CABLEVISION ARGENTINA

[rmartinbuenosaires]

Is anyone else perturbed by the fact that a few months ago, CABLEVISON blocked access to CNN, BBC and all other foreign language channels? Of course they didn't block CNN Espanol. I am curious. Is this a way, once again, for them to take advantage of foreigners....by forcing us to pay TWICE for a basic service available on regular Cable anywhere else in the world?I already had the premium channels anyway so I didn't lose CNN but the quality of the premium channels is going way down and now most of it is subscription pay per view as well or HBO shows are now dubbed and are only in Spanish.


I urge everyone to send emails to BBC and CNN making them aware of whats going on here and seeing if they comply or have knowledge of this. Seems to me to be another Argentine scam like the blockage and limitation of withdrawls from ATM machines recently. My bank contacted me on that issue and it seems that Argentina was not in compliance with TWO international banking practices. That seems to have been corrected for me anyway.

 

[mcaffa]

I see I'm not the only one who has noticed. I really miss my CNN and BBC! We should start sending complaints to Cablevision. I doubt it'll make a difference, but its worth a shot I guess.

 

[Ernie]

Multicanal have done exactly the same thing. It seems like the rights for those channels are higher, and so they expect us to pay for the difference, by inventing a new category of service, supposedly better, but which includes many of the channels which were part of the basic cable service not so long ago (including Movie City, HBO, CNN and BBC World, amongst various others). The basic cable service is now s***t, and costs a little more each month. Have you noticed that channels like Space, Multicanal, MGM and Magazine all seem to be showing the same movies at the same time? one in the subtitled version, then the other in the Spanish dubbed version? It's a complete joke!If channels like CNN and BBC World were part of the grid when you first signed your service contract, you are entitled to sue them for breach of same. It'll take years, but you'll win in the end.

 

[windy]

I have heard that they have gone pay per view. Its bout 6 pesos a month to get then back again.
But i agree with all of the above its very annoying to be without the BBC.
I suggest loads of angry emails in English giving them the dogs abuse.

 

[rmartinbuenosaires]

Yeah thanks for your inputs. I have sent emails to CNN and BBC but expect little action. CNN seems to NEVER respond to anything. I had complained to them before about Larry King not being shown any longer here and they never responded. How many times can they show "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral"? A handful of the same movies are always on. Cable is pathetic. For those soccer enthusiasts, however, you can always see a copa de something being played or commentary for "Bailamos por un Sueno". Ah Argentina....

 

[syngirl]

Calm down everyone... all that's happening is that Argentina cable is becoming like cable in every other country but the States. In Canada if you don't pay for basic you get 3 channels. If you pay for basic, you get another 20+ more, if you want CNN and BBC World you pay more, and if you want HBO you pay even more. Same thing in Britain, without a package you get 4 channels. Everything after that costs more money. Argentina had one of the most generous cable packages I've ever seen, now it's just becoming more normal.
People talk about this like it's a consipiracy by the Argentine Government. The reason the foreign channels disappeared is because their content is 100% foreign -- there's no way for Argentina to make revenue off of them with advertising etc. The only way to deal with raised rates by CNN and BBC (who are the people you should ACTUALLY be angry at) is to pass off the cost to the consumer.
Cablevision is of course looking after their margins, and screwing the customer just as any company does, but it's the bigboy cable networks that are behind the price increases. They raised the rates in Canada as well because the foreign cable companies want more $$$.
BBC is losing revenue left right and center because of their free broadcasting -- now that anyone can listen to BBC online for free, the tax paid by the average Englishman to provide this service just isn't keeping up. I'm surprised that they've managed to continue so much free content as it is -- 60million Brits are paying for billions of people to listen to their service for free. BBC America and the other cable networks that BBC has invented are there to ensure that they can continue free content at home. Since there are strong restrictions on increasing fees at home, they have to go abroad to recoup their costs. Hence, instead of dinging the English guy in London with higher fees, they'll go after the one in Las Canitas
Foreign-language channels used to offer Argentina concessions due to the low-value of the peso. This year they hiked the prices, and as the audience is so small for these channels, and consist of an elite portion of society here -- they have moved these channels into part of their premium packages. Face it, there's not a lot of people watching TV5 and the German channel here -- and even though I know a lot of Argentines that speak english, they'd rather watch TN than American-skewed CNN. The BBC is high-quality programming, but come on -- when are they going to give us Latin American content rather than keep giving us the Asian programming?? We'd be better off getting the European or North American feed than the Hong Kong feed....
With Sony, AXN, Fox, etc there's money to be made selling a few minutes of local content space -- the ads space they sell and those annoying little "what's going on" segments that pop up every once in awhile with a host that I think is actually Brazilian. The BBC has a no-advertising policy as far as I remember, so any "ads" are just for other BBC programmes or BBC sponsored events. CNN I believe also advertised just other crap that CNN was doing, I can't recall if they actually had any locally produced ads.
Also, I'm not sure what the policies are in Argentina. In Canada there are strict policies about having Canadian content. Therefore if you're watching an American show on a basic cable channel, every commercial that airs has to be Canadian produced and oriented, and then there are also things like that "what's going on" that are aired to make up the required minutes. I think it's something like in every 1hr of television there has to be 20mins of Canadian content. This may explain some of what's going on here (beyond the cross-marketing of Sony produced music etc). In Canada only channels that are part of a premium package are allowed to show what they like.
If you want to read more about this you have to go to google.com.ar and search on television policies in Argentina, CNN disappearing in Argentina etc. I read a bunch of articles about it months ago but I'd have to go look for the websites all over again.

 

[JG]

im not sure what the previous post is referring to. Cable tv in usa has almost always included CNN and both hail from there. The policy of screw the consumer is so strong in argentina though. I think thats why they made everyone pay extra for CNN and whats driving this out of control inflation.
For the past few months I've had cable tv for the first time in 5 years here. I don't miss Argentine tv at all, all they do is yell and shout at each other with their hands waving or have geriatrics dance around trying to look sexy. I don't miss that!
Ive been watching the German news in english and really like that channel. CNN in spanish is irritating.
What shocks me about the cable tv in argenina is the amount of commercials. Time how long they are! its amazing. there are as many as 10 commercials or more and i cant remember what im watching by the end of it. most commercials are chemical cleaners, yogurt sold in tiny cups, etc.
The same thing bothers me about cable in the usa, the amount of commercials. it seems obvious that they make you pay for tv, then sell commercials like on "free" tv, thereby making twice as much profit. Here in Argentina, I guess their greed gets the better of them. they overdo it. FAR too many commercials.
Im glad we have these media (telegraph, tv, cable tv, cellphones, internet, text messaging) and we all know where they came from originally. If the world had to rely on Argentina for innovation and new ideas, well, we'd still be reading books. heheheheh.

 

[Ernie]

Calm down everyone... all that's happening is that Argentina cable is becoming like cable in every other country but the States. In Canada if you don't pay for basic you get 3 channels. If you pay for basic, you get another 20+ more, if you want CNN and BBC World you pay more, and if you want HBO you pay even more. Same thing in Britain, without a package you get 4 channels. Everything after that costs more money. Argentina had one of the most generous cable packages I've ever seen, now it's just becoming more normal.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. In the UK, if you don't py for cable , you get 4 channels, but you still have to pay for a TV license.

 

[rmartinbuenosaires]

im not sure what the previous post is referring to. Cable tv in usa has almost always included CNN and both hail from there. The policy of screw the consumer is so strong in argentina though. I think thats why they made everyone pay extra for CNN and whats driving this out of control inflation.
For the past few months I've had cable tv for the first time in 5 years here. I don't miss Argentine tv at all, all they do is yell and shout at each other with their hands waving or have geriatrics dance around trying to look sexy. I don't miss that!
Ive been watching the German news in english and really like that channel. CNN in spanish is irritating.
What shocks me about the cable tv in argenina is the amount of commercials. Time how long they are! its amazing. there are as many as 10 commercials or more and i cant remember what im watching by the end of it. most commercials are chemical cleaners, yogurt sold in tiny cups, etc.
The same thing bothers me about cable in the usa, the amount of commercials. it seems obvious that they make you pay for tv, then sell commercials like on "free" tv, thereby making twice as much profit. Here in Argentina, I guess their greed gets the better of them. they overdo it. FAR too many commercials.
Im glad we have these media (telegraph, tv, cable tv, cellphones, internet, text messaging) and we all know where they came from originally. If the world had to rely on Argentina for innovation and new ideas, well, we'd still be reading books. heheheheh.

 

[ghost]

The Cable providers are owned by the Clarin Group, bitch at them if you wish. But I doubt if they will respond. Customer care is not an Argentine strong point. Or get the Dish. CNN et al are still on the Sat and the picture is a little better [well, maybe allot better, depending on your distance from your local cable D Mark]. You can can also have TV in NTSC if you happened to have brought your TV with you from the States.