Time Warner and Comcast Cable Company Consolidation

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Welcome to altered

geek unlimited episode 27. I'm your host Steve

Megatron Phillips and joining me this week is

27 in a row. Oh wait wrong joke You're too short

Just for that I'm skipping that number like it's

a 13 in a hospital building No, you're not I'll

go 36 38 or I'll do 36 .5. There won't be a 37.

I am, of course, DFG with Mike, and as you can

tell, ladies and gentlemen, this week is going

to be a lot lighter than it was last week. Let

me just get this out of the way really quickly.

As I said in the comments last week, I had been

holding all my opinions, whether they be rage

-filled or not, about this whole BS that is Batman

versus Superman. In, I had not expressed my opinion

at all. And a couple of people were saying about,

oh, well, how can you express an opinion when

there hasn't really been anything? That's my

issue with it. There hasn't. I'll say this once

and we can move on. They've, last year, they

said, oh yeah, two years, 2015. This year, two

years, 2016. The stupid movie isn't even out

for two years, and there's all this news, but

that's my issue with it. It has nothing to do

with the movie, but all the news and everything

else makes me want to skip the movie. That's

my basic point that I was trying to get across

last week. But this week, light as hell, we're

gonna talk some movie news, I think, and more

so a lot of TV news. Yeah, it's definitely a

lot more TV. I agree, last week we were just

venting. Yeah. Nothing personally against anybody

or anything And it won't be like that this week

I know so The overall I Guess we'll jump into

some of the the media stuff or wait actually

I want to mention the GCR and awards Just briefly

We have tons of votes So far It's seeming to

taper off so if it really tapers off we'll end

up having to record the episode sooner Rather

than later just because I'm not gonna keep it

Hidden for very long if that's the case it's

said to expire March 1st, but we're about halfway

through the month It actually we are halfway

through the month. Yes as of today when you hear

this but the lowest things are rated is 58 That's

good the highest things are rated or 126 Wow,

yes, so it'll be very interesting when I put

these together to see who wins all the categories.

There will be a staff pick from GCRN basically

side by side. There'll be a staff pick and the

fan vote. So it'll show you what we ultimately

chose between voting amongst ourselves, which

it'll be the core five voting. And then it will

be pitted against your guys's votes. So that'll

be side by side. So you get to see that shortly.

Probably it'll be included in the same. It'll

probably be its own area on post or something,

a follow up to what's already there. But it'll

be it'll be interesting to see how this plays

out. I am the only one so far that can see the

answers to all of the questions. And some of

what has been chosen is kind of staggering. Some

of them are neck and neck, like within one to

three points of each other. Some of them not.

Some of them I wish weren't in the list period,

but that's personal preference because some of

them I don't think compare very well with certain

other ones, but that's I digress. So there's

still plenty of time to make a decision on this.

I just I I'm looking forward to seeing what what

pops up but I Think I've rambled on long enough

on that so we will get into some media stuff

Did you happen to see the new Sandisk ultra dual

USB yeah I'm looking at it right now and holy

crap. It's a flash drive that has two USB ends.

One of them is the narrow one that plugs into

Android smartphones and tablets and the other

side can plug into your computer. So it's like

having the cable without actually having it.

Yes. But it's also a storage device of like I

think it's 32 gigs for 30 bucks. Yeah, so I'm

honestly I may actually pick this up because

I won't have to carry a damn cord But uh The

only thing I wonder is how it's gonna I mean

how it's gonna actually attach You'd have to

have it essentially still connected to a connector

cable Extender because there's no way your phone's

gonna hold under the front of a USB port unless

it's like a laptop Well, they show a picture

of an HTC phone. I assume... I don't know which

HTC phone... I think the HTC One. Yeah, probably.

Where it's just sitting on a table. It looks

cool. I mean... I like the concept, honestly.

I like that it has dual purpose of a patch through

and also it's a flash drive. Yeah. So that has

me a little psyched for it. I may actually pick

that up when it gets around... Closer to that

time they still say that you should get a Like

a micro USB cable Just so that it's not laying

there But I think that the concept is actually

kind of interesting so Yeah, it is very So what

do you think about the new well first of all

I want your basic opinion on Power Rangers Megaforce

and then your thoughts on the dino charge that

comes after it Okay, so I've seen the first couple

of episodes of Megaforce I've actively been avoiding

it because it's not because I dislike it but

because we're going to eventually cover it on

From the Command Center. But the way we cover

the seasons or the series on that show is as

a whole. So I've been completely avoiding the

first 20 episodes of Megaforce and I will most

likely, unless it's that legacy episode, I will

most likely completely avoid the 20 episodes

of Super Megaforce, which actually starts this

weekend. on Nickelodeon. The thing with Dino

Charge is people know Power Rangers originated

with five Dino Zords and that's something that

works. You know, 1993... everybody still had

a subscription to zoo books and you always got

a an issue of it with with dinosaurs and everything

else and and 20 some odd years later you get

another one i'm interested to see it i'm i i

don't know where they're gonna go with it i've

read the description on it and and all that i

kinda hope that Tommy returns. I don't think

he will a second time in this kind of thing,

but, and I don't think the plot's gonna fit that,

but at this point with Power Rangers, between

Samurai and Megaforce, I want an adult, and I

don't mean adult as in triple X people, I want

an adult. want adult Rangers I want Jason David

Frank I want Karen Ashley I want Steve Cardenas

I want Johnny Young Bosch I want the adults that

we grew up with that the kids that we grew up

with I want them to do a grown -up serious Power

Rangers show for us the fans now something I

don't have you guys ever brought up on altered

geek JDF's new reality series. No, I actually

have not brought up the the reality series. I

have brought up the fact that he and The the

bat and the Sun guys are doing a The Mortal Kombat

the fight. Well, they did the the white ranger

versus the Mortal Kombat guy Which I did cover

score score Yeah, whatever the hell his name

is um scorpion. I know I don't care Yeah, boo

No, so I mean I I covered that and then I covered

the fact that they're gonna drop try and do like

some kind of a Green Ranger movie with them Yeah,

which should be interesting, but but no I haven't

actually covered his reality thing the did a

preview of it uh... it was supposed to be done

at one of the wizard world conventions but uh...

he posted a picture of it on his fan page and

it's basically going to be uh... reality series

uh... there's a sneak peek of it on on youtube

and then the trailers on youtube apparently as

well now now that i'm looking at it uh... and

i'm interested because let's face it folks What

would you say Steve maybe 50 % of television

is reality TV these days? I'd say almost yeah

so I'm interested to see the guy that I grew

up with watching Power Rangers as that character

I'm interested to see what his daily life is

like And it's going to be cool. Who knows? Maybe

he'll have guest stars on it. Maybe other other

rangers might come on it. Who knows? But I'm

very interested to see that. Dino Charge, I'm

optimistic, but I don't know. I don't hate it,

but I'm not like, oh my god, this is so great.

Well, the funny thing about, well, first of all,

I'm going to talk about Megaforce real quick.

I like the concept of them doing the 20th anniversary,

bringing back old past Rangers. Oh, yeah. I'm

kind of disappointed at how the fact of Saban

handled, Saban handled some of the stuff, being

that they couldn't get everybody back because

of the way they handled it, because I'm sure

like most of them are pretty grateful for their

fans and would love to come back. But at the

same time. Some of them don't want to come back.

So it's kind of one of those, you know, hopefully,

you know, they do the right thing kind of thing.

But I I'm really looking forward to seeing Tommy

really come back as the green and the white ranger.

Even though both powers are extinguished, technically,

yeah, I can see his zeal crystal still working

as his only remaining one. because he had that

in Forever Red, but in Turbo, he passed that

off. So that's not him anymore. But and then

Dino Thunder. But I like the fact that, you know,

especially the legendary Green Ranger returns.

And so to me, that that is a reason alone for

me to care about this series. The only thing

that kind of sucks about Megaforce or Super Megaforce

is the fact that They are trying to replicate

the Zordon alpha thing But the the way that they're

going about it the animation CG stuff is so shitty

It is incredibly shitty and they're trying to

copy the original, you know MMPR Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers for those that don't know what

the acronym is And to me it's kind of it's it's

like a cop -out like I understand what they're

trying to go for, you know 20 years kind of thing,

but it's it's kind of grating on me that a lot

of it's knocking off the first season. But Super

Megaforce, I'm looking forward to when they actually

bring the other Rangers in, even though it's

for a couple of episodes. But as far as Dino

Charge is concerned, I'm interested in it, but

not it looks like they've almost got the MMPR

kind of style to the helmets or at least the

face part. As well as the morpher being on the

belt buckle Yeah, so that'll be kind of reminiscent

of it they've also got some goofy Ranger colors

Yeah, there's there's actually Ten total Rangers

oh For this color like they're only gonna use

five. I'm pretty sure or maybe six in the show

But according to some of the images I've seen,

they have 10 Rangers. It's a dark blue, they

have a silver, a purple, a gray, a teal, gold.

Then you have your red, pink, black, blue, and

a greenish color. Which they're only gonna use

the red, pink, black, blue, and that green. But

I find it interesting of that that alone because

it means they could pull from pretty much anything

As far as the the Ranger designs or colors or

whatever But yeah, I mean I'm kind of enthusiastic

about it. I'm just kind of waiting to see what

they do Yeah, I am too. I you know like I said

because we do because I do from the command center

with Scotty Cash and Spada I I Have other things

to do than to wait every week for a new episode

or to wait every four or five months for a new

episode because That's another topic we could

do on this on over on geek cast radio is how

long production takes for some of these Series

on Nickelodeon and all this all that anything

else, but I'm interested in Dino Charge I'll

see it when I see it though. It's not something

that I'm oh my god I'm paying attention to it's

coming out 2015 anyway, so once once they end

the current cast Yeah I just It would I'm not

gonna lie. It would be nice to see some of the

old Rangers come back, but that's kind of done

But yeah, so moving on We have Star Wars the

Clone Wars final season on Netflix March 7th

You know I've Have you actually caught the show?

Bits and pieces I've cut this in pieces only

because I heard Darth Maul came back and Qui

-Gon and and the way that they played that out

I have not actually watched the series. I'm probably

gonna get it after all of it's said and done

and then blitz through it because it looks a

hell of a lot more interesting than the entire

prequel series. Yeah. Hopefully Netflix adds

all the seasons if they're gonna be adding the

final season. Hopefully they add all the seasons

on March 7th. If they add them all, I will slowly

make my way through it. I'm interested, but it's

again. It's one of those things where I'm I have

other things that I'm more interested in Yeah,

I mean I can kind of see that I've like I said,

I've not watched it so it's not as important

to me But I I'm happy that they're actually gonna

give it a proper send -off. Yeah Because we know

that once Disney switched gears and owned it,

they kind of killed it. So it's nice to see them

at least put it somewhere. I guess we can get

into Gotham news. Yes, Gotham. There's been some

huge news in that area. Yes, there has been.

Now, you have not been the biggest positive.

person for Gotham, have you? Well, not really.

Only for the fact that I don't trust them. And

I'm not saying Fox, because I'm already over

that. That's entirely different. And I agree

that shows do get cancelled, not just because

they're on a network, but because of the ratings

and the fact that nobody watches them. I do have

high hopes for Gotham. At this point now because

there's actual news and I guess that again jumps

on the same bandwagon, you know If there's not

anything important, there's not really reason

to care and there's more reason to bitch So they've

actually cast two of their their lead characters

Actually cast four lead characters. Well, I only

have two at the moment Yeah, they they actually

cast the penguin I believe Mm -hmm, which I don't

have that information pulled up. I don't remember

who the other The was it another villain I Know

that they cast Commissioner Cork and they cast

Harvey Bullock. I guess yes first while you're

looking that Include okay Only yesterday four

more roles including Penguin and Alfred were

cast who was cast as Alfred again Being as the

shows are on separate networks, let's not expect

CW's Arrow and Fox's Gotham to ever intermingle,

but that won't stop DC and Warner Bros. from

continuing to dominate the television superhero

gig. Over the weekend, it was announced that

Ben McKenzie snagged the starring role of Jim

Gordon on Fox's new crime drama Formals have

been cast. Who's Alfred? I'm looking, I'm looking.

You don't have to read it all. Yeah, Ben McKenzie

is young Commissioner Gordon. And I can kind

of see that by the image that they posted. So

the funny thing is, is when he got his break

playing it, because he was the voice of Batman

in year one. Yeah. But the funny thing is this

is Twitter fetus is all I can promise is I will

do my best not to screw this up Can't wait to

get to work which I found it extremely humorous

that he's the way that he posted that he's like

I I won't screw it up Yes, Sean Pertwee is Alfred

Who what he's he been in? Says here devil's playground

doomsday event horizon He was Alan Partridge

But the big news after all of that is that Donald

Logue is gonna be Bullock Which is extremely

fitting because he's about the right size Not

not trying to make a size joke. I'm just saying

he's yeah, he's he's got that look like in his

face like is the kind of crotchety cop and It's

he's it's extremely fitting honestly Probably

one of the best For this series at least so far

and yeah, he was in grounded for life and sons

of anarchy and stuff like that, so Should be

interesting to see how they they play out And

then again, you know, like you said the Sean

Pertwee is I honestly kind of get that now after

watching beware the Batman he has that look and

I kind of get it now because They're trying to

do away with the old feeble Bruce or Alfred after

you know, the the recent animated stuff and the

Dark Knight trilogy and The the original four

films that were out in the 90s They're going

with that new kind of like Earth one Yeah Alfred

where he's the ex? British you know CIA type

thing So I kind of get that and I think that

it is fitting that they're having him kind of

play that That level at least for the younger

version of Alfred Yeah, so should be interesting

to see how that that plays out and then I'm kind

of wondering about Cobblepot's choice Robin Lord

Taylor he does have that kind of creepy look

to his face and I kind of get it like if you

put him in like the Arkham games yeah as far

as his how is his eye like how is like eyes and

face looks and like if you gave him the eyepiece

and a little bit more of a scowl like I could

definitely see him playing a younger Oswald Cobblepot.

Oh yeah and I think that's kind of where they're

going with Gotham is that it's a it's a younger

Gotham because Gordon is not Commissioner Gordon

he's you know he's a loot I don't even think

he's a lieutenant I think he's Detective Gordon

You know, and Bruce Wayne is supposed to be around

11 or 12. And apparently, what I read the other

day was that the show would start with Bruce

being 11 or 12, and then it would advance to

him becoming Batman. So we could potentially

see someone, don't know who, someone put a Batsuit

on television again. That would be epic. Yes.

I just hope that they don't spend too long in

his year zero. Youth, yeah. I'm sorry, did I

just, I say that, you know, sorry. I can't help

it at this point. 12 issues is too many for zero

year. Yeah, it should be zero. I'm harsh. So

wrong. Yes. Something else I picked up as we're

cycling through news stories here. Really briefly,

Dr. Sheldon Cooper is going to host Saturday

Night Live. You know they're going to do a mock

of Big Bang Theory on there. Big Bang Theory

star Jim Parsons has been tapped to host Saturday

Night Live. NBC announced Thursday. uh... the

any winning actor will make his s l debut when

the nbc sketch comedy show returns on march first

very cool very cool and the musical guest that

night will be back which i guess it was the seventh

time coming back so not that i really care but

yeah uh... so i mean that that'll be interesting

i'll actually probably watch it only because

he's Tied to it. I haven't really been a full

-on watcher of Saturday Night Live since Will

Ferrell Jimmy Fallon and all those guys kind

of left. Yeah, it's it's There's a few people

that are halfway decent and it's alright, but

to me the show hasn't really been good in a few

years I don't think I've watched it like religiously

since Kevin Nealon was on the weekend update

Wow, you haven't been watching since the early

90s I've caught it here and there, but Wow Yeah,

I mean I've seen the Chris Farley and the Adam

Sandler I've seen a lot of that stuff, but like

I haven't actually Sat down Saturday night at

1130 to actually watch the whole show in at least

20 years It I don't know. It's just not that

relevant for me anymore Again, wow. I watched

it all through the 90s and early 2000s, so it's

pertinent to me, or it used to be. Now I just

don't care. So yeah, I guess the only remaining

TV stuff, news -wise anyways, some of the new...

Season pickups at least as far as CW is concerned

They Because of high ratings they picked up for

another season arrow for its third season They

picked up rain the originals vampire diaries

those three. I do not care for That's saying

that they aren't good or somebody likes them

or anything But I just they don't draw me and

supernatural which is coming back for its 10th

season I'm really excited for Arrow because they're

doing what should have been done with superhero

television a while ago. As far as, yes, I am

beating up Smallville and I'm beating up Agents

of S .H .I .E .L .D. with it, but whatever. I

think Arrow is the superior comic show on TV.

Supernatural, I really love that show. but honestly

I wish it'd stop opening up cans of worms and

start closing them because there's so many freaking

holes that are left in the show because of previous

writers or showrunners and they have all these

plot devices kind of like in Transformers they

have the Matrix wellness they have the cult then

they have you know the blades and then they have

you know the angels and demons and then all this

other stuff that's going on And then the one

thing that they constantly cycle around is, is

where the heck God is. Because it's a constant

battle between angels and demons. And, you know,

there's all of a sudden one day that he just

packed up and left. And then they're all kind

of confused on what's going on, like that's as

far as the angels are concerned in the show.

So. I really do love that show, but I wish that

they would. Like I said, stop opening up the

cans of worms and then stop having these damn

throwaway episodes. I really hate throwaway episodes

because there's nothing. I mean, there's like

the little five minutes maybe between the beginning

and the end. But the rest of the show is all

like cannon fodder. You know, or a subalba would

say poodle. Wow. Really, really bad Star Wars

reference. Yes. And from one of the worst films

in the prequels, too. I know. That's why he says

poodoo. Yes. Some other interesting casting news

is you've got Charles Robinson. Which most of

you know Charles Robinson is the attache to M

from Pierce Brosnan's 007 Days actor Colin Salmon

who you will know from Resident Evil films, at

least the first one, and he was also the stepfather

in the first season of Arrow. Oh, okay. He is

joining 24 Live Another Day. As the president?

I'm not trying to make a bad joke. I'm serious.

Well, they got to replace the guy that does the

all -state commercials. No, I'm hoping they bring

Dennis Haysbert back as President Palmer. Didn't

they kill him, though? In the show? I'm only

on season 3 on my rewatch. I don't remember.

I'm pretty sure they did. I honestly don't remember.

My wife watched the show. Any fictional? president

is never mind but anyway colin salmon is joining

24 live another day this uh it's premiering may

5th on fox the next chapter in the 24 franchise

picks up the story four years after the series

finale which left jack bauer as a fugitive from

justice this time in london uh... salmon uh...

reps uh... he's basically going to be playing

uh... general coburn an intelligent powerful

and fiercely loyal man who does not suffer fools

no matter what rank you can be seen opposite

benedict uh... you can be seen opposite con in

little favor and james franco and playtime capital

Yeah, no, I find it really interesting that they're

they're gonna bring him in and I'm interested

to see what kind of role he's gonna play Yeah,

definitely So very cool very cool But yeah, I

I think that's pretty much it for news I guess

we can either get to listener feedback or we

could talk about I Guess what's gonna be the

main topic of this show I guess we'll jump into

just brief listener feedback. We didn't get very

much, but I kind of get that with all the other

shows on the network at the moment that are going

on. Well, Epicurious says that we have a limited

understanding of how movie news works and it

appears you think that stuff like Batman versus

Superman is new and this stuff has been going

on forever. Sure, the internet has increased

the amount of voices, now everyone has an opinion.

Movies trades, though, have been around since

the early thirties. Most of the news you are

complaining about isn't being broadcast by movie

studies. It is the outlets that are forcing every

little tiny rumor for news bait. If you look

at the actual amount of official news released

by actual press releases by the studio, it's

rather minimal. So you can't put this on Hollywood.

This is you guys are complaining about the beast

while feeding it at the same time. Do people

react too soon and too often? My god, yes, but

what's that's the same with anything really?

This is not a trade reserve for fanboys see sports

for instance Yeah, it says stop seeking it out

and guess what you no longer need to worry about

it So don't go to the desert complain when you

find sand and don't complain about too much hype

when you go searching hype website So yes, I

will agree. We are feeding the beast and I will

agree. I didn't even think about the sports Reference

because it I don't follow sports, so it didn't

click with me, but it makes perfect sense. No,

it does. But yeah, fanboys do, you know, myself

included, go that shit crazy. Same here. Yep.

And yeah, it does make sense, though, that and

I have seen, you know. BS rumors you know like

like we mentioned before of oh Ben Affleck smokes

so you must not care about being Batman blah

blah blah you know i mean it's it's just people

stirring the pot with stupid stuff like that

um people stirring this pot with stupid stuff

would be not that Ben Affleck smokes so he doesn't

care about being Batman it would be Ben Affleck

promotes the second amendment so that means he

doesn't care about playing Batman. He's pro -gun

so he can't be Batman. That's right. That would

be stupid but yeah I definitely get that though

and yeah we were we were guilty about it and

that's why we're gonna try not to feed the beast

as it were and cover only pertinent information

such as casting and stuff. you know to that degree

or at least things that they show off whether

they show the batmobile or the the new bat suit

which um again there's people rumoring that oh

they might show it before the end of the month

which i'll believe it when i see it but if they

do great we'll cover it if not i'm not gonna

worry about it um i do have the links in the

show notes so if people want to look it up themselves

then go for it but um Justin says it was hard

to get through this one Felt like an extended

rant that will lose steam from time to time He

says usually if you guys have an issue with something

you provide some sort of reasoning to make it

better This time it felt really bitter It's because

it was We were actually really bad that episode,

but we were both off to that that better plus

we'd had rough weeks already so but he says little

disappointed because i tend to listen to your

podcast because if you do talk about something

you dislike you provide criticism not complaints

maybe it was just an off night i'm not going

to stop listening or anything only making constructive

critique yes it was a very bad off night it wasn't

off night but again he says that Usually that

we do provide criticism not complaints. Well

the problem with this specific issue with the

BS issue is that It's nothing but BS. There's

not like if they would have if Ben Affleck or

Jennifer Gardner or Warner Brothers or whoever

tweeted out a picture of the bat costume we could

have a constructive conversation about the news

of hey the bat costume the bat suits out but

since all of this is as epicarius put it media

bait there's nothing that we could back up and

explain why we dislike it like i said at the

beginning of this episode what i dislike is all

of the media bait at this point Yeah, and it's

it's common with every type of film and every

film in general, but yeah Which is probably why

transformers 4 has caught us so off guard and

how? Decent it looks is because we haven't followed

anything of transformers news since transformers

3 Exactly, so it's it's actually looking halfway

decent because of that purpose alone, but So

yeah, I definitely get that he says again Talking

about the car max thing. It was a take on the

slow clap moments in movies The Rudy cameo, which

I didn't get the reference because I haven't

seen it So the movies were kind of bad And then

he continued to talk about the Getting upset

over the and ranting yeah, so yeah, I think I

think That was pretty well covered. And I think

kudos to you, sir, for calling us out on it.

Connor Murphy says, I could not agree more with

Mike regarding the news overload and just too

much. I get the casting announcements because

those are a big deal. But simmer down with the

rumors. Which, yeah, we agree. And then Caleb

says, great episode. Did you guys see the casting

for Gotham? And I had replied to him that I had

said, yes, we will cover it this week, which

we did. Yes. And so it's starting to look interesting

now that it's not going to be just a solely Commissioner

Gordon based show. Like they were leading everyone.

For a second there, I thought you were going

to say a curmudgeonly Gordon show. That would

be funny, but no. Superfilm fan 98 says I must

say I don't get the comments below I love the

episode and agreed 100 % with what Mike and Steve

were saying seriously this movie isn't even coming

out until 2016 and every time someone sneezes

a new rumor appears Ben Affleck will be played

by the role of the Affleck Duck I'm glad to hear

Ben Affleck will be cousins to Matt Damon's Nightwing

I'm glad to hear someone say this madness needs

to stop which yes, it's it's it is getting rampant

with pretty much everything And it's it's mostly

the websites trying to get people to go to them

Yeah, it's it's it's it's clickbait that's all

it is yeah, so it's kind of like what IGN does

all the time Just to show them up. Yeah. Well,

it was part of it. It was partly because we actually

care They're just trying to get extra cash from

their ad revenue, but So yeah, I Thank you guys

again for the the constructive feedback Obviously,

we're doing a lot better this week because we're

laughing instead of like foaming at the mouth

and having venom coming from our fangs and So

I guess we'll get into some some TV discussion

Should we start with the big Time Warner Comcast

elephant in the room? I think we should because

that's actually very pertinent information at

this point So, okay, we recorded this episode

Thursday night the 13th of February 2014. When

I woke up that morning, I saw a news item on

Facebook that Time Warner is being bought out

by Comcast. No, no, no, no, no, no. You have

Time Warner, don't you? Yes. I have Comcast.

I'm trying to get away from Comcast. I'm actually

trying to I'm actually in the process right now

of emailing a local internet providing company

called Frontier. You better be careful. Why?

I'm telling you right now. You better be careful

because let me give you all a history about the

cable company here in Louisville, Kentucky. It

started out as Intermedia Cable. It then became

Insight Communications. Insight Communications

got bought out by Time Warner and now Time Warner

is being bought out by Comcast. Well, I mean,

eventually all roads let... lead back to the

low road, but being Comcast. Yes, it's there.

They've become such a huge media empire over

the last 10 years between buying NBC and Universal

and then now Time Warner. They're like the new

they're like the cable of Disney or like the

Disney version of a cable company buying up big

conglomerate companies and then eating them whole

and, you know. Like Comcast now has the NBC logo

floating above the word Comcast. And now when

Universal pops up on something, it says, a Comcast

company. And instead of having it like NBC Universal

or anything, it's like, nope, Comcast. It's hilarious

to me, honestly. According to money .cnn .com,

Comcast said Thursday that it agreed to buy Time

Warner Cable for $45 billion in a deal that would

combine the two biggest cable companies in the

United States. God, I don't. See, here's the

thing. I was fine with Insight when it took over.

Intermedia and Insight are essentially the same

company. They just changed the name, changed

a few of the policies, changed a few of the packages.

Time Warner comes in and they buy out Insight.

And the service really hasn't changed. Prices

really haven't gone up. You know, but now that...

What I'm hoping is that prices stay the same

and so does the service because if Comcast comes

in here and my internet service specifically

starts to falter because of it, I'm going to

be really really pissed. I've heard nothing but...

I've heard nothing but bad things about Comcast

from a lot of people. Now, I know you have said

you've had the best interactions with them through

Twitter trying to get better deals every year

and stuff like that, but... They're... They used

to be good. Mm -hmm. I have... I've had them...

Jeez, I don't know, since 2006. And... For the

most part, I've had pretty consistent and good

service. My pet peeve is, I mean, yeah, you get

good internet speeds. I have the 50 megabit internet

speed and it's part of my special right now.

And they go down to like 25 and they go to like,

I think 12 or something at some point. But I

originally started on them and they had six megabit

internet and the highest they went was 20. Now

the highest it goes 100. So. What are you paying

for 50? I am a part of some goofy special they

found that was like a loophole Because last year

when I called to complain about my price going

up because I only had internet last year And

I was paying I Think it was 39 a month And then

I started running a modem which is another $7

and then it was like another $10 or something

It would have been another $10 for cable or another

$20 for cable TV. Well, they found me a special

for $39 .99. So I could have the 50 megabit internet

and basic cable. But originally the basic cable

came with channels like 2 through 90. And I had

like ABC Family and TNT and TBS and all those

channels. Well... Progressively through the year,

they changed their channel lineups for different

packages. I lost ABC Family, TNT, TBS, a lot

of stations like that. I still have Disney and

Cartoon Network, and I don't get SyFy anymore.

I don't get ABC Family. I don't get TNT and TBS,

which those four honestly bothered me more than

you'd think. I have my my basic local channels

and everything else But so they dropped off like

over half of my channels because they changed

their lineup all of a sudden which pissed me

off so that was part of it and then Now I'm at

the end of the rope and they're they they know

they used to have this department called retention

and You used to be able to actually get good

deals and even complaining on Twitter work to

some degree Now their customer service actually

sucks really bad. I don't understand because

they call it It's not customer retention anymore

they've got a fancy word for that and it's it's

essentially supposed to be the same thing, but

it's not and Oh, it's customer loyalty. That's

what they call it so for being a loyal customer

we discount your bill ten dollars it's like i'm

like seriously they're i'm like uh because i

called them today because my special's up by

march 1st and my thing is i want to keep my bill

under 50 bucks Don't have that many channels.

I have internet. I told them I would drop it

down to 25 megabit internet if I had to And they're

like well, you'll still be paying the same price

Yeah, it's and it's gonna go up 20 bucks, but

they'll discount it ten dollars for six months

so it'll end up being 57 instead of 47 because

of my modem rental and I said well, that's not

good enough and And that's that's with having

the 50 megabit and the cable and they're like,

well, it'll be the same price even if you drop

your internet Yeah, they exceed that's the thing

they don't want and I said so what if what if

I just want cable internet Oh, well for the 50

megabit you're looking at $84 a month. I'm like

really I'm like for just internet and I'm like,

so what would it be for 25 megabits? Oh, it'll

be $57 just for that by itself And I'm like,

I'm not paying that like that's ridiculous pricing

so I am communicating between them and another

company and I went on Twitter earlier was in

class because I was bored and I'm going back

and forth between Comcast and The the company

of Frontier which is another local cable provider

and I'm hoping that I can get something figured

out before then because I really, I do not want

to pay over 50 bucks and Comcast is notorious

for screwing over current customers and not helping

them whatsoever. That's the same way time Warner

is they want the new customers because they want

the new customers to take care of that to take

that yearly deal and For me with time Warner.

I'm looking at my monthly services right now.

I just re -upped my promotion so I guess through

February 1st to the 28th. I'll have free DVR

service I pay This includes home Wi -Fi, which

I don't use yet, turbo upgrade, and standard

internet. Now standard internet for Time Warner

is 10 meg. Turbo upgrade gets you 20 meg. I'm

paying $44 .99 a month for just the internet.

Time Warner cable promotion includes Starter

TV, Standard TV, and Variety Pass. Variety Pass

is the only way I can get the hub. That's 60

bucks a month. I can take off I should be able

to take off the stars promotion for eight dollars

a month and To have the DVR box is seven bucks

a month Digital adapters I basically pay a hundred

and twenty one dollars a month for two services

Now this company both these companies they want

you to consistently have that triple feature

They want you to have the cable the phone the

internet And I don't need a home, my mom kind

of does, but she knows we can't afford it. But

I'm only getting 20 megs for $45, where you're

with Comcast and you get 50 for what, 39? With

basic TV for now. Right, but that's what I'm

saying like my promotion is $45 a month for internet

your promotion is 39 with with the TV So I don't

know maybe it'd be a good thing that Comcast

takes time Warner over Maybe I can get a better

deal at a better speed Because it's just ridiculous

I mean, granted, I can't complain about the service.

I'm just trying to keep my bill low. No, the

service, yeah, yeah, the service is great with

Time Warner. I mean, I've very rarely do have

I ever had there are a couple of times where

I've had internet outages, but recently that

hasn't been. at all. Sure, the signal drops sometimes,

but it doesn't drop hardly. Usually, every time

I test it, it hits either 1920 or 21 megs. So

as long as it hits when I'm paying for it, that's

fine with me. And I don't care. I would drop

cable, honestly, because I really don't care.

I'd rather just stream it from their websites

at this point just because I don't have a DVR,

so half the time I'm missing my shows anyway.

But I truthfully, I don't like the fact that

if you're a current customer, you get shafted.

Yeah, every time. Yeah, no, I know. There's nothing

there to. Kind of because there are people that

they just. pay whatever they you know whatever

they're made to pay they don't argue they just

they don't even care that you know there's some

people that they'll wait forever before they

actually make a call about getting their their

bill dropped and then there's people like me

that are proactive on it and attack them the

month before saying i'm not gonna pay this Like

I I'm to the point like if I had AT &T where

I live I would switch back and forth every every

year Like just because I would be a new customer

every time. I just I really I really freaking

hate that and See my problem with doing that

is my problem with doing that is I have to return

the equipment every single time and they'll And

they'll charge me to have that. That's the biggest

pet peeve I have with time Warner And it was

the biggest pet peeve I had with what the company

was called before it was Time Warner. They will

charge you to have someone come out and pick

the equipment up. Are you friggin kidding me?

I'm a disabled person. I don't drive. You know.

Comcast will actually send people like third

party people to come in. That's what that's what

Time Warner does. They'll they'll come pick up

the equipment from you. Where we live and if

you don't return it to them then mm -hmm then

they'll charge you for it, but I I've only had

to return equipment once because I've had them

for so long Yeah, I don't I don't have to worry

about it really But even if I did every time

I'm living somewhere I'm renting and there's

always a Comcast guy that lives in the parking

lot Yeah, so I would just hunt him down and be

like yo take my crap Yeah, yeah Yeah But now

that I have a problem with Comcast buying up

companies, I just wish that they were a little

bit nicer with their pricing Yeah Well compare

your situation to my situation. They are nicer

with their pricing compared to a time Warner

charges Yeah, yeah, but it once that year is

up your your That's why you have them re -bundle.

But yeah, it's just one of those things where

it hit the fan this morning or yesterday when

the news, oh, you know, Comcast is buying Time

Warner and it's like, oh, great. Got to get used

to a whole new set of rules now. Lovely. But

one of the nice parts about Comcast is they don't

have a bandwidth cap. That's good. so I mean

unless you're somebody that uses 250 gigabytes

a month which I don't even know what my usage

is I've only broke that like broke into the hundred

gigabytes one time and that was when I had to

download all of gcrn from site five to put it

yeah back on media yeah that was the only time

I've ever had that much bandwidth usage Because

60 gigs of it was our cut our crap from the site

Mm -hmm That's funny, so yeah Anything else we

need to talk about this episode no, I think I

think we got it pretty good I mean there's there's

probably other things we can do, but I figure

we might as well save some stuff for next week

and Keep this at a nice light and short show

Yeah, and I figure between now and next week

something else major will come out or some other

News item will come out. Maybe that mysterious

bat suit that they've been hinting at will show

up That'd be nice. I would be happy about that

Yeah, that'd be nice because I'm a rabid Batman

fanboy that wants to see the bat suit Yeah, that

will determine everything I'm hoping it's black

and red Yeah, why no it's not Black and red think

about it Thomas Wayne No, Terry Thomas I know

it too. Yeah, I know but Terry's better. I'm

not gonna deny that So, yeah, I Guess we can

go ahead and close it out. So thank you as always

for joining us here on a altered geek unlimited

You can contact us in the following ways. You

can email us at feedback at geekcastradio .com.

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geek. My Twitter handle is at scp21 and yours

is sir. So, as always, get altered get geeky

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