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UPDATED YET AGAIN!! Hey Jeff Bewkes!! Time Warner Cable Won’t Let Me Watch THE WIRE!!
I am – Hercules!!
Is this happening to anybody else?
HBO’s press releases and website indicate that the fifth season premiere of “The Wire” (episode 51, “More With Less”) has been available on HBO On Demand since Dec. 31, a full week before its premiere on HBO Actual this Sunday.
But it’s already Jan. 4 and the episode is not on my On Demand menu here in Studio City, Calif., created by the good folks Time Warner Cable. (Time Warner Cable, coincidentally, is owned by Time Warner, same folks behind HBO and “The Wire.”)
I can’t get hold of the Van Nuys, Calif., office of TWC (which services us here in Studio City) via phone. The only phone number on the cable bill gets me the Time Warner Cable customer care center in Colorado. The young woman I spoke to in Colorado could only confirm (via HBO’s web site, see above) that I should indeed be able to watch the episode now. She could not explain why it still wasn’t on my On Demand menu alongside all the 2006 episodes.
My question is this: Is everybody serviced by Time Warner Cable’s Van Nuys, Calif., office similarly denied the further adventures of McNulty, Barksdale, et al? What about the L.A. residents serviced by TWC’s West Hollywood or Santa Monica offices?
UPDATE!! Word is coming in from many other On Demand subscribers here in the San Fernando Valley, in Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Valley Village, North Hollywood and other points; they aren't getting the episode either. A reader to the south of Los Angeles County writes:
Just to let you know, I'm in the same situation as you. I live in Orange County (Tustin to be precise), I have TWC, and The Wire isn't on my On Demand menu either. If I remember correctly, this happened last season too. The first episode of the season wasn't available 1 week prior, but all subsequent episodes were.
A reader in Westwood (a West L.A. neighborhood nestled between The Valley and The O.C.) writes:
Hey Herc, I'm a Time Warner subscriber living in Westwood and I don't have my fix of the Baltimore crew yet either. Guess my decision as to whether to watch early or in high def on date has been made for me by the lovely folks at TWC.
Also, not "serviced" out of the Van Nuys office, although not sure where said "service" originates. thanx and keep fighting the good fight.
A reader here in the San Fernando Valley writes:
I spoke with someone at HBO's offices in NY, and the woman was surprised to find that we could not yet get The Wire Ep. 51. I live in Granada Hills/Northridge area, and still, as of this morning, cannot get this episode. I also called a Supervisor at Time Warner, and she told me that due to the "winds" and some other mumbo-jumbo, they were having problems and I should be able to see the updated On-Demand within a half hour or so. This was Thursday. Sure enough, 2 hours later, when it still wasn't available, I called back, was put on hold, and no one ever got back to me. I have reset all of my boxes, to no avail, and after calling again Friday, I was told that they don't have an explanation but would work on this problem and I should check back via my On-Demand every few hours. I would LOVE to see their definition of the word "few"! I guess we're relegated to Sunday evening via east coast feed...oh well- can't wait to see next weeks excuse!
A reader in Houston on Dec. 31 writes:
I was in Houston, TX over new year's and Comcast OnDemand didn't have The Wire premiere available there, either...
A reader in Dallas writes:
Thanks for keeping an eye on this. I have been checking my OnDemand through Time Warner Dallas everyday and still no first episode of the final season of such an amazing show.
A reader in Ohio writes:
Hey, Herc,
I used On Demand all the time. Every since Northeast Ohio changed from Adelphia to Time-Warner, On Demand has always been behind. There are some weeks where everything this fine, but there have been plenty when you can't see the most recent Bill Maher, Sopranos, or Wire. For me, this is old history.
Best,
C.0.
P.S. I enjoy reading your updates and news items. Thanks for doing this.
A reader in L.A.'s Koreatown writes:
Had this problem all the way back to the last season of THE WIRE, when eps not only wouldn't show up a week ahead as promised, but often took days after air date to make it to the On-Demand menu.
Like that reader from round-at-the-ends-&-high-in-the-middle, ever
since my system was swallowed by the TM beast (was Comcast) I've had
lots & lots of such bullshit -- including crappy digital signal
break-ups, etc. Time-Warner has no pride of service; don't you know
that WE exist to serve THEM?
A Comcast employee in Nashville writes:
Herc,
I work for Comcast in Nashville. We don't have the first episode of the new season of The Wire either for On Demand. My inquiries into what the problem is have only been responded to by a, "It's an issue on HBO's side."
A reader in Wisconsin writes:
Minor feedback…I am in Wisconsin and just saw it on my OnDemand Menu, but as is often explained on the Howard Stern Show (by Doug Goodstein, their Howard TV guy), the “networks” (HBO, HowardTV) send their show to the cable providers, it is then on them to update, some doing that daily, others not so much. Howard Stern says they have a new show every day, but my cable provider only updates once a week, so I have to wait until then…just an opinion…thanks for the heads up, I’m off to watch the WIRE
It's about 2:20 p.m. Saturday now and we still haven't heard from anybody with a solution to this problem. TWC and HBO need to address this frustration, and pronto; now that DirecTV offers far more HD channels than TWC (and still utilizes far more user-friendly DVRs), On Demand is one of the few reasons left to subscribe to TWC instead of DirecTV.
UPDATE FROM SOMEONE CLAIMING TO BE WITH HBO:
Hey Herc,
We've been working on the issue with Ep 51 of The Wire in TWC LA / San Diego since they were first reported this week. We've spoken directly with the local systems and confirmed that the episode was "caught" by their satellites. It appears however that there has been an issue with the systems propagating the episode on to the on demand servers, which is preventing customers from accessing the show.
We're as frustrated as you are - this not an uncommon problem with TWC - and are working to make sure this doesn't happen with any additional episodes. We unfortunately have limited control once the episode is sent to each affiliate and what you and others are experiencing is part of the antiquated nature of the current on demand systems.
Hope this helps...
Are you a fellow HBO On Demand subscriber and can’t yet get the fifth season premiere of “The Wire”? Do you work for Time Warner or Time Warner Cable or HBO and believe you can shed more light on this matter than the TWC customer care center? If so, kindly get in touch:
HerculesAICN@yahoo.com
I thank you.
To those who couldn’t give a dang about “The Wire,” HBO, HBO On Demand, Time Warner Cable, Time Warner or me? I thank you for this momentary indulgence.
$29.99 (50% Off) Lost: Seasons One And Two!! 
Fox and MGM have knocked 48-50% off a number of their series titles, including:
$15.49 The Die Hard Trilogy
$30.99 Rocky: The Complete Saga
$34.99 The Addams Family: The Complete Series
$69.99 Angel: The Complete Series
$74.99 Family Guy: Party Pack
$19.99 Land of the Giants: The Complete Series
$145.99 The James Bond Ultimate Collector’s Set
$164.99 Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series
Also, not "serviced" out of the Van Nuys office, although not sure where said "service" originates. thanx and keep fighting the good fight.
I used On Demand all the time. Every since Northeast Ohio changed from Adelphia to Time-Warner, On Demand has always been behind. There are some weeks where everything this fine, but there have been plenty when you can't see the most recent Bill Maher, Sopranos, or Wire. For me, this is old history.
Best,
C.0.
P.S. I enjoy reading your updates and news items. Thanks for doing this.
Like that reader from round-at-the-ends-&-high-in-the-middle, ever
since my system was swallowed by the TM beast (was Comcast) I've had
lots & lots of such bullshit -- including crappy digital signal
break-ups, etc. Time-Warner has no pride of service; don't you know
that WE exist to serve THEM?
I work for Comcast in Nashville. We don't have the first episode of the new season of The Wire either for On Demand. My inquiries into what the problem is have only been responded to by a, "It's an issue on HBO's side."
We've been working on the issue with Ep 51 of The Wire in TWC LA / San Diego since they were first reported this week. We've spoken directly with the local systems and confirmed that the episode was "caught" by their satellites. It appears however that there has been an issue with the systems propagating the episode on to the on demand servers, which is preventing customers from accessing the show.
We're as frustrated as you are - this not an uncommon problem with TWC - and are working to make sure this doesn't happen with any additional episodes. We unfortunately have limited control once the episode is sent to each affiliate and what you and others are experiencing is part of the antiquated nature of the current on demand systems.
Hope this helps...
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+ Expand All
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More like 5 of the first 7 episodes.
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Its been on here in Indiana since the mourning of Dec.31. I have Comcast On Demand. After watching the season 5 premiere a couple times, I realize this season is going to be completely different from what I was expecting it to be. My initial reaction of disappointment turned into an utter sense amazement in how deep these story lines are. I didnt care too much for drunken McNulty again though.
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....since talkback was disabled I was prevented from sharing it with you all. Oh, well...c'est la vie.
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Jan 06, 2008 12:01:04 AM CST
Episode 51 shows up on our On Demand, but we can't watch it...
by space disc jockey
So, when you select Episode 51 of The Wire, an error message appears saying something like "Unable to process request." It's pissing us off. I guess we will have to wait, until tomorrow to watch it...bummer.
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I live in the Balwin Hills area of So. L.A. and so i guess i lucked out this time...But i am aware of the diffuculties experienced by T.W. subscribers, because i experienced the same problems during the initial airing of the 4th season of The Wire. Btw, Herc., did they (T.W.) suggest that you unplug you cable box for a couple of minutes to allow it to re-boot itself? During the 4th season, i found that it remedied the problem about 85% of the time.
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Hello LA Customers,
Episode 51 of the Wire should be available to all our customers on Sunday Morning at 5 AM. As an FYI, Episode 52 is scheduled to start on Monday Jan. 7th and will be available at 12:01 AM across all cities in LA. In the future, please call Customer Service and ask them to email the VOD Department.
Thanks.-
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...then thanks to Herc and to said VOD-GUY.
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As for Space Disc Jockey who is getting unable to process your request.. there is usually an error immediately after that.. SRM-XXX or ERR-4XX can you please be more specific... can you order other content?
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I havent seen 3 and 4 online, but the first 2 were awesome. I wont skip ahead and watch 4...
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Hello,
You should be able to see it in your guide now. Please post back (City and Zip) if for some reason you can't see it.
Thanks.- -
I watched Ep 51 on December 31, thanks to our cable provider here in south orange county (COX). In a word, Cox rocks! I'm not affiliated with them in any way, beyond their provision of my cable, internet and phone service. They're always very helpful on the phone, and they always have the shows on demand when they're supposed to be...that is all. THE WIRE RULES!
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RULES
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Ok, I tried to watch it again On Demand and now it works. I don't know what the hell was going on.
VOD Guy,
Thank you for your help. In my situation, I don't remember an error code, or anything like that. It just had a Comcast customer service phone number, after the "Unable to process request". -
yep. i said it. and i still never use it. i have a fios connection from verizon and an HDDVR from directv that lets me add an external drive ( 500gigs ftw!) and records in MPEG4.
They do On-Demand over Broadband, and if your connection is even somewhat-decent it works. If your on 1.5mb DSL it may take some time to buffer but otherwise its nice. I hardly use it, and probably wont since my HDDVR does pretty much everything I need it to. I payed $200 for it and I couldnt ever imagine paying comcast even $3.99 a month for their crap receivers.
DOWN WITH CABLE!!!! -
even though i pay $11 more a month for DTV than i did for comcast, and i had to spend $200 on a dvr, the sheer joy my 2 year old 60inch HDTV is finally able to bring me is worth it. and directv gave me a promo for $20 off for a year, so for right now its actually cheaper than my old cable bill. fuck "comcrap", "time whorener", "cocks", all of them are awful. if they spent more on improving their service than they did on marketing they might be ok.
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It's funny how the broken condition of the Baltimore PD and the Baltimore Sun reflects the broken nature of Time Warner Cable. Hopefully we'll be able to watch 52 at 12:01 ...
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Hercules,
I'm glad you are satasfied..
As another FYI, I can tell based on your previous threads that you live in an area that the boxes don't update until 5:00 AM.., but just for you I'll have them update at 12:00 :) -
Some of you are crying like fucking babies looking for the instant gratification of your mothers tit.
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As promised the wire 52 is now available. Again, if you have any problems with your service please contact customer service. If you are having a VOD problem please have your error mesg ready. If you have a problem with missing content please ask them to email the VOD Dept.
Thanks.-
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And we've got Wire 52 here in Studio City!
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live in venice beach, had the episode available for over a week now, on Time Warner. You guys just don't know how to work your On Demand correctly
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Ep 2 is good, huge surprise. HBO screwed David Simon though, this season feels tight and there's only EIGHT left?
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always feel tight. Always much happening- and yet some stupidly complain it's too slow. I was worried as well about Simon wanting 13 eppys and getting 10 instead- but as I sat down last night to watch the brilliant 5.2 (exactly what I hoped it would be and more) I remembered that for Season III Simon wanted the whole Carcetti thing as a separate miniseries to run alongside The Wire- HBO didn't allow it so Simon had to smash literally two shows into one- and Season III ended up being a masterpiece. If he pulled that off- no reason why the final season with 10 eppys won't be the masterpiece it's already shaping up to be. Mc"Nutty" is back in fine form.
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Please- again- make this a weekly talkback!
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