peterr (01/11/83)
Thanks to the eight people that sent responses to my query about Pay TV;
there appears to be quite a bit of variance in cost and service. The results:
Contrib'r Location Basic Cable:cost + service Pay channels
eagle!karn NY $8.50, incl. MTV,CNN,WTBS HBO,Showtime $11 ea.
sii!drd Boston about to get a 100+ channel system, cost unknown
cbogsd!mark ? $14 MovieChannel,HBO $9 ea.
genradbolton! Maynard, $7.50, 50 channels Showtime, $8
charlie Mass.
u1100s!rick N. NJ ? HBO $8;Spotlight $10
wivax!ss ? $7 MovieChannel,HBO $7
Comments: wivax!ss says he gets 40+ movies/mo., about 40% of which are new.
All prices above are $US/month.
sask!custead contributed what may be a USENet "scoop": His system
in Saskatchewan has had Pay TV, provided by a local outfit, for a
couple of years (something not picked up by any national news
service I've seen). It costs Cdn$10/mo., and ends Feb. 1, when
First Choice starts in its place for $16/mo., with little
improvement in service.
One other comment, from watmath!watdaisy!rggoebel, suggested a petition
be circulated protesting the service we'll be getting. By this table, it
seems that such a petition is justified. There may be good reasons for it,
but Canadians are paying quite a bit more for less service (Cdn systems
typically don't get channels such as MTV, CNN, etc. as part of the basic
service).
There were few comments regarding the mainstream (or not) nature of the
services, but from what I've seen of HBO, it certainly fits the "mainstream"
label, and, by-and-large, so do the Canadian services. Perhaps the 100+
channel systems offer some relief in this area, but they seem rare. I feel
that we do not need people lulled by mainstream entertainment when the need
to have alternate perspectives (and to think, at least once in a while, about
the problems at hand) appears to be growing as society becomes more complex.
That sounds pretty academic, but if people were willing (or, gasp, eager) to
learn about the new technologies and new social structures (e.g. what can be
learned from the West German and Japanese societies), it would seem that the
economy would be more resilient, and people might have more to eat, hardly
just an academic goal. (Wow, my first flame.) p. rowley, u. toronto