Saying Goodbye to Comcast Anti-Tivo Cable Boxes

Yes, Comcast decided last month to disable the serial port on their cable boxes so Tivo can’t change channels, so I turned in all three of them and my three Tivos now serve up basic cable which is channels 2-99. I’ve decided to download whatever premium content my wife and I want to see. Next year I plan to buy a Tivo HD which I can slide a cable card into or two to get the digital channels. We only have one cable company here in Albion, Michigan, and that’s Broadstripe (formerly Millennium Digital Media) which gets its programming from Comcast. I thought about going to satellite tv but, again, my Tivo won’t work with that. Most of the people here in town don’t even know what a DVR is, but my wife and I love our Tivo so we’re not giving it up. I like to play my music on my tivo – can’t do that with Comcast. I like to transfer shows from one Tivo to another – can’t do that with Comcast. I like to send shows to my PC and burn them to DVD – can’t do that with Comcast. I like to have all my Tivos on my network along with my PCs – can’t do that with Comcast. I like to download content to my PC and transfer it to my Tivos to watch on a big screen – can’t do that with Comcast. I apologize for so many posts about Tivo & Comcast, but the whole thing has me really worked up. Next time I promise to do something different – really – hopefully!

Comcast Disables Serial Port to Discourage Tivo Users

Around November 13, 2007 Comcast decided to disable the serial ports on their Motorola Cable Box to encourage Tivo users to start using their DVRs and abandon their Tivos. I discovered an article that states just that after all three of my cable boxes started to ignore Tivo commands, all three on the same day. I’m giving my cable boxes back to them, switching back to Basic Cable – I can download the shows from the few networks that I will miss. I refuse to give up my Tivo, and I doubt I’m alone.

Broadstripe Cable Tries to Kill Tivo Usage

It used to be called Millennium Digital Media Cable Company, now it’s Broadstripe, and not only does it have a new name, they’ve put firmware on their cable boxes so Tivo users can’t use their Tivo boxes to change channels anymore. If it were one of my cable boxes I might think it’s a fluke, but ALL THREE MOTOROLA CABLE BOXES now ignore commands from my three Tivos. Why would they possibly do this? So we would ditch our Tivos and use their DVRs. I’ve had the same cable company for over 5 years, I pay my bill every month, I have their top premium channel package, high speed internet and just signed up for their phone service. My wife and I live through our Tivos (we have one in our bedroom, one in the living room and one in my office.) and I’ve seen those clunky cable DVRs and I don’t like them.  And I can pay $300 for a Tivo HD that’ll take a Cable Card but I’m not sure that’ll work either. I’m not giving up my Tivo, and I’ll go back to basic cable and download my premium content if I have to.  Anyone else out there experiencing this kind of thing?