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My Time at ComcastSome time back in the 1980s my husband John and I got more and more envious of our neighbors a couple of doors away who could get cable television. They were able to watch more than the local networks, B-movies and foreign-language programming that was on at the time. We longed to watch a real hockey game again, after the Oakland Seals left town. About the same time, my sister's family invested in a 12-foot C-band TVRO (2.4GHz TeleVision Receive Only) system and had more games than anyone would want to watch. Some were from the Los Angeles Kings, but we could also watch the Buffalo Sabres, as well as the Canadian teams on CBC.
Soon enough we were not only watching hockey, but we'd pretty well stopped watching US network television which was replaced by such neat programs as 'The Red Green Show' and 'Seeing You' on CBC - because they were different! And we could watch both Eastern and Western time-zone shows because they were broadcast in the clear. Imagine watching two 10 p.m. shows on two networks on the same night We watched news from Mexico about a disastrous earthquake, and news feeds from the first Gulf War. We saw Randy Weaver's wife being killed by the FBI, and didn't tape the Challenger's last lift off because I thought NASA would cancel it..
At just about the same time, programming began to be encrypted (tr. scrambled) and decrypters were sold, at a cost of megabucks, and, of course, US residents couldn't sign up for the Canadian channels. The NHL also started to encrypt their signals in the US, and we were no longer being told what 'bird' and 'transponder' the next game would be on.The end was near, but the years we had with our big dish were really wonderful.
Soon enough, the cable company came to dig up our street to install cable on our street. This was a mere fifteen years after we'd moved in the neighborhood, but it wasn't really the worst case of lack of services. They came around one day, dug up our street, then our lawn and put the cable in, complete with an obsolete A-B switch, and we could watch more channels, but still only the most meager number of hockey games, and always at the worst times of day or night. We didn't sign up for HBO or Showtime. Bit it didn't always work well.
Along about the time the San Jose Sharks joined the NHL, the cable company had become Comcast and we again have a lot of games to watch, but we've had trouble with cable TV since the first day. During the installation, the company laid the cable under a place in our lawn that always floods when we water the lawn, and (although I'm not an expert), it seems to short out. We tried to get this fixed several times, including when we got fiberoptic service, and our request was refused. Comcast says in its latest contract that: "If we are unable to resolve your complaint, we will notify you that we are unable to do so and explain the reason why. If you are dissatisfied with our resolution of your complaint, you may contact the local franchising authority to discuss your complaint." I learned where the franchising authority is this week: It's located at the same address as Comcast. In short, there is no independent authority to investigate, and I'm not surprised.
I am so sorry that my husband didn't want to resolve this mess himself before he died last April.I've taken all the cable equipment back to Comcast and subscribed to Dish Network. (Since then a friend has subcribed to DirecTV because his viewing choices are better served by them. John would have been so surprised at the quality of the picture and sound on our sets. I'm watching entire shows again. And I'm also saving about 40% of my Comcast bill, which will go a long way to getting me around San Jose or a dinner out now and then.
The photo was taken of our television from the days of Screensavers on TechTV and yes, that's James Kim giving one of his super demos. Most of time time our picture was better than this, but I don't think anyone at Comcast would put up with their service!
To answer your questions about John's and my love of hockey. We were both born in San Jose, California, and I started watching the Western Hockey League San Francisco on monochrome over-the-air television while babysitting, because we didn't have a set at home. When John and I met he started going to games with me and we soon converted my Mom and Dad. We had friends from Canada at work to share the interest with. It's the best game in the world, and I need to thank them and all my friends north of the border for making life better.
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