Cable lobby and Republicans fight proposed ban on early termination fees / Customers should be allowed to cancel cable TV without penalty, Democrats say::Customers should be allowed to cancel cable TV without penalty, Democrats say.

      • @kromem@lemmy.world
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        5611 months ago

        Not the voters though.

        That’s the part that’s wild.

        Many Republicans have cable, and probably even complained in the past about being ripped off with something related to their cable (no one I know loves to complain about losing money more than the Republicans I know).

        And yet they vote for people that actively try to prevent that pain from going away.

        It’s like they are all masochists voting in as extreme sadists as possible so their representatives will hurt them more.

        “Ohhh Daddy, tie up the FCC and spank me with more monopolistic cable fees.”

        • tmyakal
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          2711 months ago

          For the last 40 years or so, Republican voters have mostly been single-issue voters. They care very passionately about one thing, and will let almost anything else slide as a result. Being in favor of cable fees doesn’t matter as long as they’re anti-abortion. Being in favor of cutting social welfare programs that those very voters rely upon is fine as long as they’re anti-trans.

          For the most part, each voter only cares about one or two specific things, and the whole picture doesn’t really matter to them.

          • Flying Squid
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            811 months ago

            This is the main thing. They will never hear about this because the media they consume will never tell them about it.

        • @linearchaos@lemmy.world
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          611 months ago

          They don’t like paying the fee, but they’re willing to take one for the team as long as they know that it hurts poor people more.

        • @Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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          1811 months ago

          “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

          -LBJ

      • Bahnd Rollard
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        211 months ago

        Dogma was a very funny movie, dont drag shit monsters down to their level.

  • @Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Quick Trivia Question: When in history have conservatives ever been the good guys?

    Answer: Trick question! The answer is never.

    • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      911 months ago

      Ignoring any specific ideas about morality, conservatives (in the sense of people who resist change) and guaranteed to be on the wrong side of history, because their very nature is to cling to ideas that everyone else has decided are obsolete.

  • Reality Suit
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    611 months ago

    Got rid of cable T.V. a long time ago. I endorse pirating everything until the rich start to feel it.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    211 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The Federal Communications Commission has taken a step toward prohibiting early termination fees charged by cable and satellite TV providers.

    Cable lobby group NCTA-The Internet & Television Association opposes the plan and said it will submit comments to support “consumer choice and competitive parity.”

    Carr pointed out that traditional MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors) “are bleeding market share to new, unregulated competitors,” namely online streaming services.

    Carr was referring to recent 3–2 votes on net neutrality regulations and rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services.

    Simington argued that consumers will end up paying more because contracts with early termination fees have discounted monthly rates.

    He asked whether the FCC believes that cable and satellite providers “will, out of their gracious love of consumers, voluntarily fully retain today’s long-term contractual discounts while merely doing without ETF revenue.”


    The original article contains 554 words, the summary contains 138 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @Tosti@feddit.nl
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    11 months ago

    In the Netherlands early termination fees are not allowed, you sign up for a period and stick with that. After that initial period you can then terminate with 30 day notice, no auto renew per year, or you get a prorated refund of what you paid (in annual payment for example). A few exceptions apply but not many.

    This was done to avoid the fuckery of having a very small window on annual contracts where if you missed it, you would be locked in for another year.

    • @aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      511 months ago

      This was done to avoid the fuckery of having a very small window on annual contracts where if you missed it, you would be locked in for another year.

      Here in the good ol US of A that’s how some of my apartment leases worked.

      🎶 God bless America 🎶

  • @ohlaph@lemmy.world
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    611 months ago

    Holy fucking shit, what aren’t Republicans againt when it comes to the people. The party of pro life sure are against the people.

  • @hydrashok@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    I wish they’ve finally just nationalize the entire infrastructure and then sell access to the ISPs like they did with British Telecom in the UK. Cable companies are scum and they shouldn’t be getting any further support or federal funding after the shit they’ve pulled.

    I didn’t need a new phone line when I wanted to change long distance plans 40 years ago. Why is Internet service any different? Mandate a line/conduit to each house and be done with it. See how they like it when they actually have to compete.

  • @Furbag@lemmy.world
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    3911 months ago

    I find it hard to believe that anybody who hasn’t had a frontal lobotomy or isn’t a corpo ratfucker could ever be in favor of early termination fees as a legitimate and healthy business practice.

    • @SCB@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Strong disagree regarding it as a business measure in whole. Without penalties for breaking contracts, many business relationships will absolutely fall apart.

      Rather, this is an issue of consumer protection, and consumer rights should generally be given preferential treatment over contracts for the same reasons unions exist - it levels the playing field between entities of far differing power and means.

      I absolutely guarantee that lobbyists are pitching that first half at republicans and downplaying the everliving fuck out of the second.

      • @Furbag@lemmy.world
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        2311 months ago

        We’re obviously talking about consumer contract law here, so the point of business relationships falling apart is moot.

        If cable companies could prove to me that them pressing a button to cancel my service merits the exorbitant cancellation fees that they charge, then maybe I’d change my opinion.

        • @aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
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          -311 months ago

          They usually can. Installing the wiring to your home and paying the wages of the installers is not cheap. It takes time for that initial cost to be recouped by a company.

        • @SCB@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I mean that’s why I said this

          Rather, this is an issue of consumer protection, and consumer rights should generally be given preferential treatment over contracts for the same reasons unions exist - it levels the playing field between entities of far differing power and means.

          “Early termination fees” do not solely apply to cable companies, and by and large are a good thing - this is how they shoved them past what should be common sense consumer protection legislation, which I also mention.

  • @andrewta@lemmy.world
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    511 months ago

    where are people living that they have termination fees on cable tv? I am in Minnesota with Spectrum (previously charter (previously something else)) … I could call in tomorrow and drop the service and there wouldn’t be a termination fee. They would give me an option : use it for the rest of the billing period or just cancel it now and prorate the amount I’ve paid.

    I’m not saying fees don’t exist. I’m just curious what companies are charging them and where these people live.

  • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️A
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    111 months ago

    If you feel comfortable giving your SSN to privacy.com, you can just give them a privacy.com credit card number and then cancel whenever you want.

    You could probably do the same thing with a reloadable prepaid card and then just withdraw all the money whenever you want to stop paying.

    • Dark Arc
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      111 months ago

      I mean it could still be a breach of contract. Chances are they won’t pursue you in court though

  • Scott
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    4611 months ago

    Cable providers are among the worst fucking crooks in the entire country.

    Just tried to take as much money from you as possible while providing ass tier service.