Comcast removes MSNBC from their Basic Cable package; keeps Fox News

[ExAm]

Comcast cancels MSNBC, keeps FOX News

by mph2005 (http://mph2005.dailykos.com/)

Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 05:40:35 PM PDT

Effective Tuesday, July 15, Comcast customers in the Pittsburgh area awoke to find that MSNBC was no longer available on non-digital cable. I came home eager to get my daily dose of Hardball and Countdown, but all I receive is a black screen.
I have since learned that MSNBC has been moved to digital only cable for Comcast customers in the Pittsburgh region. It's 2008 - an election year. And this will be perceived by many to be an attempt by Comcast to prefer one political ethic over another, namely FOX over MSNBC.


Original article here (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/15/201320/091/1008/552234).


That's just fucking wrong. The only decent liberal-perspective mainstream news channel, and they cut it from the sets of anyone who didn't pay for a digital cable package. This is political manipulation at its best.

[itszutak]

That, to me, borders on the edge of illegality.

What the hell.

[teh lag]

MSNBC theyre all just a Liberal mouthpiece you know. Not like FOX, which ahs actual fair-and-balanced journalism not that any of you LIBERALS would know what that means. Plus you know theyre owned by GE who is still doing buisniss Iran (Bet you didnt guess that your precious liberal media was also helping to kill american soldiers eh).

:politicaldowns:

gj self-serving political manipulation.

E2 : Comcast... they were also in trouble for blocking Bittorrent traffic, no? What a lovely ethical company.

[Zeph]

Those poor comcast subscribers.

[Disaster]

MSNBC theyre all just a Liberal mouthpiece you know. Not like FOX, which ahs actual fair-and-balanced journalism not that any of you LIBERALS would know what that means. Plus you know theyre owned by GE who is still doing buisniss Iran (Bet you didnt guess that your precious liberal media was also helping to kill american soldiers eh).

:politicaldowns:

gj self-serving political manipulation.
This
id plus rep you but i have given out to much in the past 24 hours

[Flyboy]

Omg, dey tuuk away al libral news cannal insteed of da conservitist 1.

Honestly, this fox hating thing is annoying. Fox is more outgoing with their biasness yes but all of these news stations have agendas. None of them can be called "better" than the other. The media picks the candidates that are going to make it in the election before the primaries even start. Those who get the biggest spotlight are the ones who are going to win. Everything in this country is controlled by the medias opinion, liberal or conservatism. (they're basically the right and left hands of an already failed political agenda)

[Ifafudafi]

I get all my news from Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and the local newspaper, so I don't pay attention to any actual news channels. :awesome:

I personally don't like Fox simply because their features often have to do with video game misinformation. I feel quite strongly about this topic (in fact, I'm currently on my 37th page of research and opinions on the subject) and seeing the out-of-touch, let's-see-how-many-viewers-we-can-coax programs really gets me going.

Other stations do this too; it's just they mask it much better than Fox does.

[Phopojijo]

MSNBC theyre all just a Liberal mouthpiece you know. Not like FOX, which ahs actual fair-and-balanced journalism not that any of you LIBERALS would know what that means. Plus you know theyre owned by GE who is still doing buisniss Iran (Bet you didnt guess that your precious liberal media was also helping to kill american soldiers eh).

:politicaldowns:

gj self-serving political manipulation.

E2 : Comcast... they were also in trouble for blocking Bittorrent traffic, no? What a lovely ethical company.Actually heh, they're owned by Microsoft...

NBC = GE/RCA
MSNBC = Microsoft...

MS bought half of NBC.

[Mass]

it's not even that left really

chuck (http://www.thisishell.net/) ftw

[n00b1n8R]

lol @ america.

STOP PAYING FOR TV FFS

[Mass]

lol @ america.

STOP PAYING FOR TV FFS
BUT I ONLY GET 23 CHANNELS WITHOUT PAY TV

It's funny cause I'm super cereal

[Kornman00]

Why can't I -rep comcast d:maddowns:T

[Chewy Gumball]

I would just like to say that Fox fails entierly as a news channel. It is an entertainment channel at best, a pit hole descending into the depths of hell at medium, and a carnival of rabid clowns at worst. There are so many things wrong with the media in America, its no wonder its so screwed up!

[jcap]

lol @ america.

STOP PAYING FOR TV FFS
But then you won't have 500 channels of nothing to watch...

[The_Wraith]

I dunno if anyone has noticed, but MSNBC is horribly Demo-Biased while Fox has somehow become pretty balanced. I've even agreed with some things O'Reilly has said lately...Guess they realized how shitty being a biased news source is.

[LinkandKvel]

Aren't you guys gonna have to switch to digital anyway? Won't you get it back with the converter box?

[Bodzilla]

I dunno if anyone has noticed, but MSNBC is horribly Demo-Biased while Fox has somehow become pretty balanced. I've even agreed with some things O'Reilly has said lately...Guess they realized how shitty being a biased news source is.
jesus tap dancing christ.

>_<

[ExAm]

I dunno if anyone has noticed, but MSNBC is horribly Demo-Biased while Fox has somehow become pretty balanced. I've even agreed with some things O'Reilly has said lately...Guess they realized how shitty being a biased news source is.That's how you know Fox is getting to you >_<

[Bodzilla]

-rep from flyboy (cause retaliation rep is supa-hardcore)

No fucking shit you do but to think that any other news station is better, and then -rep me for saying something completely true and non flamitory is just stupid. Fucking idiot.

they are the worst news program in history, they are incredibly biased, they dont allow people to retaliate and answer the questions they are asked, theres no explanations, lies, misinformation and they flood the entire media market with fucking patriotic, fucking garbage.

Yes there are much MUCH better news programs then that Shit.
SBS and ABC (australian not america) has some of the best news in the world. It's unbiased, offers a wide range of views and oppinions and it isn't backed by private support or funding.
Then when you throw in the radio station JJJ which in no way takes grants or sponsorships or advertising, that covers Global issues, and taboo news such as "reconciliation in australia", "drug user's stories" (they actually go out and talk to these people and find out how and why they got hooked on them, where they can get help ect), "Youth homeless" and other very, very touchy news stories without bias, i think it's safe to assume that there is much better shit then Fox news.
Infact fuckign everything is better then fox news.

Journalism is not a fuckign one way street where one person is allowed to talk and the other not. It's an open discussion. Something those fascist fucks at Foxnews cant comprehend.

For you to listen and to take advice from a news channel like fox news Spits in the face of every free speaking individual or movement in not only the history of america, but of the world.

[king_nothing_]

MSNBC is biased. Fact. Fox News is biased. Fact.

Comcast dropped the channel because it gets shitty ratings. Fox News gets like three or four times as many viewers as MSNBC. The mere fact that so many people prefer Fox over the likes of MSNBC suggests that Fox better represents the political views of mainstream America than MSNBC does. If it was as far off from the center as some of you seem to believe, it wouldn't be the highest rated cable news network...it would be a third-rate network getting dropped by cable TV providers. :p

Just watch CNN. It's less biased than both networks (though it still has some left bias).

[CabooseJr]

They removed G4 from basic cable as well. I was furious.

[Heathen]

^ that sucks

[king_nothing_]

By the way, is this a nationwide change by Comcast or is it just in the Pittsburgh area?

[Chewy Gumball]

MSNBC is biased. Fact. Fox News is biased. Fact.

Comcast dropped the channel because it gets shitty ratings. Fox News gets like three or four times as many viewers as MSNBC. The mere fact that so many people prefer Fox over the likes of MSNBC suggests that Fox better represents the political views of mainstream America than MSNBC does. If it was as far off from the center as some of you seem to believe, it wouldn't be the highest rated cable news network...it would be a third-rate network getting dropped by cable TV providers. :p

Just watch CNN. It's less biased than both networks (though it still has some left bias).

I beg to differ, higher viewer numbers does in no way make a case that it represents the political views of mainstream America. All that says is that people are more entertained by Fox, and as I stated before, Fox is an entertainment program, not a news program. Now, if for some reason they do represent mainstream america, america needs a cleaning. Something extra toxic. The shit Fox news spits out is just... unable to be describe by words.

[Terin]

lawltacular picture

THE GENE POOL
It needs chlorine.

[Mass]

I beg to differ, higher viewer numbers does in no way make a case that it represents the political views of mainstream America. All that says is that people are more entertained by Fox, and as I stated before, Fox is an entertainment program, not a news program. Now, if for some reason they do represent mainstream america, america needs a cleaning. Something extra toxic. The shit Fox news spits out is just... unable to be describe by words.
Not to mention that many liberals, like myself, live in major cities where we can get decent papers and liberal radio stations and don't need 24 hour news channels to keep us posted.

Not to mention I don't watch MSNBC because it's not liberal enough, just barely leans left wing, really a pretty moderate channel :/

[Phopojijo]

Aren't you guys gonna have to switch to digital anyway? Won't you get it back with the converter box?No, not at all:

The Digital conversion is NOT FOR CABLE.

The reason for converting to digital is that you can "fit" more information in the air. They want to use the analog frequencies for something else... so they need to take it offline.

**If it's getting wired to your house, you're not interfering with broadcasts... and therefore do NOT need to go Digital!**

If your cable company switches digital in Feb. 2009 **THEY ARE DOING IT TO CAPITALIZE ON CONFUSION!** They are NOT required by law to switch to digital.

And even IF you buy an ATSC digital tuner for your digital cable?

It WILL NOT WORK because your cable company ENCRYPTS the digital TV signal. You will need to buy the digital cable box from your cable company ANYWAY.

[n00b1n8R]

Out of curiosity, have you Americans ever heard of a thing called "political balance" or "integrity" in your media?

[The_Wraith]

Out of curiosity, have you Americans ever heard of a thing called "political balance" or "integrity" in your media? Every media organization has some bias. Get used to it, really. Use your head to take information in and interpret it.

[Bodzilla]

SBS, ABC (australian not american) and JJJ

are very very very unbiased.
why do you think the australians viewing this thread are going "wtf? you guys accept this shit, the way it is, because it's the way it is??"

i've been ranting with flyboy back and forth in PM's about it

[Patrickssj6]

Not only Australians...Europeans too.

[Bodzilla]

Not only Australians...Europeans too.
^

[Timo]

Don't forget New Zealand :ssh:

Then again we really only have 3 (out of 4) free channels that display the news for around 3/4 hours per day (morning, midday, evening and night). None of them seem particularly biased between either major party.

[Bodzilla]

Rahspect

i was just thinking this thread could use a new zealander :D