I want my FBN…and some other channels, too. April 17, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, TV.trackback
Fox Business Network logo; Logo is owned by Fox News Network, LLC
It’s been six months since the Fox Business Network launched. Cable providers like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Bright House Networks do carry the channel. Meanwhile, my provider, Cablevision, does not. I’m limited to watching the few remaining business programs on the Fox News Channel, the biggest of which is “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” for my business news on TV. Otherwise, the only way I can see FBN is by going to foxbusiness.com to see video of select segments from FBN programs.
I have called Cablevision customer service a handful of times in the past six months, and each time, I’m told they’re “in negotiations” to carry FBN. The last time I called, when I asked if they were any closer to carrying it, the customer service representative pulled up the channel listings and told of the channels they do have, as if I don’t know what’s available.
Switching to DirecTV or Verizon FiOS TV is not an option for me; I don’t have the extra money for either. And although I’m dissatisfied with the channels Cablevision does not have, I’m satisfied with the channels they dohave. I’m especially satisfied with their high-speed internet provider, Optimum Online. In essence, you could call this a like-dislike (I won’t go so far as “love-hate”) relationship with Cablevision. Yet, I despise their ads where an actor stands in front of a white background arrogantly and smugly promoting Cablevision’s wares: iO (Interactive Optimum) Digital Cable Service, Optimum Online, Optimum Voice (Voice over Internet Protocol; VoIP) phone service, free HD channels, and News 12. He typically does all that while knocking the competition: “Phone Company TV.” Then, he walks off camera (stage left) to silence, followed by a graphic (i.e. “HD is free with iO”) appearing on screen, dissolving to a logo, and the commercial fading to black. In one commercial, the actor flaunts a J.D. Power and Associates award.
Perhaps another reason FBN has not been added yet is there has not been enough demand for the channel. This may be why channels like ESPNU, Boomerang, Travel Channel HD, and The Weather Channel HD have not been added either, while other providers have had them for months, if not years (depending on when they were launched). By the way, unless the NFL (National Football League) agrees to have NFL Network placed on digital sports tiers, their channel is not being added to any cable provider anytime soon, no matter how hard customers plead.
If you are a Cablevision customer like me, call 1-866-575-8000 and tell a customer service rep you want the Fox Business Network. You can do the same for any other channel that they don’t have yet but should. We can do it. We can get our FBN.
If you’re a customer outside of Cablevision’s market, or a satellite/phone TV customer that has FBN, feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on this. I’d especially like to hear from those whose cable provider actually carries FBN. (And if asked, I will remove the logo.)
UPDATE-4/17, 7:10 PM ET: I just saw an Optimum Voice ad with Barry Bostwick. He played a character [appropriately] called “The Voice.” Now, there’s a Cablevision ad I can be proud of…you know, until I get sick of it.
6/26 UPDATE: Contrary to what a guide at ChaCha said (my blog stats showed somebody getting referred to my blog from that site), I am not the guy in the Optimum commercials. If you read this entire post, you’ll see I air my extreme displeasure with the commercials, but do not admit I am that actor.
7/3 UPDATE: Yesterday, Cablevision announced they will be adding 15 HD channels at the end of this month. I posted about it here.
7/11 UPDATE: Why do people keep going to this post? There’s more to my blog than airing my displeasure for an arrogant character in Optimum commercials and identifying Barry Bostwick as “The Voice” for separate commercials. Feel free to look around. Click Home, About or Archives to see my other blog posts. And don’t think I meant Bostwick is arrogant because I didn’t mean that.
10/9 UPDATE: I saw the guy people confused me for in an ad for Lipo-Flavanoid Plus. Suddenly, he doesn’t seem as arrogant (to me, anyway) as the character he portrays in the Optimum ads.
11/19/09 UPDATE: FBN has finally come to Cablevision!
8/16/12 UPDATE: And now, NFL Network and NFL RedZone are coming to Cablevision.
MikeChimeri.com 
I agree with (most) all you’ve written in this piece; the one big nego would be that Neil Cavuto would be on more than he is now, on COX’s service; would like to see more of the female people FBN got when they raided CNBC. There are some former trader types like Glick who know very much more about the market’s “guts” that Cavuto has no clue about..and he’s just not what should be front and center for a new Business Network, anyway.
Thank you for your blog.