They’ve sent mesages to me in my mailbox. They’ve robo-called me. And all the time, I thought they were just kidding, that they were just threatening, that this was an April Fool’s Day joke that was a victim of poor scheduling.
Then I woke up this morning, and turned on the television. Hmm. Maybe I’ll put on SportsCenter. ESPN is channel 1869 on my cable box, so I punch in 1869 and I get:
The Music on Demand channel? Huh? My cable box jumped to channel 1900?
I didn’t punch in 1900… I know I punched in 1869…
Let’s try something else.
Okay, Okay, let’s try the NFL Network, maybe I can get some updates on last night’s Monday Night Football game between the Jets and the Falcons. Punch in 1716 and I get…
MOVIES ON DEMAND HAS MOVED
Complete with directions on how to reprogram my remote. No, no, no, I want to watch sports. Where are my sports channels?
After a few agonizing moments of searching around the dial, I found that ESPN had moved – to channel 300.
Some more searching, and I found the NFL Network on channel 310. Or, “Third and Ten,” similar to the Giants’ offense this season.
Okay. This is not going to work well for me.
Apparently Time Warner Cable has been trumpeting about how they’ve listened to us and that because they listened to us, they’ve decided to reorganize all the channels by genre.
Okay, at what point did “Hey Time Warner, how about not raising my cable bill every other month” suddenly turn into “Hey Time Warner, how about scrambling up all my cable channels?”
Oh well. It’s not like Time Warner Cable gives a hang about its customers. So long as the cable bill is paid, they’re happy.
And my local channels are now in the 1200’s. Okay, so I figure 1206 for Channel 6, right?
Nope. 1206 is WXXA, Fox 23. Channel 6 is on 1209. And Channel 10 is on 1200. And if you’re wondering, Channel 13 is now 1203.
This isn’t going well.
Okay, let’s see if I can watch YNN. YNN, where ARE you…
Oh there it is. All the way down at channel 200. Wow. I remember a time when it was on Channel 9. Remember? Capital News 9? Weather on the 9’s? And now it’s on channel 200. What does that mean? We’re now getting weather on the 200’s?
Okay, Time Warner Cable? Listen up. Listen carefully and closely. Put your ear next to the computer speaker.
STOP MESSING AROUND WITH OUR CABLE CHANNELS AND OUR TELEVISION VIEWING EXPERIENCE!!
AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!
Sweet tap-dancing Jesus, why can’t you guys just leave well enough alone? I shouldn’t need to download the Beale Cipher just to find out what channel TruTV is now on! I shouldn’t have to re-program my remote control simply because you decided that things would be better if my favorite stations were all over the freakin’ channel lineup!
And a quick look to see – yep, the OTB channel is still locked into Channel 12. I think that’s the only location for that station since the days of Capital Cablevision. Yeah, you don’t want to move the OTB channel, because someone might get angry that they can’t get the results from the sixth race at Hialeah.
But yeah, you can readjust all the other stations like it’s nobody’s business and claim that it’s what we want.
And right now, as I’m writing this post, I’m watching Equestrian Nation on the RFD Rural Farm network (which, if you’re curious, is now channel 297). And as I’m watching some old man talk about the difference between snaffle bits and Pelham bits – hey, some day it might come up in a trivia question – all I can think about is how I might miss watching my favorite shows because I can’t find them at their original station locations.
It’s frustrating, it’s maddening, and it makes me less happy with Time Warner Cable.
But then again, it IS Time Warner Cable.
So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to my “third and ten” channel and watch the NFL Network.
Geez. I gotta now come up with mnemonic recalls for all these new stations.
It’s too early in the morning to deal with this.
Chuck The Writer 
Switched to DISH many moons ago, and I LOVE IT. You make your own programming changes (it’s immediate), the first year is approx $48, subsequent years approx $85 (no HBO/MAX/ST), and we have lost service perhaps 10-15 minutes a year. We do have the occasional dilemma of “too much to watch,” but who’s complaining! I did take the lazy way out and keep TW basic internet service, but I will NEVER, EVER have cable TV again.
PS: If you sign up family and friends, each person receives a $50 credit, so tell ’em I sent ya!!
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I suspect part of it is to mess with customers who get local channels in hi-def without a digital box (just a straight connection to the coax), many of whom have no clue about re-programming their TV to grab the new numbers.
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I’m pretty technically challenged and haven’t turned on the TV yet, but I have a question. In the past, you could turn on the channel, hit select, and then scroll down and choose HD. Is this still the case?
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m –
I think Time Warner has it now set up so that you automatically get the HD version of the channel if you have an HD television. So you might not need to scroll down any more.
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Chuck,
Yes, that’s correct. In my opinion, that’s the way to go. It feels much cleaner doing it like this; a lot less cluttered, if you will. I realize they may not have had the technical ability to automatically provide the appropriate feed previously (even though DirecTV did, and possibly Dish as well), but I never did like how they basically had most of their lineup duplicated (one HD and one SD channel).
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I’m in the process of moving. Direct TV installation is next week. I can’t take Time Warner anymore.
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I left TWC earlier this year. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
Took my service to Verizon FiOS and I am infinitely more happy.
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I had heard about the change about a week ago and went online to see what was changing. Actually, it should work a lot better for me. What I find strange is, don’t you get the basic channels (where 6, 8, 9, 10, and 13 are all still 6, 8, 9, 10, and 13?). I tend not to think of most of the channels above 100, except for the few I enjoy like the Hallmark Channel, BBCAmerica, and the Science Channel for example. None of the basic channels have changed, only the ones over 100.
What I grumbled about previously was clicking though the basic channels, then having to always scroll through the Kids channels or the shopping channels to get to the upper channels. I like that they put all of the Entertainment Channels starting at 100 now… so realistically I only have to search up through 200 now to see what is on (then skip to the 300s if I am looking for sports)
Yes, i’ll have to retrain my brain as well. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that things will change.
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All the channels below 100 are still the same (all the networks, ESPN, Comedy Central, etc) And they all come through in the best signal your TV can recieve. If anything its easier since its back to the channels it was years ago. It actually makes a lot of sense and you really don’t have to learn that many more channel, just the more rare ones like NFL network (which you seem to have figured out).
I was concerned that my DVR would get messed up but it seems to have automatically switched the recordings to the new channels.
Overall I like the change and it means less scrolling though channels I don’t care about just because they are HD.
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And Time Warner Cable doesn’t give access to Al Jazeera America. They are satisfied with having the cable news choices limited to the trash of CNN/Fox/MSNBC.
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But Chuck, I got TWO, or maybe three mailings about this, YNN has been running ads.
TWC ticks me off – a LOT, actually – but not on this one.
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Roger – it’s not that they didn’t alert me, it’s the fact that they’re even doing this in the first place. It wasn’t necessary. It’s like someone decided to move the lawn furniture just when everybody got comfy.
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Okay, I don’t open mail really, I just shred it, but I haven’t seen any warning about this stupid idea to switch the channels.
I woke up this morning, tired and grumpy as usual, and the bleeping tv channels were all bleeped up! So I pressed 1. The screen told me that YNN was on 509. It was right there on the side of the little YNN screen on 1. But it wasn’t bleeping on bleeping 509.
I clicked Guide and scrolled through bleeping everything before I found it on 200.
I’m hoping the listing are on their website or else I’m going to be shouting bleep a lot again tonight.
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they called. they mailed. they emailed. did you READ any of the mail?
yes, changing around the channels was excitin.
this wasnt a totally stupid idea, and not the first time they did this. yes, they are annoying, and they charge too much. but if you had read the mail, and the little printout they sent with the new channel numbers, you could have looked up to see where the channels moved to.
you will have to re-fave them, because the new system erased that. but it kept everything that was blocked already and created a somewhat sensible system, sorta.
so, big deal, boohoo, and quit whinin.
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choirgirl – apparently you missed the point I was trying to make. I know they e-mailed. I know they sent mail. I know they called. That doesn’t mean I was on board with what they wanted to do. I thought, and still do, that it was a completely unnecessary act on their part. And that printout they sent with the new channel lineup – I’ve seen the larger fonts in the fine print in legal documents than was on that little printout card. Who can read that tiny print? Munchkins?
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Kiddo sleeps well in complete darkness, and seems to sleep even better with some soft jazz playing. When I’m on mom duty, I like to sit in the dark with the jazz music channel on the tube and doze peacefully while he gets to sleep after eating – the click of the TWC box rebooting at around 3am this morning woke me up, and I have been one pissed off mother ever since!
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Soooooo….the website isn’t updated, or at least the one I looked at. Anyone know where a correct listing might be?
Where have they been running ads? I guess I don’t watch enough tv.
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They emailed the other day w/teh new lineup. Better late, etc. It went into effect October 1. Just for giggoles, I tried 1200 or whatever Chan 10 is now & got MTV–rerun of the Music Awards (or whatever it was)lo & behold, Miley Cyrus twerking! OMG!!!! I laughed my arse off. Point #1, I’m a Gay man, scantily clad women do nada for me. #2 she looked STUPID not sexy or outrageous. I dont know what the point is because I assume 10 is already high def. (If “assume makes an ass out of you and me!” as the good nuns always said–spelling mnemonic but it works the other way, too!
I,too,couldnt care less about much of this. Hallmark, Science, LOGO, BBC America (waiting desperately for return of The Fades–wierd little syfy series) But I could do without much of the rest of the lineup for that matter. Only time I pay any attention to MTV is for Teen Wolf! And at least the TU’s TV Magazine is now accurate./ Otherwise I wouldnt know where to find anything. At least they left the channels BELOW 100 intact. 38 A&E, 30 Lifetime, 53 SyFy….
BTW, I have no beef w/TWC other than the prices. I have fukll cable in my living room, converter box, whole 9 yards, & basic in the bedroom + Road Runner. They”ve given me excellent service, instllation, replacement of cable modem x2 I thanked God I didnt shell out for one at Best Buy or Staples. I would’ve been SOL. No doubt it would have been out of warranty & I’d have to shel;l out another $00 or whatever. No company is perfect.
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What are you people talking about? My channel line-up hasn’t changed one bit. Been watching Sportscenter on ESPN every day on 1869. HBO HD on 1880.
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Probably hasn’t hit your service area yet. But don’t say I didn’t warn you…
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I would like to back up a bit to the first week of August when apparently without notice TWC made a switch where you could no longer turn off the auto HD feature meaning basically all programs would now be broadcast in HD. I have 2 DVR recorders and since a 1 hour program took up only 2% of the available memory on the DVR versus 5% for a 1 hour program in HD I recorded on the non HD channnels (6, 8, 10, 13… vs. 1806, 1808, 1810 …)so I could tape more programs. As of August this was no longer an option so I called TWC. They basically told me there was nothing they could do and that people did not know to go to the 1800’s for HD. I told them I believed that was B.S. and that I believed the real reason was that they wanted to force people who recorded programs on their DVR to watch in a more timely manner so that it could be reflected in the tv rating numbers. Also, I inquired if I could get DVRs with more memory because of this change and I think everyone knows what response I got to that.
As for the channel lineup change I see no reason for it. I had recently been catching up on old seasons of breaking bad on Monday nights on the Sundance network (channel 449) and could not find it in the new lineup card. I had a live chat with TWC and was told that as of 10/8 they would no longer carry the Sundance network. I then sent a feedback email on 10/4 expressing my dismay and threatening to move to Fios or Direct TV and TWC wrote back telling me the current channels for the Sundance network when I asked about after 10/8. Replied to that email on 10/8 and was told Sundance was on 625 in the new lineup. Just another example of TWC incompetence and poor customer service. I am real tired of it.
By the way I love the line in TWC’s 9/9/13 letter announcing the change “At Time Warner Cable, we’re always looking for ways to make your TV experience better.” Unbelievable!
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Channels 1-42 (or so) remained the same so 6 would be 6 and so on. You should have received a new “schematic” in the mail about a month ago.
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Personally, I don’t have much of a problem with the change. Every provider shuffles their lineup once in a while, right? When was the last time they did it here? 10 years ago, at least? Sure, it will take some getting used to, but is it really that bad?
My only issue is with how they numbered the locals in the 1200s. Would it have killed them to go with 1204, 1206, 1208 (or 1223), 1210, 1211 (or 1217), 1213, and 1215? (Frankly, I don’t care where they put Ion; that hasn’t acted like a local station in years.) They could have even added YNN in there at 1209. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the current alignment.
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While I’m not close to screaming about THE CHANGE, I’m also wondering WHY they Couldn’t?/Wouldn’t?/DIDN’T order the Local Channels. Programming glitch preventing them from assigning channels to certain (more logical) numbers? Did other hurdles or lack of planning mean they ran out of time before THE CHANGE? <–<slight echo to that] Did someone just NOT care? I have trouble imagining it being that hard.
And why all the way up in the 1200s? Do they want customers to have to scroll through & read about all those Demand, Package & Pay Channels to get to….
Uh, last question withdrawn.
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Just reset ally fav channels but now when I hit the FAV button it no longer scrolls thru my fav channels. It brings up a fav menu list. Can we no longer surf our fav channels? It’s a pain to choose something from the menu if I can’t see what’s on that channel.
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Debbie: Press “Settings” on your remote and scroll to the right until you reach the Favorite Channels section. There should be a “Favorites Menu” option; if you turn it off, it will allow you to surf through your favorite channels.
Also, I found I had to reprogram my favorites. The cable box did not switch my favorites over to their new channel numbers.
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This is why I take the precautionary measure of not memorizing the channel numbers to begin with.
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