From: un027713@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Sci-Fi Channel-- Anyone got it yet?
Date: 2 Oct 92 13:04:43 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing

In article <4186@vidiot.UUCP>, brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
> 
> [What the Hell is rec.arts.video?]
> 
> In article <1992Sep29.203109.14891@twg.com> edward@twg.com (Edward C. Bennett) writes:
> <In article <66619@cup.portal.com> Harv@cup.portal.com (Harv R Laser) writes:
> <>
> <>You should politely demand they add the Sci-Fi
> <>Channel. Which is what I attempted to do this morning with Paragon
> <>Cable Co. in Torrance, CA., where the polite but stupid customer
> <>service rep with whom I spoke told me "We've had a lot of requests
> <>for it, but we don't have a spare channel to put it on rightnow.
> <
> <That no-spare-channel excuse seems to be what cable companies always
> <say. How truthful an answer is it?
> 
> Very truthfull, as it turns out.
> 
> <They can't have used all the frequency space on the cable. There's
> <like 180 FCC-specified channels, aren't there?
> 
> You are forgetting an important item...the equipment used to provide the
> signal to your house.
> 
> <Assuming there are available frequencies, perhaps they've maxed-out
> <their equipment. Now I know zilch about cable systems are built, but
> <a reasonable design would a modular approach where adding a channel
> <would be as simple as adding a new card into a backplane. Anybody
> <know how cable headends are really built? Is there an inherent limit
> <on the number of channels that the equipment can handle?
> 
> Yet, you are missing alot of pieces of information.  First off, cards are
> not exactly just plugged in.  The idea is close, but that isn't where the
> problem lies.  It lies in the amplifiers that are out there to amplify the
> broadband signal.  When cable systems were built, many couldn't go as high
> as channel 20 (or there abouts).  The cable can go as high as 400 MHz or so.
> But, the amps didn't go that high.  When systems expanded, many systems only
> bought amps to go as high as 300 MHz (channel 36).  Another reason is that
> the amps are spaced at 2000 feet apart.
> 
> In order to go to 400 MHz, it requires new amps that are as wide as 400 MHz
> and that the spacing must be changed to 1200 feet (or is it 1600 feet?).
> That means a system rebuild.  A very expensive venture.
> 
> The cable system is starting the process of doing a rebuild for my area,
> since it is part of the contract with the city.  If they don't get the rebuild
> started and completed by certain dates, they could lose the franchise.  We
> will be getting a 54+ system in a couple of years.
> 
> <Perhaps it's a regulation thing. 1) Do cable companies need FCC
> <licenses? 2) Do such licenses specify a number of channel that the
> <licensee is allowed to provide?
> 
> 1) I don't know (they have to worry about leakage though); 2) no.
> -- 
>       harvard\                          spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!vidiot!brown
> Vidiot  ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
>       rutgers/            INTERNET:vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
>                                    brown@wi.extrel.com

While I don't doubt any of this, our *snicker* cable *raucous laughter* company
*ahem* can't use that as an excuse.  Two movie channels are at 98 and 99.  I
don't know what frequencies these are at, but it must be much higher than
400 Mhz.  I'd think that if they can put two channels up there, they could
use at least channel 36 (which is the first unused channel on our system).

Our cable company used the "upgrading" excuse to raise our rates.  They
promised a clearer picture (which I never saw) more channels (for those who
were not already getting all the non-premium channels), and all the other
usual "promises" that cable companies usually make.  In the end, they took
off three channels (all non-premium), and added three (one of which is now a
movie channel).  So in the end, I lost a channel and got charged more for
it.  As far as I'm concerned, cable re-regulation can't come soon enough.

--
Jack Forester, Jr.
West Virginia University Computing Services
My opinions, not my employer's.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv