11 January 2023

Off the "air"

I'm pretty unhappy this morning. Yesterday afternoon I turned on the television to watch CNN for some news from California and all the storms out there right now. All I got was a message on the screen saying Cette chaîne ne fait plus partie des offres de Canal+ — this channel is no longer carried by Canal+ (our satellite TV provider). I'm feeling very cut off. The channel went off the air with no warning. The same thing happened years ago when the BBC's special channel for Europe was taken off the air in France, with no warning.

When we lived in San Francisco back in the 1990s, I was able to have a second satellite dish installed at our house so that in addition to Direct TV, I could get French programs off a different satellite. Ever since we've lived here in Saint-Aignan, I've had CNN. I'm not happy to be without it now. I usually only watch it for about an hour early in the morning (late evening in California), and sometimes for an hour or so in the afternoon (early morning in California). Now I won't be able to watch it at all.

Maybe I'll just curl up and snooze the way Bertie does instead of watching the news on TV...

CNN is available in the U.S., for a hefty fee, through streaming services, but it's not available here in France. My best alternative is Sky News International from the United Kingdom, but it's not focused on coverage of U.S. news, of course. I can also get BBC World News, Bloomberg TV, CNBC Europe, France 24 (in French or English), and Al Jazeera (English), as well as international news in French or English from Germany and China. None of those really replaces CNN for U.S. news, however.

Walt just found an article saying all the Turner/Warner Bros. channels (CNN, TCM, etc.) have been taken down by Canal+ because negotiations to reach an agreement between the two organizations have fallen through. Maybe they'll get an agreement soon and put everything back together again. Recently, Canal+ removed one of France's main TV channels, TF1, from its offerings as a pressure tactic to get a deal negotiated, and it worked. It didn't matter much to me because can get the TF1 live stream off the internet without going through Canal+.

13 comments:

  1. Shame about CNN! Wouldn't a VPN enable you to watch it?

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    1. Yes I think this works. We can see an Australian program this way.

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    2. A VPN and a subscription to CNN's live stream would cost about 100 euros per month. Too much!

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    3. No, it's a lot less. We've had NordVPN, which has an excellent reputation, for a number of years now and we watch channels in Germany, UK, States - you name it. They often have special offers at very good prices. At the moment, for example, they offer a complete package at €6,69/month, which comes down to €160 for 2 years! I'd look into it, Ken - it gives you a lot of freedom and safe surfing.

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  2. This kind of thing happens here in the U.S. now, too -- in most cases, the channel does come back. Obnoxious tactics, though, right?

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  3. Thank you, thank you, thank you, H. Peter. I'm deleting your comment since I think that's what you want me to do.
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  4. dish removed al jazeera here with no warning or reason...but of course fox is always here

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  5. I don't watch CNN much anymore because I get so much information viz computer and NYT. We watch PBS news every night. I understand your frustration. I hope CNN returns soon. I liked their World News when I was out of the USA. The floods in CA are terrible.

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    1. I don't know if I can stream PBS here in France. I do stream reports from NBC.com.

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  6. NYT - if you are a new subscriber, Ken, is very inexpensive. Digital version only, of course. My rate will go up as I have maxed out my "new subscriber" definition (4-5 years, probably!). New rate will be less than 40 cents/day! Includes everything they have on offer.

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    1. I do subscribe to both the NYT and the WaPo.

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    2. FYI in my experience, NYT will negotiate with you if your renewal price comes in expensive. I've gotten it down close to the new subscriber price.

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