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Verizon negotiating tactics

Verizon - quit your sleezy negotiating tactics with Newport TV in the Harrisburg television market. Trying to drum up consumer support in a matter that the public knows nothing about is unprofessional. Do your negotiations in the board rooms and leave the TV programming product for the consumers to enjoy, not have to participate in your mock fight. Randy Whitaker

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Cirsmack1971

I am canceling my service with Verizon today. I mean seriously, pulling something like this on an NFL playoff day......nice move, I guess I will start using Comcast again.

cwa10711

Agreed. Making your customers pawns in a negociation is sleazy and underhanded. In the 15 years I was a Comcast customer, I never experienced such a thing. This is absolutely deplorable customer service. I'm in a 2 year contract, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a breach of that contract. If this isn't resolved swiftly and with a formal apology, I'll be switching over to Comcast and YOU'LL be eating your ETF.

UnnDunn

@cwa1071 wrote:
Agreed. Making your customers pawns in a negociation is sleazy and underhanded. In the 15 years I was a Comcast customer, I never experienced such a thing. This is absolutely deplorable customer service. I'm in a 2 year contract, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a breach of that contract. If this isn't resolved swiftly and with a formal apology, I'll be switching over to Comcast and YOU'LL be eating your ETF.

You are the ones making yourselves pawns, by attaching so much emotion and anger to the availablility of these channels. It's just television; there are hundreds of other channels available in the FiOS TV lineup, there are many other ways to get the content shown on those channels, and ultimately, there are many other ways for you to entertain or inform yourself.

By making the availability of these channels such a personal, emotional issue, you are making yourself a pawn in these negotiations, not Verizon or Newport TV.

These kinds of carriage disputes occur all the time in the pay-TV industry. This is not the first and will certainly not be the last dispute that has resulted in channels being removed from a distributor's lineup. That is how business is done in this country and in this industry.

Posting angry rants on the provider or distributor's forums will have exactly zero effect on the duration or outcome of the negotiations.

spynnal

Correct, which is why many will simply be cancelling. When you pay top dollar for a top provider, you do not expect to be left high and dry on the most basic channels on television. When someone paying $30 a month can watch a nationally broadcast game, and a $200+ monthly customer cannot, they will not remain a customer for long. The most basic of business principals.

Something tells me Comcast and others may have a good year ahead.

Ask Netflix if they regret ignoring their customers take on the changing parameters of the industry.

Nashkar

The same for the Albany NY market. This is the worst business strategy I have ever seen. We will also be cancelling services.

UnnDunn

@spynnal wrote:
Correct, which is why many will simply be cancelling. When you pay top dollar for a top provider, you do not expect to be left high and dry on the most basic channels on television. When someone paying $30 a month can watch a nationally broadcast game, and a $200+ monthly customer cannot, they will not remain a customer for long. The most basic of business principals.
Something tells me Comcast and others may have a good year ahead.
Ask Netflix if they regret ignoring their customers take on the changing parameters of the industry.

Fine, so if you want to cancel, cancel. If you want to stay, stay. But don't post yet another rant threatening to cancel. We've seen an endless parade of them over the past few days, and it's childish, unproductive and quite frankly annoying.

Leap21

Well said. They are horrible! First, the Tennis Channel right before the USA Open Final and now, CBS right before a well matched NFL Playoff game. Verizon stinks!

TCayer

TO VERIZON: Fix this now! I pay you for TV channels! YOU do what you need to do to provide what I pay you for. Time Warner pulled this same crap! At least THEY never got to the point that the channels were actually shut off! Fix this now! I have been happy with my TV and internet since I signed up in April. Don't make me regret my choice! You make it sound like it's not your fault. I call **bleep**. You've had your service shut off because you didn't pay your bill! Will I be getting a credit for the reduction in service? Trying to get ME to call and whine on your behalf is bull! FIX THIS NOW!

CRobGauth

Everyone always wants to keep the channels they watch and enjoy. But they come at a price.

And you would be upset if FIOS raised their prices to compensate for the additional fees that content providers are asking for.

I am pretty sure that Verizon isn't turning these channels off just because.

It all comes down to money.

We all have choices. Some more than companies like Verizon. If we don't like the price of something, we can go somewhere else (if we are lucky and are covered by multiple providers). In this case, Verizon doesn't have that luxury. They can only get content from one provider (I am pretty sure there are regulations that would prevent them from shipping local content from another area in to one they have dropped). So they have a couple of choices:

1) Pay the content provider whatever they ask and pass the cost on to subscribers.

2) Pay the content provider whatever they ask and absorb the cost

3) Refuse and let the channel go dark

4) Come to an agreement and hopefully delay any cost increase.

You can see how subscribers don't want 1&3. Verizon doesn't want 2 (more precisely their stock holders).

So 4 is where they end up.

Keep all of this in mind next time prices do increase.

BTW, I do not work for Verizon at all.

tns

The reached an agreement yesterday and all the stations should be back on. Some I understand made it on for the football games on Sunday.

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