I am a huge fan of the Olympics (some might comment that whatever I am a fan of, I am always huge) and for the last two Olympic have enjoyed great coverage of the games. In 2004 and 2000, our cable TV provider has offered 5 channels of coverage. We have been able to watch not just the most popular events, but if we wanted to, we could see the most obscure (anyone out there a fan of the modern pentathlon?).
In the lead up to this years games, we have been teased with the promise that our cable company was going to give us great coverage of the games, along with CNN. The games are on and we have nothing. The "great" coverage we were promised was a matter of a few pre-Olympic background stories and the occasional update. The local station that has the Olympic coverage is blocked out from or cable! The cable station was too cheap to make whatever deal it needed to carry the "over the air" coverage on cable.
Cable TV is a competitive business. New people and new technologies are being launched every day. As soon as I can, i will b switching to a new provider for my TV. The cable system I am now using seems to think that once they have you as a customer you will just accept what they offer and have no place else to go.
I am going....
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2 comments:
The good thing about living in Jakarta or Indonesia. You have several cable companies. Once one of these companies does not keep their promises or not give you good deals, you can always switch to other company. For us living in Singapore, everything is monopolized by one cable company. You even need to pay if you want to watch big games, such as US vs China (basketball).
It's strange that even highlights are barred from broadcast on most news channel. This could be the fault of the China's govt trying to sell the rights to the highest bidder.
Apparently, not many people in Indonesia actually care to make any protest that the TV channels are not carrying them, as mentioned in the Jakarta Post editorial. And I think there's just too broad a scope and too many sports in the Olympics for people to follow. But if it's the World Cup, people will riot in the streets if it is not broadcast live.
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