TV ISSUES: NEED ADVICE

I have someone staying in my casita; an English speaker. I've had Telecable installed there for several years. Now Telecable is dithering around with another company and rumor has it that, in addition to their normally spotty service, they plan to eliminate the few English channels they have now. I'm looking elsewhere to solve the problem.

A friend sent me a link to the Telmex service and even the link is almost incomrehensible, so that doesn't sound appealing. That leaves Shaw, which requires installation of a dish and a year's commitment. Is there anything else out there?
What are the rest of you using and how do you like it?

Being in the short term rental business we only have Telecable for our guests. I think most short termers (here on vacation) don't really care about TV and if they do they'll have to seek out a bar that has Shaw or something.

BTW....what TelMex service are you talking about?

BTW, BTW........Shaw doesn't require any "commitment". You can turn their services on or off by the month as long as you have access to the account.

Telmex has Clara video (bad spelling) streaming video which is mostly in Spanish.

Telecable has many English channels. Remember back maybe six years ago when Canada and the US went digital? So did Telecable. With their digital receiver you can pick up channels 101 through 999. They have standard definition and HD. For example you can watch CNN in either standard definition on channel 608 or HD on 782 Heck they even have the Playboy cannel in standard definition on channel 790 and HD on 789. They have the BBC, HLN, Fox news, you name it in English

And many of their other programs from HBO Cinemax, TNT, NFL, ESPN, Fox sports, Disney etc that broadcast in English if you choose the SAP or secondary audio program on your receiver.

We use a basic ROKU and have one also installed in our next door rental. To that we have added USTVNow which has somewhere around 30 of the most desirable US stations. CNN, MSNBC, the old 3 networks, fox, PBS, History etc... that runs I think $35 a month and the account is shared between the two houses. Each house only has one television so i know 2 TVs can go on an account, I do not know if more can.

Some people use ROKU, some a "black box" and here are other similar devices etc.. Donald the Computer gadget guy sets these up for us and others so he has a few other options available. You can probably find him in the search here or on TOB and he runs two or three local Facebooks pages of general information and animal info. I think one is titled 'Ajijic #1' and Ajijic #2...If you just put Ajijic in the Facebook search they will probably come up. He explains the devises on those pages. But then its FBook. Maybe someone has a phone number?

Thanks, all.
Bob, what happens when Telecable drops the English speaking channels as indicated on TOB?  That's my main concern.
I'm going to talk to the Shaw guy who does electronic repairs down near the Avocado club and ask about that 2 year commitment.  It might be the best option if it can be shut off and on, on a monthly basis.
Solajic:  My info. is that USTVnow has been getting blocked.  Not so?  I looked up the Amazon connection and I know several people whose Amazon Prime TV is getting blocked here.

Does anyone have the phone number for Donald the Computer gadget guy? It looks like he's needed here.

There is also, Roku subscription service. Google machtv. Available locally
Oscar (Nacho) 3315178935

Gringal, they are not planning to drop the English language channels in digital Telecable.

The 4 English language channels at about 84,5,6,and 87 are picked up on a 2.4 meter dish located at the Chapala Telecable office and they are using pirate cards as many folks do here in Mexico to get those channels from DISH USA. The last time I talked to the cable technicians, what I heard was that no they are not getting rid of all of the English channels but rather trying to get the English speakers to go digital where they can have many more English channels.

The digital signal that comes from Guadalajara does not include the US network stations on 84-7 so they will probably continue to feed these channels to the Lakeside users from the Chapala 2.4 meter dish. I will be in the area Monday and drop by and see what the Chapala Telcable staff says.

For what it's worth, I ditched it all and just went with Mexican Netflix (149 pesos a month and you can use it on up to two devices). Anything I want that I can't get through Netflix I grab on Bit Torrent (Pirate Bay is still running) and stream it from my hard-drive.

I picked up a Panasonic Blu-Ray player (Model #DMP-BD77) from Walmart, hardwired it to my modem with Cat-5 Cable (This particular model does not have Wifi unless you buy a special USB dongle from Panasonic) The Blu-Ray player is pre-programmed for Netflix (even has a button on the remote to access it) and works a treat. The player also has a USB port to load videos from a USB stick and has codecs for just about every format (including MKV, which was a pleasant surprise). I don't remember what I paid for the Blu-Ray player but I do remember thinking it was very reasonable.

So far, my only complaint about Netflix is that it is too easy to binge watch!

I dropped by the Telecable office today and the technician stated that as soon as they can figure out what to do, that they will fix the problem. Assuming they can fix the problem they will continue to provide the 4 US networks and have no plans to stop broadcasting them.