WHY IS COMCAST CHANGING TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES TO SPORTS PACKAGE IN OCTOBER?

To all Forum members who have posted about the Oct. 10 move of TCM to the Sports Entertainment package -- FYI, I have just sent the following Feedback to Xfinity upper management:

OK, Tom. If you have checked the customer Forum recently, you will see that many loyal customers are totally upset at your outrageous move of TCM to a sports entertainment package. I am outraged by this and must demand that you restore TCM to my package, where it was included when I switched from DirecTV to Xfinity TV. I consider this move a breach of contract as there was no disclosure when I opened this TV account with you that channels could be musical-chaired in this manner. Do not tell me that Xfinity cannot afford to absorb the extra costs associated with TCM's cost increase to you. And do not tell me that TCM viewership is low. TCM is one of the most prestigious and popular movie channels. So--I believe Corporate needs to move TCM back to the packages where it resided prior to Oct. 10. Failure to do so will, as I suggested, constitute a breach of contract with me and all your other customers who are affected by this nonsense. Do not send me a canned reply with the bromide arguments given in your FAQs on this issue. This is upsetting enough to me to lead me to drop Xfinity TV if you do not restore TCM to my channel line-up. Very disappointed and unhappy about this. OH, and, this change is NOT announced on my Oct. online bill -- it has come as a complete ambush surprise.

To all Forum members who have posted about the Oct. 10 move of TCM -- FYI, I have sent this feedback to Xfinity upper management:

OK, Tom. If you have checked the customer Forum recently, you will see that many loyal customers are totally upset at your outrageous move of TCM to a sports entertainment package. I am outraged by this and must demand that you restore TCM to my package, where it was included when I switched from DirecTV to Xfinity TV. I consider this move a breach of contract as there was no disclosure when I opened this TV account with you that channels could be musical-chaired in this manner. Do not tell me that Xfinity cannot afford to absorb the extra costs associated with TCM's cost increase to you. And do not tell me that TCM viewership is low. TCM is one of the most prestigious and popular movie channels. So--I believe Corporate needs to move TCM back to the packages where it resided prior to Oct. 10. Failure to do so will, as I suggested, constitute a breach of contract with me and all your other customers who are affected by this nonsense. Do not send me a canned reply with the bromide arguments given in your FAQs on this issue. This is upsetting enough to me to lead me to drop Xfinity TV if you do not restore TCM to my channel line-up. Very disappointed and unhappy about this. OH--and this unacceptable change was NOT announced on my Oct. online billing statement as your FAQs say.

Why has TCM been removed from the package that you already have. Now you can get it if you subscribe to the Foxxsports package. Well with all of the changes now, Cinemax to gone a nd replaced with another channel, now TCM. Wow, I only stayed with Xfinity for the five channels that I do watch and TCM was my main channel out of the $262. 00 I pay monthly. For sure we maybe dissatisfied, angry, irate, upset or whatever handle you choose to label us under. I care absolutely nothing for sports, so I refuse to pay ten dollars aditional for one channel. Epic would be better than that and it ain’t never anything on there worth watching so I cancelled it. So, yes it is your option to change the channels a have dissatisfied customers. But it would be also helpful if you would listen to your clients. So make all the changes you want. I will pay the cancellation fee after being a client since 2013 or 14. So I sign a new contract to keep the channels I had, and no say so about all these crazy crazy changes. You may keep all others but come next week, I will cancel my services with you all and go to any other company that offers TCM and you can have your Foxx Sports package. We really appreciate Comcast/Xfinity figuring out ways to get richer off of our money. On a scale of 1 to 10, I now rate you all lower then a zero. Not that it matters to a company that falls under the label of now American Greed Cable Business 😡!

As a long time customer of Comcast and also a LONG time viewer of TCM I find that this change is UNACCEPTABLE.  TCM has a huge following, many of whom are elderly on fixed incomes that  find these classic movies are a good source of entertainment and can ill afford the additional $12.00 per month charge.  Also it gives younger viewers a chance to see movies based on plot and dialogue rather than violence and bloodshed.  If the excuse that few people watch TCM is the reason it was placed in the "sports package" then we should be seeing many more stations included.  Not a good move Comcast, I have put up with the other petty little charges that have raised my fees but this is the one that I finally decide, along with others, to finally cut the cord.  You might be well served to reconsider this decision for the loyal customers that have helped put Comcast where it is today.

I have been both a Comcast stockholder and customer for many, many years.  Over that period of time, Comcast management has made many mistakes in how they treat their customers; however, nothing compares to seeing Turner Classic Movies consigned and placed in an inocuous sports package which will cost TCM views another $9.95 per month to see.  TCM has been an integral part of our Comcast packaging for decades.  TCM is enjoyed by millions of people.  There are dozens of channels which we NEVER watch which should be done away with and our fees reduced, but Comcast chooses to kill Turner Classic Movies and charge more for it.  In what world do the decision makers at Comcast live?  There must be a profit motive by Comcast in relegating TCM to oblivion in a sports package.  Do you think that we are all going to cough up another $9.95 per month because of this?  If so, all you are doing is shooting yourselves in the foot once again.

Just think about the ill will you are creating with your customers over this.  In this age of cable cutting and streaming, all you seem to do is ignore your customer's needs and comments.  You are losing customers by the millions.  What does that tell you Comcast?  Wake up!

It was very sad in our household and millions of others when Turner Classic Movies was obliterated yesterday.  I protest this move as both a stockholder and customer.  My patience with your constant rate increases while cutting back on the services you provide is coming to an end.  I am still hopeful you will restore Turner Classic Movies to the various tiers it was on.  Surely someone there can make that intelligent decision.  I won't stay awake at night worrying about it because Comcast just doesn't seem to care about customers anyway.  Very sad!

Out of the 200+ channels I seldom watch, Comcast decides to move one of the very few I do watch for the $185 I pay per month.  Incredible.  Time to get out of this money grabbing racket.  Can anyone suggest an alternative to Comcast in the NE Atlanta area?  I would love 'to cut the cord' but have checked around and there doesn't seem to be an alternative.  

What area are you in. I'm in Chicago area. Are there any good alternatives here?

How can Comcast remove items from a lineup that I am under contract with them to provide?  I have had channels in the past that were in a lineup I was under contract with them for but others just signing up did not because it had been removed from that tier;  that makes sense.  Now they can just pull it?

Comcast, tread lightly -.  Listen to your customers and do the right thing, don’t feed us lines, and don’t force your CS reps to do it as well. You are putting your customers and employees through , but you don’t pay the monthly bill we do not do you answer the phone at the call center.  Do you know that your CS manager first told us they were not allowed to give out the corporate number and for us to Google it, and then when we asked to verify the number they then all of a sudden didn’t even have access to it?

Next move would be to address it with your state legislator.  Legislators often become involved in "casework," which is assisting heir constituents with matters involving state agencies.  Your ineffective regulatory body is a creature of state statutes.  If legislators start asking why they're being ineffective, it carries the implied threat that the enabling legislation could be changed, and can often make the agency take notice.  You also should not be attempting this alone.  They need more than one phone call or email from one angry constituent - they need a flood.  This means using Facebook or other media to find out who in your area is as mad as you are.  In my local area is a Facebook group for people who live in my community (all of which is a Comcast franchise).  Between the Cinemax and TCM moves, we collectively despise Comcast at this point.  Getting people to make noise requires some effort, but it CAN be done.  Comcast is counting on us to just sit and take this abuse.  I don't plan to.

To send an email about losing TCM  to Xfinity Executive VP of Customer Service, Tom Karnishak:

1.  Sign in to your Xfinity account

2.  Click on “Support” at the top

3.  Scroll to the bottom of the page

4.  In first column on the left side, click on “Contact Customer Support”

5.  Scroll down to “A Message from Tom”

6. At the bottom of the paragraph, click on “Read a letter from Tom”

7.  Scroll to the bottom, to the final paragraph

8.  Click on link “Contact me”

In one month, if Management refuses to come to their senses and restore TCM  to basic cable with no increase in price, I’m buying a Hulu- or Sling- compatible TV for a couple of hundred dollars to download Hulu or Sling for TV.   Frontier will be my new internet provider..   I’ll save $1,200 a year.  

This reminds me of the hubris exhibited by Enron at the beginning before they entered the meltdown stage.  The violations may be different but both grew out of the same cause.  Enron had contempt for their investors;  Xfinity has contempt for their customers.

What's going on here? I pay over $250/month for Comcast services and they removed Cinemax from my lineup after having it for decades, and replaced it with that ridiculous Hitz that had maybe 3 movies that I watched since doing so. Now they removed TCM after having that for decades too, requiring a subscription. 

Let's not forget they also removed the actors bios from the cast and crew lineup on shows and most of the cast lineup on the movie info doesn't have leading characters listed. Yet, they still post the wrong photos of so many celebrities, even wrong genders on some!  (Click on search and check out Ron Orbach, Jerry Orbach's brother, for example)

I've been a loyal customer for years but I won't be taken for a jerk either. I ended up suscribing to Cinemax, but there's no way I'm going to do it with TCM. What's next on their agenda to increase their profits? Heck, I can't even get the channels I suscribe to in the garage or bedrooms unless I have the more expensive cable box and am limited to basic cable in those rooms because of the smaller TV adapters.

If I try to call customer service I have to go through a lineup of automated responses until I get a genuine person who can't give any answers at all and only tries to have me sign up for yet another package.

Great suggestion; however, my local regulatory body is, unfortunately,  ineffective and I have tried this move before.  The Comcast corporate powers that be has its head in the sand when it comes to the reality of today's competitive media world.  Personally, I have never seen any corporation treat its clientele so shabbily.  Comcast ignores the competitive world they are now in and until it drastically cuts into their bottom line, nothing will change.    Thanks for being involved.

Every local cable area has a regulatory body that oversees it.  Find out yours and contact them.  Point out the violation of the public trust Comcast has committed.  By taking TCM and bundling it with a sports package, Comcast is committing an outrageously cynical cash grab.  Consider: sports junkies are the least likely demographic to watch classic movies.  Likewise, classic movie lovers are the least likely demographic to be sports junkies.  By lumping these together, each group is forced to pay an extra fee that encompasses programming they will never watch.  Note further that Cinemax was moved to yet a different area, so now that they've moved both, if you want Cinemax AND TCM, you have to pay an extra $20/month.

SO: when you speak to your regulator and point this out, ask what procedure the public should follow to have Comcast's franchise REVOKED in your service area, and the area put out to bid so competing services can offer a better deal.  Then get in touch with everyone you know who is outraged, and have each of them contact everyone THEY know who is outraged, and work toward revocation of Comcast's franchise.  If they have to start defending these actions in a ton of franchise areas it will cost them serious money, which seems to be the only thing they understand.