 ~ WTOV (MeTV - "Memorable
Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.1 ~ WPXI (NBC Network affiliate)
11.2 ~ WPXI (MeTV - "Memorable
Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.3 ~ WPXI (LAFF TV) specializes in
comedy programming
13.1 ~ WQED-HD (main WQED programming /
PBS)
13.2 ~ WQED-D1 (WQED-DT2 programming /
Create Channel)
13.3 ~ WQED-D2 (WQED-DT3 PBS World -
science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries)
13.4 ~ WQED-D3 (WQED-DT4 PBS Showcase)
13.5 ~ WQED-D4 (WQED-DT5 PBS Kids)
16.1 ~ ION TV - national television
network featuring general entertainment & movies
16.2 ~ qubo TV - Childrens TV
programming
16.3 ~ IONLife TV - dedicated to
lifestyle programming - mostly 80's, 90's & 00's movies.
16.4 ~ ION affiliate - ION Life or ION
Shopping Channel depending on time of day.
16.5 ~ HSN - Home Shopping Network
16.6 ~ QVC - Home Shopping
19.1 ~ WPCW (CW network) Formally UPN &
WB. Various original & rerun programming.
19.2 ~ H&I (Heros and Icons) focus
on westerns, crime dramas, sci-fi, and action programming.
19.3 ~ GRIT - classic TV series and
films targeted at men between the ages of 25 and 55 years old.
19.4 ~ Light - family-friendly and
faith-based entertainment programming.
22.1 ~ WPNT (myTV network) mostly
syndicated programming
22.2 ~ Stadium (All Sports Network)
Mostly College Sports
22.3 ~ Comet TV - Science Fiction
programming from MGM
22.4 ~ Get TV - Pre-80's programming
from Sony
29.1 ~ WBOA - Home Shopping Network
29.2 ~ CRTV – Paid Programming
31.1 ~ WIIC (Bounce network) Older
movies and TV shows irected mostly to African Americans.
31.2 ~ QVC
31.3 ~ VIBRANT - previously unseen
international programming.
39.1 ~ Jewelry TV
39.2 ~ Informercials
39.3 ~ Shop LC
40.1 ~ WPCB (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
40.2 ~ PFFC (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
53.1 ~ WPGH (FOX affiliate)
53.2 ~ ANTENNA TV - classic television
series from the 1950s to the early 2000s
53.3 ~ Charge! TV – action and
adventure-based programming sourced primarily from the MGM
61.1 ~ WOSC-CD – HSN - Home Shopping
Network
61.2 ~ Movies! TV - Older feature films
61.3 ~ BUZZR – Classic game shows
61.4 ~ SBN - Sonlife Broadcasting
Network - Christian Programming
65-1 ~ WPDN - (Daystar Television
Network) - Christian Programming
69.1 ~WPTG - (THIS TV) MGM movies,
classic television series and children's programming
69.2 ~ GET TV - Pre-80's programming
from Sony
69.3 ~ Retro TV - sitcoms and drama
series from the 1950s through the 1980s
Channel Master TV Streaming Channel
206 Newsmax TV
207 WeatherNation TV
210 BIZ TV Small Business &
Entrepreneur TV
211 WGN-TV Chicago
304 The Outdoor Cooking Channel
444 Youtoo America
445 Backlight TV
501 TVMAS
550 RT News (US) from Russia
551 RT Documentary
552 RT Espanol News
553 RT Arabic News
601 Catholic TV
610 Inspiration Christian TV
627 Jewelry TV shopping channel
900 VUDU HD Movies Pay Channel
901 Pandora Video TV
902 YouTube
903 Sling TV Pay Channel
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Comcast Hunts for Cash
Comcast Hunts for Additional Cash in Pursuit of 21st Century Fox Assets.
Comcast is looking at
private-equity investors and strategic partners as it seeks additional
funds in its battle with Disney for 21st Century Fox assets.
https://www.independentrecorder.com/comcast-hunts-for-additional-cash-in-pursuit-of-21st-century-fox-assets-128993.html
Sounds like more price increases to me when they have to pay back any private-equity investors or strategic partners. People need to wake up to these behemoth cable companies that have been ripping them off for years.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Comcast Strikes Yet Again
Comcast is so F’d up.
We took my Mother-In-Law to our local store last month to get her account switched into her name after her husband passed away in April.
After 45 minutes and having to get a new DVR her bill was supposed to drop a good bit as they made her sign another 2 year contract. They said not to pay the April bill but to wait for the new one.
Well, she got a bill yesterday for April & May (almost $400), same old plan in her dead husbands name. Nothing was changed. Apparently corporate disallowed the switchover but didn’t tell anyone so it just stayed the same.
So we were back at the store another hour this morning (5/23) talking to the same Comcast Rep. who was totally confused and eventually got a manager who said “oh, you can’t do that”. It has to be a totally new account in my mother-in-laws name and will require another new DVR & the modem (which she owns) has to be re-registered and she had to sign another contract.
The manager got the monthly bill down to a little under $100, supposedly. A good thing if it works.
I’m having my techy son stop on his way home from work to see if he can get the new DVR registered and working. They also gave us an 800 number to call to get the old modem re-registered and working so he’ll need to try to do that also. What a pain!
Of course with the new DVR, She’ll lose all of her recorded TV shows and any automatic recording of programs that we set up for her last month so we’ll have to reset all of those auto recordings.
Based on past experience, I really have my doubts that they have everything corrected. Such a pain in the ass company to deal with. Oh, and my mother-in-law just called me. They already shut off her TV & Internet service so I guess she’ll be reading a book this afternoon. Hopefully my son can get it all working again when he gets there.
Stay tuned. I doubt this will be resolved.
Update #1
It went relatively smoothly and took my son about 1 1/2 hours to set everything up as a phone call to Comcast was required to get the modem working and also to change the password for the account since the old account no longer existed.
Update #2
My mother-in-law realized that some of the TV stations that she watches regularly were missing from her line-up. The Rep at the Comcast store had assured us yesterday that the line-up would be exactly the same.
Wrong!
Another trip back to the Comcast store today (5/24) and we were told "oh, those stations are on the next tier up so you'll have to upgrade to get them which will cost an additional $10/month.
Can Comcast ever get anything correct?
Not in my experience, thus this blog.
What a bunch of morons.
We took my Mother-In-Law to our local store last month to get her account switched into her name after her husband passed away in April.
After 45 minutes and having to get a new DVR her bill was supposed to drop a good bit as they made her sign another 2 year contract. They said not to pay the April bill but to wait for the new one.
Well, she got a bill yesterday for April & May (almost $400), same old plan in her dead husbands name. Nothing was changed. Apparently corporate disallowed the switchover but didn’t tell anyone so it just stayed the same.
So we were back at the store another hour this morning (5/23) talking to the same Comcast Rep. who was totally confused and eventually got a manager who said “oh, you can’t do that”. It has to be a totally new account in my mother-in-laws name and will require another new DVR & the modem (which she owns) has to be re-registered and she had to sign another contract.
The manager got the monthly bill down to a little under $100, supposedly. A good thing if it works.
I’m having my techy son stop on his way home from work to see if he can get the new DVR registered and working. They also gave us an 800 number to call to get the old modem re-registered and working so he’ll need to try to do that also. What a pain!
Of course with the new DVR, She’ll lose all of her recorded TV shows and any automatic recording of programs that we set up for her last month so we’ll have to reset all of those auto recordings.
Based on past experience, I really have my doubts that they have everything corrected. Such a pain in the ass company to deal with. Oh, and my mother-in-law just called me. They already shut off her TV & Internet service so I guess she’ll be reading a book this afternoon. Hopefully my son can get it all working again when he gets there.
Stay tuned. I doubt this will be resolved.
Update #1
It went relatively smoothly and took my son about 1 1/2 hours to set everything up as a phone call to Comcast was required to get the modem working and also to change the password for the account since the old account no longer existed.
Update #2
My mother-in-law realized that some of the TV stations that she watches regularly were missing from her line-up. The Rep at the Comcast store had assured us yesterday that the line-up would be exactly the same.
Wrong!
Another trip back to the Comcast store today (5/24) and we were told "oh, those stations are on the next tier up so you'll have to upgrade to get them which will cost an additional $10/month.
Can Comcast ever get anything correct?
Not in my experience, thus this blog.
What a bunch of morons.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Comcast has a new way to make money...
From Cord Cutters News
Well, it looks like Comcast has a new way to make money. Charge as much as $90 in installation fee even if they don’t have to do anything. Recently ArsTechnica did some research on Comcast's installation fee and found that it varies wildly but if your area has a $90 installation fee you have to pay it even if you don’t need installations. Even if you purchase your own modem and install it yourself ArsTechnica says you still have to pay the $90 fee. This all comes a week after we learned that legacy Time Warner Cable package that means you will be paying an extra $11.75 every month for every additional TV on top of your DVR box. So if you have three extra TVs (family room, bedroom, kid’s room) you will be paying an extra $35.25 a month. Over a two-year contract that will add up to an extra $846 to be able to watch the TV you already pay for. If you switch over to a Spectrum TV plan you will see the monthly fee drop to $6.99 a month. So as always if you see a deal that looks too good to be true for cable TV it probably is…
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/comcast-is-charging-a-90-installation-fee-even-when-no-installation-is-needed/
Well, it looks like Comcast has a new way to make money. Charge as much as $90 in installation fee even if they don’t have to do anything. Recently ArsTechnica did some research on Comcast's installation fee and found that it varies wildly but if your area has a $90 installation fee you have to pay it even if you don’t need installations. Even if you purchase your own modem and install it yourself ArsTechnica says you still have to pay the $90 fee. This all comes a week after we learned that legacy Time Warner Cable package that means you will be paying an extra $11.75 every month for every additional TV on top of your DVR box. So if you have three extra TVs (family room, bedroom, kid’s room) you will be paying an extra $35.25 a month. Over a two-year contract that will add up to an extra $846 to be able to watch the TV you already pay for. If you switch over to a Spectrum TV plan you will see the monthly fee drop to $6.99 a month. So as always if you see a deal that looks too good to be true for cable TV it probably is…
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/comcast-is-charging-a-90-installation-fee-even-when-no-installation-is-needed/
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Comcast Raising These too!
Of Course They Are!
We
already talked about how Comcast is raising the price on their TV
packages, but they didn’t stop there. Now it is being reported that
Comcast is raising their broadcast TV fee to $8 a month and their
regional sports fee to $6.75 a month in some areas.
What is the broadcast TV fee? It is the fee to have local channels included as part of the TV package you paid for. It will now add up to an extra $96 a year. Over a two-year contract that will add up to $192.
The regional sports fee is the fee you pay to have access to the sports you watch as part of your TV package. This fee is going up in some areas to $6.75 a month. Over a year that will add up to an extra $81 a year. Over a two-year contract that is $162.
In total, you will pay an extra $14.75 a month for these two fees on top of your TV package. Over a two-year contract that’s an extra $354 in just these fees.
http://www.cordcuttersnews.com/comcast-raising-broadcast-tv-regional-sports-fees/
Comcast Is Raising Their Broadcast TV & Regional Sports Fees
We
already talked about how Comcast is raising the price on their TV
packages, but they didn’t stop there. Now it is being reported that
Comcast is raising their broadcast TV fee to $8 a month and their
regional sports fee to $6.75 a month in some areas.What is the broadcast TV fee? It is the fee to have local channels included as part of the TV package you paid for. It will now add up to an extra $96 a year. Over a two-year contract that will add up to $192.
The regional sports fee is the fee you pay to have access to the sports you watch as part of your TV package. This fee is going up in some areas to $6.75 a month. Over a year that will add up to an extra $81 a year. Over a two-year contract that is $162.
In total, you will pay an extra $14.75 a month for these two fees on top of your TV package. Over a two-year contract that’s an extra $354 in just these fees.
http://www.cordcuttersnews.com/comcast-raising-broadcast-tv-regional-sports-fees/
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Of course they're raising prices again.
http://www.cordcuttersnews.com/comcast-raising-prices-almost-everything/
Are
you ready to pay more? As a new year draws to a close cable TV is back
to their old ways of raising prices. Recently Comcast has quietly
started to announce new pricing for almost everything. Thanks to a few
readers who sent us their price increase notices we now have a break
down of what Comcast is doing.
Want TV? Get ready to pay between $1 and $5 a month more for your base cable TV package. Want to add a premium channel? Comcast is raising the price of many premium channels including Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, and the Movie Channel $2 a month. In the past they cost just $10, now you will pay $12 a month.
Miss a payment? The late fee for Comcast is going up to $10 for every missed payment. Are you renting a modem? That will now cost $11 a month up $1 a month.
Even Internet is going up again—about $2 a month on average. Want the Internet Plus Latino option? That is going up $3 a month to $75.95 a month.
This is nothing new. It seems like almost a yearly tradition for cable networks. Although Comcast is the first one I have heard of raising their prices, they likely won’t be the last.
The good news is you can still dump cable TV and become a cord cutter. With fees like this cord cutting is looking better every day.
If you want to learn more about how you can become a cord cutter, check out our Cord Cutting 101 Guide HERE. You will find a step-by-step guide to help you get started with your plan to break free from the high cost of cable TV.
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews.
Need cord cutting tech support? Join our new Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.
Comcast Is Raising Their Prices on Almost Everything
Are
you ready to pay more? As a new year draws to a close cable TV is back
to their old ways of raising prices. Recently Comcast has quietly
started to announce new pricing for almost everything. Thanks to a few
readers who sent us their price increase notices we now have a break
down of what Comcast is doing.Want TV? Get ready to pay between $1 and $5 a month more for your base cable TV package. Want to add a premium channel? Comcast is raising the price of many premium channels including Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, and the Movie Channel $2 a month. In the past they cost just $10, now you will pay $12 a month.
Miss a payment? The late fee for Comcast is going up to $10 for every missed payment. Are you renting a modem? That will now cost $11 a month up $1 a month.
Even Internet is going up again—about $2 a month on average. Want the Internet Plus Latino option? That is going up $3 a month to $75.95 a month.
This is nothing new. It seems like almost a yearly tradition for cable networks. Although Comcast is the first one I have heard of raising their prices, they likely won’t be the last.
The good news is you can still dump cable TV and become a cord cutter. With fees like this cord cutting is looking better every day.
If you want to learn more about how you can become a cord cutter, check out our Cord Cutting 101 Guide HERE. You will find a step-by-step guide to help you get started with your plan to break free from the high cost of cable TV.
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews.
Need cord cutting tech support? Join our new Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.
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