[net.consumers] Cable Movie Network Info Request

woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) (04/23/84)

   I am moving to a new place within the next couple of weeks that will have
a cable TV option. I plan to persue that option. I am interested in information
about the cable TV movie networks (HBO, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX, etc.). Do they
really show the same movies but in a different order? Is it worth getting
more than one? If so, which is better?  Please mail replies and I will
summarize to the net.

		    GREG
-- 
{ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!stcvax | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!stcvax}
       		        !hao!woods

robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (07/11/84)

References:

We have been receiving cable for approximately four months.
Our vendor offers disney, HBO, showtime, Bravo,
Cinemax, The Movie channel, and playboy.  The first and last of
these are specialized channels; the others are similar but have
distinct personalities.  To choose among them it may help you to:

	- examine several months of offerings by each channel
	   (talk to a subscriber to a smimlar service; they
	   probably get a magazine that nicely summarizes each
	   channel's offering).

	- actually watch some of the specialty programs that are
	  unique to the various channels.

This way you can decide which channel(s) have the sorts of movies,
shows and concerts that appeal to you; and you can decide if you
like some of the specialties, which vary so much in quality that
you cannot judge them by their cover.

Our vendor gave us an initial "special" such that there was no
installation charge for pay channels.  If we add channels later,
we must pay two-months-rental for a channel, as the installation
charge.  (Channels can be dropped at any time free.)

We purchased Showtime.  I understand that HBO has a dominant
industry position in purchasing big movies, so great that some
suppliers of movies are trying to sell to ciemax and showtime to
lessen HBO's dominance.  There certainly is a lot of duplication
in movie offerings among channels.

For reasons that I do not understand, our vendor often makes it
possible to see paychannels to which we did not subscribe.  They
come and go for a few days at a time in unpredictable ways and
on unpredictable channels.  In this way we have sampled the offerings
of all seven of the pay channels, and by now could make intelligent
decisions about switching to any of the others.

					- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
					allegra!eosp1!robison
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