Spectrum Choice

Last week I received a piece of mail from Spectrum, who provide both internet and cable television for my house. It let us know that after August 7 2023 our internet speed would be increased to 100 Mbps. That was the good news. The bad news is that our bill would go up slightly and we would be shifted to a new cable package (ours no longer being offered). Furthermore, they would be adding a few channels to our line up and dropping a few as well. Unfortunately, among the channels being dropped from our line up is Turner Classic Movies.

Now I don't know if TCM has been bumped up to a higher tier or if it's not being offered on any of Spectrum's cable packages. Either way it doesn't matter, as we really cannot afford to pay any more for internet and cable television than we already do. Fortunately, it turns out that Turner Classic Movies is still available through Spectrum and, what is more, we can actually reduce our bill almost by half.

Quite simply, being upset at the prospect of losing TCM, I called Spectrum. Their customer service representative (who was very nice) told me about Spectrum's new live streaming service called Spectrum Choice. One automatically receives their local channels and can pick 15 additional channels, of which Turner Classic Movies is one of them. It cost only $29.99 (as opposed to the $59.99 we were paying for our cable package). One can add the premium channels HBO, Starz, Showtime, and The Movie Channel for an additional fee.

Now Spectrum Choice certainly is not for everyone and I can see how some people might not think it is worth it. As for myself,  not having TCM is a deal breaker. It is the one cable channel I must absolutely have. For me, having over 125 channels is not worth it if it means I cannot have Turner Classic Movies. In addition to keeping TCM, it also means we won't be paying for a ton of channels we never watch, such as the various sports channels or Fox "News."

I do have to admit that given recent events it does concern me that Spectrum has either bumped TCM up to a higher tier or done away with it entirely. Now more than ever it seems important that cable companies have Turner Classic Movies available on their lower priced line ups. I realize that as TCM is commercial free that its carriage fees may not be cheap, but I would gladly pay more for fewer channels if one of them is TCM. As it is, I have to think many people here in Randolph County will either switch to Spectrum Choice (effectively doing away with their cable package entirely) or switch to one of Spectrum's competitors (here in Huntsville we have two cable companies to choose from--the other one still has TCM). Regardless, I am just glad I don't have to give up TCM or switch to another cable company to get it.