Comcast as top Cable TV MSO in the United States

After reading chapter six, learning about photography, movies, and television, Pavlik ends the chapter talking about three primary means of distributing TV programs. They include broadcasting, cable, and direct-to-home satellite. The most common way Americans get television signals is through cable. Comcast is the number one cable TV MSO in the United States as reported in 2008. Comcast has almost doubled Time Warner’s numbers of subscribers. However, Comcast does have some downfalls to their ever expanding company as we find on some popular online discussions.

On wordpress.com a customer with a black and white picture of a man in his 50’s or so has repeatedly said “Comcast sucks” in his blog. He was having troubles signing up an account online – he said he spent 45 minutes – and decided to give up and make a blog about his feelings.

http://theworldofcustomerservice.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/comcast-sucks/

Another blog titled Comcast on wordpress.com speaks of the inconsiderate four-hour block Comcast will give a customer for an IT worker to come look and fix the T.V. This consumer is complaining that the last thing he wants to do on the weekend is wait at his house for Comcast. He values friends, errands, and his personal life much more than Comcast. His idea? Minimize the window of time Comcast is able to come and fix the T.V.

http://bifulco.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/comcast/

Ruby has commented on Google Groups about his dissatisfaction of the company and has taken the extreme to drop Comcast and switch back to Dish Network. He comments on the price he is now paying with Dish, which is half the price he was paying for Comcast.

http://bifulco.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/comcast/

Overall, we understand that Comcast is the leader in the Cable TV MSO’s in the United States, however, it would be wise of Comcast to improve their customer service in order to better attract customers. This would also prevent Comcast from losing customers.

Android

Nook has the most “reader-friendly” wiki page however the Android has the most information on the page that is useful for determining the best argument in print. This wiki page is easy to read and has many colorful pictures and videos on the sight. One of the main reasons why I think the Android has a higher percentages of users than the iPhone is because of the diverse phone carriers that carry the Android. Thus far, but not for too much longer, AT&T is the only carrier with the iPhone which has limited the number of customers to purchase the phone. Unlike the iPhone, the Android operating system is a open source system. Android is owned by Google which is one of the most powerful brand names in the world. The Android will not fail as long as Google is behind them. Google is expanding and advancing daily which only means that the Android is doing the same. I had the Android operating system on my old phone which sometimes presented me problems on the speed of the OS. An idea for the future, is that Android would address those problems to continue their lead in selling their devices. Overall, the Android page provided a lot of information that I thought was useful to learn about Android. I enjoyed the pie charts and the video. This group did an excellent job on the page layout as well, it made it very easy to read the information.

 

Ownership and Regulation of the Media (blog #4)

Prior restraint is “when the government prevents or blocks the publication, broadcasting, showing, or distribution of media content, whether in print, over the air, in movie theaters, or online.  The role of the government is to protect the American people and I believe that the interest in national security should be considered before releasing information to the public. Therefore, I do believe that the government should have the opportunity to block publication of materials that might hurt our national security. In Mass Media Law by Don Pember, he describes the need for a balance between speech and other rights. Some difficulties you would face with this decision is who would decide what is eligible to show. There would be a lot of controversy over this because of the First Amendment however; there have been others situations where full First Amendment rights were not granted. The most widely known case of this is in school publications by students. A positive effect if the government were to adopt my position, is we (the US people) would be more protected. As soon as any publication is released into the media, anyone around the world is able to view it. It opens doors for threats and vulnerability that doesn’t need to be there. I am not one for more government, however, if this were to help better our national security, I believe the government should take action. As we have experienced the past months, Wikileaks had exposed important US government information that has required government to scramble in order to prevent further information from being exposed.

 

Media Diary (post #2)

Friday 1/7/11

8 am ~ Chemistry class, read textbook while taking notes on computer

12 pm – 2 pm ~ Statistics lab, worked on Microsoft Excel for entire two hours of class, texted friend after class for plans that night.

2-5 pm ~ worked on homework for all classes, had laptop open and was listening to music. I had facebook open while working on homework.

5-12 pm ~ Went downtown with friends to dinner and movie, was texting friend and sister (SO)

Saturday 1/8/11

11 am ~ called friend to go to brunch, picked up newspaper on way to read while eating

1 pm-4 pm ~ worked on homework, taking notes from Chemistry textbook, then went to do online Chemistry practice when I found breaking news of a shooting in Arizona, so I turned on my T.V. and watched Fox News

4:30-11 pm ~ went to dinner and then stock show with friends

11-12 pm ~ read book from iPad

Sunday 1/9/11

9 – 11 am ~ Went to Church and breakfast with friends, looked on fox news and ESPN app on my phone at breakfast.

11-2 ~ worked on homework with friends while on facebook and texting friends and family

2-4 ~ worked out at gym while watching news on the T.V.

5-9 ~ went downtown with hall for a dinner outing, texted friends that were arriving back at their schools from break

9-12 ~ worked on homework and was on facebook

Monday 1/10/11

8 am ~ Chemistry class, took notes from lecture and textbook

9 am ~ went to the UTS desk to help install program on computer

10 -12 ~ Writing class, used computers to write in class papers

Overall reflection: Most of my time and communication is doing homework or talking with friends via Facebook or texting. I don’t watch as much T.V. as I use to while living at home, it use to be on in the background a lot more however because I am not in my dorm all the time, it is more likely off than on. I do like to keep up with what is going on in the world, which is why I get on the Internet to sites such as Fox News or 9news.com. I am on my laptop everyday for most of the day during the week while attending classes. I would live a very different life style if I didn’t have my laptop or cell phone.

 

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Winter vacation, the snow was falling and the air was frigid on this winter day in Virginia, I sat with my grandma watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. I remember growing up watching this film with my Grandma. We always sat in the same couch with a big bowl of popcorn.  It was one of my most favorite memories from my childhood with my Grandma.  I was now reliving my memory fifteen years later, yet it had the same special feeling. It was Christmas season and I was ready for A Charlie Brown Christmas. Throughout the short film, Charlie Brown tries to discover the true meaning of Christmas.

 

An example of economic convergence has been used to create this film. The Coca-Cola Company, Dolly Madison, and Nabisco all sponsored the movie that was created by Warner Bros. Warner Bros decided to air the annual short film on CBS (1965-2000) and then move it to ABC and play twice a year (2001-present). A Charlie Brown’s Christmas is one of CBS’s most successful films. The short film would not have been possible without Coca-Cola’s support.

 

This film is also an example of technological convergence when it was made into a DVD in September 12, 2000 while it had previously been sold as VHS’s. The writer Charles M Schulz wrote comic strips titled Peanuts, which was used to create the film. Because this is an older film, the technology wasn’t the greatest and therefore many of the animations are choppy and there is poorly mixed sound. Despite the lack of technologically savvy equipment, or the convergence of many medias, the short film is still a Christmas classic.

 

The final type of convergence is cultural convergence. Charles Schulz was consulted by many people, including his director Bill Melendez to cut the Bible verse Linus uses to quote the real meaning of Christmas (Luke 2: 8-14) However Schulz was quick to reply, “If we don’t, who will”. Many of the movies made today do not explain or demonstrate the real meaning of Christmas unlike this one. Our culture has changed and formed away from this type of education. Many movies shy away from religious messages because the controversial comments they will receive in this culture.