[gui-talk] Time Warner Cable Nightmare

[Gerald Levy]

I don't need proof.  I heard a podcast demo of the new Comcast accessible 
box prototype.  But unlike Comcast, Time Warner doesn't even have an 
accessibility expert on its staff you can contact, so they apparently are a 
long way off from introducing an accessible box of their own.

Gerald


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret Jr via gui-talk" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>; "Discussion of the Graphical 
User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2014 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Time Warner Cable Nightmare


> Well, all I can say is this.  Comcast is in fact at work on addressing 
> very directly the issue of set top box access.  So far as I am aware, 
> Comcast is the only company even doing something about this.  We're 
> talking direct access to all the menus, the TV guide listings, the DVR 
> functions, and basically everything the sighted user is able to access. 
> Want proof?  go here:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNTL-3fj6HI
>
> You want to pay attention right toward the end of the video.
>
> Despite what you may perhaps believe, this is not a hoax.  This 
> demonstration was given at a cable fair in 2013.  IF all goes well, blind 
> Comcast users should have this fairly soon.  Can't say when though.
>
> I don't know how much of the apps we will be able to access from the box 
> like that, but, what you see toward the end of this video provides as much 
> of a glimps as we can get now of what is coming soon.
>
>
> Sent from my mac, the only computer with full accessibility for the blind 
> built-in!
>
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray, still a very happy Mac and Iphone 5 user!
>
> On Jun 12, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Steve Jacobson via gui-talk 
> <gui-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Actually, the merger might be helpful for accessibility in that Comcast 
>> is apparently trying to address some
>> issues, but like many, I worry about a merger for other reasons.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Steve Jacobson
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 12 Jun 2014 10:13:29 -0400, Gerald Levy via gui-talk wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I'm already paying almost $120 a month for Time Warner cable service for 
>>> the privilege of receiving 500 channels,
>> 99% of which I have no interest in just to be able to receive the few 
>> that do interest me.  It has taken me years
>> to figure out which channel numbers corresponded to my favorite channels. 
>> I spend a lot of time listening to the
>> Music Choice channels, so imagine my surprise when I tuned to TWC channel 
>> 629  this morning, which used to be the
>> solid gold oldies channel , to discover that it was now some other 
>> channel.  And to my horror, all the other Music
>> Choice channels, which used to be carried on channels 601-647 were also 
>> apparently gone.  Fuming, I called Time
>> Warner customer support, always an exercise in aggravation, and after 
>> waiting 20 minutes, finally got a customer
>> service agent who explained to me that Time Warner had changed its 
>> channel lineup, and that my beloved Music
>> Choice channels were now located from channel 1901 to 1950.  I explained 
>> to the agent that I was blind and that
>> the only way I could determine where all my favorite channels were 
>> located would be to visit their web site and
>> use the Find function of my screen reader to locate each channel by 
>> number and its corresponding musical genre.
>> But Time Warner has not bothered to update its wb site , so when you 
>> visit it, you get the old channel lineup ,
>> which is completely different from the new one.  And because the onscreen 
>> channel guide displayed by the cable box
>> is totally inaccessible, there is no way to get correct channel 
>> information this way.  And the channel lineups on
>> NFB Newsline have not been updated in years to reflect the current Time 
>> Warner lineup.  What an outrageous
>> nightmare!  After telling me that she had no idea when or if the Time 
>> Warner web site would be updated to reflect
>> the new channel lineup, I asked the agent when Time Warner would be 
>> offering accessible set-top boxes, but after
>> she asked me to hold so that she could speak to her supervisor, she came 
>> back on the line and told me that she had
>> no idea when such boxes would be available.  I asked her whether Time 
>> Warner was even working on an accessible box
>> and again, she told me that she had no idea.  If I could get decent 
>> reception with an antennaa, I would ditch Time
>> Warner altogether, but here in Manhattan, reception with an indoor 
>> antenna is difficult to impossible.  Time
>> Warner really has its customers by the gonads,and things are only going 
>> to get worse if their merger with Comcast
>> is approved by the FCC.  Do any other Time Warner cable customers on this 
>> list have any tips for locating specific
>> channels of interest without sighted help?  Or must I scroll through all 
>> the channels on my cable box just to find
>> the few that I'm interested in?  What a freakin' mess!
>>
>>> Gerald
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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