maybe a few decades too late, as always
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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So, the horses have left a few decades ago...time to close the door?
It might seem too late, but this will be helpful for people stuck in ridiculous contracts to cancel and go internet exclusive. If you're younger, in your 20s or even 30s, you would probably likely be rid of cable by now.
if you're much older then that those are the people I think would really benefit from this, the older generations.
Who even has cable or satellite anymore?
It's pretty common in a lot of cities for apartment complexes to have deals with cable/internet providers that require residents to sign up for cable TV if they want internet service, so a surprising amount of people still have cable these days, even if they don't actually watch it. My apartment forced us into getting cable service with Spectrum so that we could have internet, and we never even bothered to pick up the cable boxes because neither I nor my roommate watch live TV ever, but we still have to pay for it, anyway.
I do what any sane person does. I remove their stupid filter off their line outside of my house and plug it into the back of my TV for free.
They can’t stop the broadcast signal so when they turn off your cable they install the filter in the line. It’s about the size of a d cell battery.
Don’t be rooting around and touching lines or cables if you can’t tell the difference between a coax an rj45 and THHN #6. Two of those are safe and one of those could end your life if it’s live.
It's not encrypted yet?
I mean, OK, our cable provider only started using encryption for all channels this year (also killing off analog cable TV), but still, I thought that was just an exception.
That might have worked decades ago. But with QAM, switched video, and encryption, you will bet very little or nothing without a box or CableCard.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a proposal Tuesday to ban cable and satellite television early termination fees.
In a press release, the FCC said these fees may limit consumer choice and “may negatively impact competition for services in the marketplace.” The agency also said the fees often make cable and satellite subscribers pay for a whole billing cycle, even if they end the TV service early.
When companies charge customers early termination fees, it limits their freedom to choose the service they want,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release.
“Companies shouldn’t lock you into services you don’t want with large fees.
The FCC also recently voted to bring back Obama-era net neutrality laws last month.
These rules give the commission more power to regulate the internet via restricting companies’ ability to enact harmful practices on consumers like throttling and paid prioritization.
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