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rufus97
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29 Messages

Mon, Apr 19, 2021 9:46 PM

USA Network On-Demand is Greedy

We enjoy On-Demand.  We  were looking for something to watch, and saw "Eyewitness"  on USA On-Demand. It's a 2016 show, but didn't show any end date.  We watched Episodes 1 and 2 on  4/15 and 16.  When we went to watch #3 on 4/17, it wasn't there.  So we did a search, and lo and behold, it was there, but now says "pay".  Really?   Very unscrupulous.  They also did shifty things with "Dirty John" and "The Sinner".  Don't remember exactly, but each one had the first few episodes with one end date, and the last ones with earlier end date.  So, if you didn't check thoroughly, you'd wind up watching some for free and paying for the others.  Ridiculous.  Both wound up eventually on Netflix.

If I complain to Comcast about what they did with "Eyewitness", I expect they'll say "the Networks can do whatever they want, and for me to contact the Network".  Yes, this has happened before.  First of all, the Networks can do what they want within reason, and second, I'm not on Comcast's payroll.  We pay Comcast and Comcast pays the Networks.  If a Customer rightfully complains about a missing episode or something like what USA has done, Comcast shouldn't let the Network be sloppy or money-hungry.  In the past, if we contacted Comcast about a missing episode On-Demand (yes, I've done that), they took care of it, and didn't pass the problem-solving on to the Customer.

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Updated 

24 d ago

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ComcastKatieMS

Official Employee

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131 Messages

24 d ago

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this post and share your experience with us @rufus97. We know that our customers spend their hard-earned money to pay for the services they enjoy, and we definitely want you to be able to do just that. Enjoy it! When it comes to pricing On-Demand, that is up to the discretion of the network. We sadly don't have any control over what content is available for each network, or which episodes are free, and which ones are available for rent/purchase only. The content available can change at any time, so it is possible for an episode to go from free to a charge if the network decided to update the pricing. 

 

However, with that being said, we completely understand your frustration with this and your feedback on this experience is highly valuable to us. I appreciate you sharing that, we'll make sure that is forwarded to the correct teams. If any content is missing from On-Demand when it shouldn't be (If something said it would expire in a month but disappeared a week later for example) we can most certainly help troubleshoot that for you! I checked all of the known issues going on with our On-Demand service, and I am not showing anything reported for Eyewitness, Dirty John, or The Sinner. Are you only running into issues with missing content with The USA Network, or other networks as well?

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rufus97

Contributor

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29 Messages

@ComcastKatieMS Thanks for replying.  Problem is, as stated, the episodes did not show any end date.  In fact, episode 2 in "recently viewed" disappeared in less than 24 hours. That tells something.   My guess is that USA detected someone started watching a somewhat old show and decided to make them pay to continue watching.  Well, we won't.  If you look back last year or so, there were complaints about The Sinner on USA, from me and others.   Comcast's only reply was the standard "networks can do what they want."  As I mentioned, yes, with limits.  Not  long ago, I did contact Comcast (via chat and via forum) about missing episodes on some shows on-demand (don't recall which ones), and was told it was up to me to contact the Network.  Actually, I did, but got no response.  I may try to find out a good way to contact USA (unfortunately, part of NBC), but will likely be an effort in futility.

In my opinion, because of what USA did with Sinner, DJ, and Eyewitness, I thing they are unethical, greedy, etc., etc.  I'd like to dump them, but can't because it's all in some package.

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24 d ago

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ComcastMichelleR

Official Employee

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350 Messages

I can certainly understand your frustrations and concerns. I myself have gotten started on a show that I began to enjoy and ran into an issue with it being a pay-to-view option as well so I know how frustrating it can be to not be able to continue to view the programming without having to pay for the additional episodes.  We’re about to kick off Xfinity Watchathon Week and there’s something for everyone! We have some exciting content you can enjoy for free from April 27 – May 3. I am not certain if any of these programs will be available during our watchathon week as of yet but you may want to check out some of the content that will be available during this time.

Xfinity customers can watch thousands of episodes and hundreds of movies on demand from TV's top networks and premium channels including HBO Max, Showtime, Starz and EPIX for free with Xfinity On Demand on their Xfinity X1 TV Boxes, Xfinity Flex streaming TV Boxes or through Xfinity Stream. They can also watch subscription On Demand services like AMC+, Lifetime Movie Club, Acorn TV, History Vault and Kidstream.

  • All Xfinity customers with an Xfinity ID and password (including Xfinity Internet-only, Xfinity Home-only customers) have access to select content via Xfinity Stream.
  • Select Hulu originals are available to Xfinity customers on their X1 TV Boxes and Flex streaming TV Boxes from April 27-May 3, 2021, for free. There will be no requirement to sign into the Hulu app or sign up for a Hulu subscription during Watchathon to enjoy this content.

We will make certain that all of your feedback is forwarded as promised and I truly hope that you find some additional options that you may enjoy viewing through our On demand services. Should you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to reach out to us here at any time. 

I am an Official Comcast Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Comcast: CARE, Product, Leadership. We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
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24 d ago

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