MSNBC: 100% Comcast's decision and Saltzman's ticked off.
Kari Chisholm
So, last Tuesday, mere hours before the presidential debate, MSNBC disappeared from basic cable on the Comcast system in Portland. I waited on hold, forever, to find out what happened - and then posted a rant here at BlueOregon. After all, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is just about the only progressive voice on cable news.
For example, check out Olbermann's "Special Comment" tonight regarding torture, the Mukasey nomination, and George W. Bush. It's powerful stuff.
As I wrote last week:
Please, oh please, tell me that this isn't Comcast turning out the lights on the only cable news channel that even bothers to air one progressive voice. If it really is MSNBC's call, that sucks, but OK. But not if it's Comcast's decision.
And now we know. Over the weekend, I got an official statement from NBC's corporate headquarters. An MSNBC spokesperson (who asked to be otherwise anonymous) wrote me this:
The decision to move MSNBC from its existing channel in Portland, Oregon was 100% Comcast's decision. MSNBC reaches more than 91 million U.S. homes and leads the industry in political news coverage. We believe it should be offered in every basic cable package.
This is outrageous. The cable news lineup in Portland is now: CNN, CNN Headline, CNBC, Weather Channel, FOX News, NW Cable News. Seriously. Weather.
And I'm not alone. I was hoping the Oregonian's Peter Ames Carlin would dig into this - and he has. Turns out, Comcast has some explaining to do.... and not just to bloggers.
[On] Thursday Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees the city's cable communications and franchise management office, fired off a letter to Comcast complaining that the MSNBC move amounted to a backdoor rate increase. And on Friday, David Olson, the Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission director, said his office was preparing to send a complaint to Comcast because the cablers had yet to provide its regulators with any official notice of the lineup change.
What's Comcast's reasoning?
[Comcast spokesperson Theressa Davis] was vague about the criteria used to decide which news channel had to move -- she ticked off something about content, quality and viewership -- but it's worth noting that MSNBC consistently scores the lowest ratings of all the major cable news outlets, even in liberal Portland.
Seriously. Content? Quality? They've tons of home shopping and televangelism channels, not to mention channels devoted to re-runs and other stupidity. Want to charge someone extra money? How about moving the Golf Channel?
We're heading into a presidential year, and they're pulling the one channel that's devoted entirely to politics - and the one channel that's got one show with a progressive host? And they're leaving on FOX's entire right-wing lineup, plus CNN - with its idiotic Glenn Beck?
One more thing: MSNBC is still posted as Channel 47 on the TV-Guide channel, where they list all the upcoming shows. More and more, this seems like a half-ass decision made by a programming executive who just got tired of Olbermann's speaking truth to power. Especially since they're slowly rolling this out across the county - Atlanta, Denver, now Portland. (h/t to Darrel Plant)
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12:44 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
I've been waiting for this post ever since you announced it a couple of days ago, Kari. Thanks for the acknowledgment.
To be scrupulous, the Golf Channel is not on the Extended Basic package with MSNBC. But there are definitely some snoozers in there. They could have moved CNBC. It's not a general news channel.
I do like how they've tried to shift blame. It only makes them look more suspicious. Even if there's nothing actually there.
12:56 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
I think it has more to do with Comcast jacking people around in terms of rates and getting them to upgrade to digital cable. It's too bad that Comcast can do this with zero consequences. I hope they reverse the decision, but I doubt anything will happen.
4:58 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
Watching Glenn Beck is excruciatingly painful.
Nov 6, '07
Maybe it's time to migrate en masse to Qwest?
Nov 6, '07
Ratings, ratings, ratings.....
I think that I asked that Kari when you hit the original rant. If they can't make it in the ratings area then they go. Join me over w/Qwest and Direct TV. The service is much better and you save w/a bundled packaged.
Nov 6, '07
Please post whatever contact information you have for Comcast so we can all complain.
Nov 6, '07
They moved the Hallmark channel also.
That is good, quality, wholesome family programming.
Where's the outrage?
Nov 6, '07
1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278)
http://www.comcastsupport.com/netemail/useremailstartcom.asp
Nov 6, '07
Yet another reason why DirecTV kicks Comcast's ass. Now if they would only add Comcast Sportsnet for Blazers games, I'd be all set.
Nov 6, '07
We are recommending that complaints be made in writing and sent to:
Curt L. Henninger Senior Vice President & General Manager Comcast Cable Communications, Inc. 9605 SW Nimbus Ave Beaverton, OR 97008-7198
Also, please send a copy to the MHCRC:
Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission (MHCRC) 1120 SW Fifth Ave Room 1305 Portland, OR 97204
It is helpful for the MHCRC to have a record of the complaints against Comcast when they begin discussions about renewing Comcast’s franchise and related consumer protection issues.
9:52 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
Comcast Sportsnet for Blazers games
Comcast's one saving grace. But charging $6 a month for Showtime? Everything I watch on there appears in one hour every Monday evening. Oh well, I'm a slave to my stories.
But I will be sending a letter to Mr. Henninger, because this is ridiculous. You're right-on, Kari: just when we think the 24-hr news networks couldn't possibly suck any more, they take the channel with virtually the only progressive voice out of the realm of wide accessibility.
I'm thinking back to the assignment given by pretty much every junior high and high school social studies teacher: watch an hour of a news network and write a report on what you learn.
Fifteen-year-olds around Oregon now will be getting the first news many of them have ever paid any attention to solely from Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Not in my state.
9:59 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
Re: ratings.
First, Comcast itself said that "viewership" was only one factor among several - and was deliberately vague about the criteria.
Second, it's crystal clear that ratings aren't the only criteria. There are lots of channels that are still on basic cable that surely get lower ratings than MSNBC.
Of course, if anyone knows where we can get recent and complete ratings information - for the Portland area - for as many channels as possible, I'd love to hear about it.
Nov 6, '07
Hmm, I was wondering what they would bump to make way for the new Comcast Sports Channel or whatever it's called.
I'm all for making a huge stink about Comcast. They charge waaaay too much for lousy service and poor selection.
It's Comcraptic!
Nov 6, '07
I live in Corvallis and am completely fed up with Comcast cable. Looking into other alternatives has been confusing, to put it mildly. I would be interested in hearing from other blog readers the pros and cons of other systems that they currently use.
Nov 6, '07
DirectTV is owned by Rupert Murdoch, so forget them ever seeing a dime of mine.
And just a note in the interest of fairness. When Comcast put Comcast Sportsnet on, they seemed to have pulled the plug on their local channel 14. It's gone. That means Lars Larson's TV show is gone, and the only radio show now being simulcast is afternoon sports talk from The Fan.
Bluntly, I'm willing to go find Keith Olbermann up in the digital triple digits if it kicks Lars Larson off basic cable TV.
Nov 6, '07
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
If you believe in Democracy, and would bestow the freedoms afforded our constitution to your children that the Republican Leadership have assaulted for the past 7 years, then we progressives are going to have to prevail in '08 not just in the Congress, or Presidency, but to pull the DINO's back to the liberal roots where our party belongs.
When a senior Democrat from a progressive states like California, and Illinois would vote for a Attorney General out of committee that could not distinguish that waterboarding is torture, we will be stuck with only the illusion of change.
The Republican Administration has 15 months left to distort, and dismantle government regulations, and controls that have assisted in maintaining our democracy from a fascists transformation intended by the greed of corporations, the super rich, the military industrial complex, and a fanatical evangelical minority with the control of our national media.
This change by Comcast is not even a drop in the bucket, we need to focus on the FCC as well to hold back as much of these distortions of our democracy as possible.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Nov 6, '07
Are there any "liberals" getting their news from cable tv? Seriously? Drop comcast and go here:
http://countdown.msnbc.com
There you go.
10:53 a.m.
Nov 6, '07
Blueguy -- For starters, they don't post the entire show online. Beyond that, yeah, some of us still like the TV delivery system. It's upstairs in the living room, it's connected to a kickass sound system, and the screen is nice and big. I like my computer, obviously, but the experience is a different thing. Ever cook dinner while surfing YouTube clips? Didn't think so.
Nov 6, '07
I recommend DishNetwork all the way. Reasonable rates and excellent and timely service. Cancelling Comcast was an excruciatingly long and frustrating process, though very satisfying in the end.
Also, check out http://comcastmustdie.com/ for great news, rants, and horror stories about our favorite cable provider.
Nov 6, '07
Kari -
Thanks for keeping this issue alive. First, let me say that I'm not a big tv watcher. I have cable reluctantly for news and occasional sports - go Ducks! HBO is great but I've been too cheap to pay for it.
I'm a huge, huge fan of Keith's but I appreciate the access to other NBC news and analysts - especially rebroadcasts of Meet the Press and debate coverage.
There's been some insinuation about lack of ratings. Does anyone have apples to apples hard data comparisons about MSNBC's ratings vs. other stations remaining on the air? I can't believe that some of the channels left had higher ratings. And I'm sorry I'm not willing to sacrifice a major network for dumb ass Lars pontificating on grainy cable access.
In terms of motivation, it could be that a boneheaded marketing ploy to get liberal Portland subscribers to upgrade or it could be a conservative exec using their discretion (recall when Sheila Hamilton was let go from KPAM radio though had solid ratings). Or maybe both are true. Either way it's unacceptable and in addition writing letters, open to other ideas to turn up the heat. I think it'd be a great issue for a member of the local congressional delegation to pick up on Saltzman's leadership!
Of course, the pivotal question is how many would literally be willing to cancel their service in protest? I'm weighing it seriously if it can't get resolved.
Nov 6, '07
I subscribe to poor man's basic cable and lost several of the few channels I got. No more Jewelry Channel! How can I go on?
Who's this Olberman guy? What's MSNBC? And I keep hearing about Comedy Central. Is that a nightclub?
Nov 6, '07
I think peitioning can be effective with a sitaution like this. The Wilsonville Democrats meet tomorrow night, and my plan is to have a petition to Comcast asking that they move MSNBC back to regular cable. I would urge other activist to do the same.
"Take a Stand" asks who would cancel their service. I think if we at least threaten to drop our cable when contacting Comcast, that might help get their attention.
Nov 6, '07
Kill your television.
1:22 p.m.
Nov 6, '07
as an aside, anyone at a sportsbar on Saturday with Dish TV (or was it Direct?) and no Comcast -- you didn't see the Oregon game after about 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter. the full game was Comcast only (and i'd like to thanke the folks at Pizza Roma on Woodstock for being smart enough, and for the free taco bar).
and since it got missed by many first time, here's details on what/why Comcast is doing nationally from Aaron Barnhart, aka TVBarn.com, aka my brother. the kid knows his stuff, and he has contacts.
Nov 6, '07
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
It'll be much worse if Hillary takes over the White House and her big backer, Rupert Murdoch, calls the shots on communications. He'll make CNN look like the left wing of the liberal media.
Nov 6, '07
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
Simply put, it is the Democrat that have voted to uphold our constitution, our civil liberties. Not all the Democrats, but that is a process.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Nov 6, '07
MSNBC is not progressive folks..... That might not be exactly true but simply because other cable news coverage sucks and has a huge tendency to favor the political right in its coverage... doesn't mean that any channel that attacks those other guys or cover news in different light are progressive... what i a really saying is questioning authority, challenging baseless assumptions, not blindly attacking a view point you disagree, trying to provide the truth instead of a position, is not neccessarily progressive... you see cause here is the thing... republicans are wrong most of the time about most of the things they say... and so while reporting the truth in general is bad for republicans it is not progressive or left - it is the truth... now the fact that progressives and democrats are more likely right most of the time than republicans is not our fault and we need to stop calling the reporting of the truth progressive or democratic leaning liberal media the truth is the truth and we can't held accountable and shouldn't be for republicans inabillity to deal with reallity or the facts. And we need to stop letting them label truth reporting as liberal reporting simply because it shows how wrong incompetent and silly they are, if they choose to be wrong that is there fautl the truth should never be labeled liberal...
Nov 6, '07
Simply put, it is the Democrat that have voted to uphold our constitution, our civil liberties. Not all the Democrats, but that is a process.
That's a nice theory, Dan, and there are examples to support it. Unfortunately, there are other examples that contradict what many Democrats would like to believe. Like somewhere around half of elected Democrats chose to ignore Senator Byrd's warning prior to the October 2002 vote for Bush's blank check to go to war on Iraq.
3:54 p.m.
Nov 6, '07
Came across this story in the NYT about MSNBC and Olbermann.
Definitely worth czeching out.
4:32 p.m.
Nov 6, '07
UberDem... I'm not saying that MSNBC is progressive. Rather, it has exactly one host - out of many - that is progressive. And even then, mostly on the issues of civil liberties and the war.
That's how far we've sunk, folks. One show, on one channel. And Comcast feels a need to whack that, too.
Nov 6, '07
I've already decided to cancel my Comcast subscription. The television and cable industries are living in the 1980s. They refuse to acknowledge that the times are a changing and are holding on as tight as they can to their ancient rating systems in instituting policies.
7:12 p.m.
Nov 6, '07
I don't think the issue with the moving of Comcast is so much that individuals who want to watch Keith Olbermann. It's that number of people who have subscribed to the expanded basic cable option have had their viewing options restricted.
It's not a matter of whether Countdown or Meet the Press are hard to get for viewers who are desperate to watch them. There are plenty of ways to catch them or to see important bits. But for people idly cruising through the news channels during the upcoming election season the options at, say, 9pm are now just going to be Larry King, Glenn Beck, and Hannity & Colmes. Maybe that demo is pretty small, and it may be entirely unintentional, but when you consider all of the viewers that Comcast has, and the slim margins in some recent elections I could mention, I wouldn't want to write it off even if it was just a pure programming decision.
Nov 6, '07
rupert murdoch does NOT own directv anymore:
http://www.lostremote.com/2006/12/07/murdoch-sells-stake-in-directv/
feel free to subscribe and get the best television service around.
9:49 p.m.
Nov 6, '07
I don't know that it's so much about squelching one voice as it is about trying to pull a niche market to digital cable. I have expanded basic. I have a series 1 TiVo with lifetime service and it doesn't get along well with a digital converter (makes it very sloooooow). I'm definitely getting my $249 bucks worth. I will keep my TiVo 'til it dies. Six years and counting knock wood. There's a reason that digital converters don't work well with TiVo as well and it's not because of antiquated technology or incompatibility. It's all about controlling the market.
They pulled Hallmark, MSNBC, and Oxygen. Three distinctly different audiences used to their random, quirky shows - like Talk Sex with Sue Johansen for one. You know, that crazy older woman who likes talking about - well, things you wouldn't expect a nice older woman to talk about in mixed company. lol. These were not removed from the expanded basic line-up for any reason other than to try to force die-hard fans of certain hosts, shows, and specials to upgrade to digital cable (they're apparently offering a "deal" - says so right where Oxygen used to be).
When I realized this happened I was like "Why didn't they pull ESPN2? Or GOLF? Or Spike?" These networks cater, of course, to a male demographic who tend to have the latest and greatest in technology and have digital cable already - or a dish. The markets they targeted are ones who are least likely to already have digital cable. With digital cable they can sell DVRs and pay-per-view and premium channels that those of us without digital cable aren't tempted to use because it's not right there in front of us. Never mind that the "deal" was probably only for three or six months.
It's either that or advertising revenue generated from these channels isn't up to their expectations and so they're forcing a higher premium to make up the difference.
This is the problem encountered when a company holds a monopoly in a given market - they can do whatever they want. And they do.
It's not about trying to infringe upon our 1st Amendment rights. It's about trying to squeeze more money out of us. And it's really pissing me off. They really get enough already.
Nov 6, '07
I got tired of being jacked around by cable some time back and got Dish. Along with everything else came some things like Free Speach TV, who for a $250 donation sent a couple left DVDs. some of their stuff is ... um ... goofy, but it is a non-corporate voice and worth my little contribution.
Nov 7, '07
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
Posted by: Bill Bodden | Nov 6, 2007 3:02:04 PM
I live in this reality, and I'm not pleased with my party with some exceptions; which would include Sen. Wyden, Rep. Blumenauer, Rep. Woo, Rep. DeFazio. I would love that all that are in my party would stand as true Democrats, but we allowed our party to mirror the Republicans in a fit of desparation by the DCCC and DNC in the late '80s until the 2006 election.
We have unfortunately elected a cadre of Democrats that resemble Republicans that essentially are but a step away from being Neo-Cons. We must, as the Republicans did in the beginning, make our message definitive, and disciplined to represent the progressive agenda needed to restore our representative form of democracy from the path to fascism the Republicans have set our nation upon.
Recent history has educated the party that mirroring Republicans results in Democrats that vote, and legislate like Republicans. I believe that the state parties have seized the agenda from the national party by choosing progressive voices as candidates. The swing away from a national DNC,DSCC,and DCCC to local grassroots action, funding, and voting more loyal to state and local party apparatuses.
This is a movement that will strengthen as long as we fight hard to protect it from a federal government intent on surrendering all local medias to a national corportate consolidation, and making wealth the supreme standard to governmental representation.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Nov 8, '07
As soon as Verizon gets their Fiber Optic system up and running, I'll be switching over...
Nov 12, '07
What the hell do you (COMCAST) mean dropping MSNBC?
Shame on you!! Are you joining the dregs of fascist propaganda ???
PUT MSNBC BACK ON LINE !! DO IT NOW !!
Nov 12, '07
It is all about money. As a former manager at Comcast for many years I know this is true. MSNBC may be a niche channel but if it will get subscribers to pay more it gets moved to a higher tier. Why not move The Golf Channel, it won't make the big corporation as much money moving it. Comcast, like every other large corporation, spends time and money figuring out how to make more money.
Why do I use former Comcast employee as my name? I'm still afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.
Nov 12, '07
I am outraged!!!!! I cannot believe that Comcast has done this! And in Portland!!!! this is an abomination, I am tempted to cancel but have added some cable boxes for now - Have we not had ANY coverage of this on MSNBC. Let's write to Keith Olbermann and see what he can do to get it on the news? What about the Democratic candidates for President? they should care!
Anyone who has viable alternatives - please make suggestions. the problem is - if we change, what about all the Comcast subscribers who just lose out! We already know why we are doing what we are doing. What about the independents?