After returning to Washington University after winter break, many students looked forward to settling into their dorms to watch “Sex and the City” or “The Sopranos” on HBO. Unfortunately, to much surprise, channel 14, previously HBO, was nothing but static.
According to Matt Arthur, associate director of the Office of Residential Technology, HBO and other premium channels like Showtime and Cinemax were never part of the WU cable plan in the first place.
“Our contract with the cable company called for extended basic service only and did not included premium channels,” said Arthur. “The premium channels were not ever a service we had contracted for. We were living up to our end of the contract. They were just giving us more than we had asked for.”
Arthur explained that sometime during the last few years, the cable company removed the filters on premium channels. This allowed every television with WU cable service access to these channels.
“We are not actively looking for additions to service. After a few months, we did not receive any complaints from students, so we weren’t going to complain about it,” said Arthur.
Most students were not aware that premium channels were not part of WU cable service and thought something was wrong with their service.
“I paid for cable at the beginning of the year with the assumption that HBO [and other premium channels] were included,” said sophomore Lindsay Stowe. “Plus, I had it all of first semester. So, after long anticipating the “Sex and the City” premiere throughout the fall, I was disappointed when I came back from break only to find that HBO had turned to static.”
Arthur said that in late November, Charter Communications switched all of their premium services over to a digital network. Since WU cable is part of the analog service, the premium channels were disabled, even though there were no filters. Students have voiced complaints that now, even though the free HBO is gone, they want a way to be able to purchase premium channel service for their televisions.
“I was hoping that [premium channels] would be a permanent fixture in the WU cable contract and not just a semester-long tease,” said junior Sal Taliercio. “I watched those channels daily, but I had heard that were not supposed to have them to begin with, so I was not as infuriated as I would have been.”
Arthur said that WUTV originally began airing new-release movies in response to a similar demand for movie channels. However, many students now feel that WUTV movies just do not compare to channels like HBO, which offer popular original series, including “The Sopranos” and “Arli$$,” that cannot be seen anywhere else. Arthur added that Residential Technology is working on a cable television plan that would allow for premium channels, but since they now only exist on digital service, the entire WU system would have to be changed. He said that the earliest that students living on campus might be offered premium cable service is next fall.
“We have to rely on WUTV for movies, and if you don’t like what they are playing it’s annoying because they just repeat movies for weeks at a time,” said sophomore Carolyn Rebeck. “I think we pay WU enough money to cover something as simple as HBO and Showtime.”
Contact Laura at [email protected].