UCI Housing Network and Cable TV Issues

News outlets all over the place (e.g., here) report that the FCC has banned Cable TV lock-ins such as the one at UCI, where Resnet has contracted with one of the worst providers, Campus Televideo, which prevents residents from getting decent, popular channels like ESPN.
This ban on exclusive contracts by the FCC should force Resnet to allow other cable providers in on-campus housing.

This blog actually was started because I was forced, against previous assurances, to cancel my existing Cox cable service and go with Campus Televideo, which is pretty much just the most basic cable service, without ESPN, which doesn't provide premium channels (except HBO for an outrageous price), and doesn't provide digital channels. So, if Resnet had allowed me to keep my previous cable service, they probably could have avoided all the negative exposure they had through this blog.
But well, Mr. Ansel, who pushed the Campus Televideo deal, wasn't interested in listening to lowly graduate students... What else to expect from somebody who lied to my face...
Anyway, they now have to listen to the FCC ;-)

I have scanned in the printouts of the survey that we (the members of the Cable TV channel lineup group) got from the Housing office.

They are attached here as jpeg images.

Read more »

Yesterday, I asked Kevin Ansel, the UCI Housing person responsible for the Cable TV service, about the survey results.
Here is his answer:

Here's the update. We had about 1,500 responses to the survey. Housing's Marketing and Assessment department is in the process of compiling the data. All the comments that we received makes the compiling more difficult. I believe they will have the results early next week. After we (Housing) gets a chance to review the results, we will get the group together to discuss the survey.

1,500 responses is really a good response rate. I am pleased to see that people apparently care enough about this. Thanks to all who answered the survey.

According to an email from UCI Housing, 900 people have already filled out the Cable TV survey.
The survey is open until Thursday.

Dear Student Housing Residents:

Thank you to the 900 residents who have replied to the Student Housing Cable TV Survey!

If you have not yet replied, you have until Thursday to share your views on Cable TV service in our housing communities. Click on the link below to login and take this brief online survey:

http://www.survey.uci.edu/housingcabletv/

Your feedback will help us to make improvements and plan for the future.
Thank you.

The URL for the Cable TV Survey has been sent out to students in the on-campus housing communities.
A quote from the email:

Our students hold a wide range of TV viewing preferences, and given budget constraints, it has been a challenge to include all of the requested channels in the cable line-up. To plan for the future, Student Housing would like your input on the current cable channel offerings, as well as suggestions for the possible addition of channels to the line-up. Changes in the cable channel line-up would have costs associated with them, and those costs, if adopted, would be added onto Student Housing rates.

So, please participate in the survey, and indicate your preferences on additional channels.