hazard@ihuxe.UUCP (Bryant S. Hazard) (07/03/84)
Can a cable TV company legally charge a monthly fee for each television connected to their service? For example: If a splitter is added and another television connected, would this be "Theft of service" ? Other utilities which do NOT charge for each connection are: - The telephone company They don't charge for each telephone you have. - The electric company You don't get charged for each outlet/light you have. - Water - Natural Gas
keith1@hou2h.UUCP (Keith Quarles) (07/03/84)
-
The telephone company DOES charge for each telephone you have (as
long as they know about it). Perhaps what was meant was that
they don't charge per telephone OUTLET.
--
Keith Quarles Follow the path with heart
AT&T Consumer Products
Neptune, NJ ...!{akgua,allegra,houxm,ihnp4}!hou2h!keith1
--
Keith Quarles Follow the path with heart
AT&T Consumer Products
Neptune, NJ ...!{akgua,allegra,houxm,ihnp4}!hou2h!keith1rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (07/04/84)
> The telephone company DOES charge for each telephone you have (as > long as they know about it). Perhaps what was meant was that > they don't charge per telephone OUTLET. But they only charge you for telephones you RENT (remember the old days when you couldn't own a phone?). I assume cable companies don't rent you your television. When you are charged additionally for more outlets (correct me if I'm wrong), you are paying for the installation (one time) and the wiring. With a CATV connection, your wiring up to your TV is supplied as part of your charge, and it would seem that any wiring beyond that that you connect to different sets (or recorders) is your own business. NONE of this is to be construed as definitive, and I'd sure like to know whether such logic applies in a legal sense. (Often legality and logic are disjoint sets.) -- WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Rich Rosen WHAT IS YOUR NET ADDRESS? pyuxn!rlr WHAT IS THE CAPITAL OF ASSYRIA? I don't know that ... ARGHHHHHHHH!
keith1@hou2h.UUCP (Keith Quarles) (07/05/84)
- >> The telephone company DOES charge for each telephone you have (as >> long as they know about it). Perhaps what was meant was that >> they don't charge per telephone OUTLET. >But they only charge you for telephones you RENT (remember the old days >when you couldn't own a phone?). I assume cable companies don't rent >you your television. No, the telephone company charges a monthly fee for each extension, whether it's owned or rented. This is separate from the rental on the telephone. -- Keith Quarles Follow the path with heart AT&T Consumer Products Neptune, NJ ...!{akgua,allegra,houxm,ihnp4}!hou2h!keith1
warren@ihnss.UUCP (Warren Montgomery) (07/05/84)
Actually, I think that the dominant practice for telephones is now for there to be no charge for telephone extensions, only rental on the phones (if any). This is certainly the case with my bill. There is an important difference here, though. With all electric systems and most telephone systems, the consumer owns all of the wiring in the house/appartment/whatever, and is responsible for their own installation and maintenance on it (the phone company will do at, charging a substantial fee). With cable, however, in many systems including mine, the cable company owns everything up to the set. Thus you could argue that the extension charge is simply recovering this cost. In fact, I think that the real reason is just to charge in proportion to the service received. In my case, this is very awkward, since I have a portable TV we treat as a portable and move around. I can't have multiple cable jacks without paying for them, even if I only have one set! Thus I have a very long cord on my one jack. -- Warren Montgomery ihnss!warren IH (8-367) x2494
barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (07/07/84)
I don't think that a cabe company can charge you extra if you attach a
splitter to your cable. However, if you have a decoder box, both sets
will end up watching the same program. If you want the two sets to be
able to watch different stations you will have to rent a second decoder
from the cable company (they are usually nice enough to charge a reduced
fee for additional decoders, though).
--
Barry Margolin
ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics
UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmaracu@stat-l (Shoe) (07/08/84)
When I got my cable hookup installed ("Dimension Cable Company" in
West Lafayette, IN), they had me sign an agreement, part of which is
reproduced below. I'm not sure what the serviceman would have done
had I refused to sign.
At any rate, regardless of any other laws, they can now stick me for
breach of contract if I hook up additional sets and they find out (not
a problem though, since I only own one set :-) ):
"12. Customer agrees not to change the locations of any of
the service facilities. Customer also agrees not to connect
or attach, directly or indirectly, any additional television
set(s) or any other other device to any of the service
facilities. Any unauthorized connection to the cable system
is a misdemeanor [I'm not sure if I believe this]."
--
Mark Shoemaker /dev/shoe
...!pur-ee!pucc-k:acu mas@purdue
Religion is the process of finding our inner strength.
--Tolbert McCarrollsnafu@ihuxi.UUCP (Dave Wallis) (07/11/84)
This undoubtedly not true in all cases, but the following is true for
some cable companies.
Some cable companies charge more for multiple hookups for 2 reasons:
1) if you plan to run more than one tv at the same time (3 for
example), then each tv will get a fraction (e.g. one third of
the signal strength. In order to have a reasnoable picture,
the cable company must provide greater signal strength than for
a single connection, hence the extra charge.
It is possible to add your own amplifier, but this will only work with
cable systems that do not require a separate decoder box (tuner).
In my case, I have multiple connections, but only one tv (I like to
move the furniture a lot), so I only hook up one connection at a
time.
2) in the case where an extra decoder is needed (for extra tv sets)
the cable company charges extra for rental on the additional decoder.
--
Dave Wallis
ihnp4!ihuxi!snafu
AT&T Network Systems, Inc.
(312) 979-5894