I just put a digital "lock" on ABC...

[Eric J in MN]

...to remind myself not to watch ABC.

The feature is called "Parental Lock." It part of "Comcast Digital Cable" and it's meant to let parents keep kids from watching certain channels. But I'm using it so I won't watch ABC in the near future.

[whistle]

1. Good for you

[NYC]

2. Excellent idea.

I don't have cable, and my television spends 99% of its time in the closet. But, I think you have devised a convenient and foolproof method that others can follow.

Good work.

[Eric J in MN]

17. Thanks (NT)

NT

[oxymoron]

3. I just did the same thing

Fuck ABC/Disney

[EFerrari]

4. Thanks! Just did, too, on my DirecTV. n/t

[thereismore]

5. I did the same on my cable box. nt

[yorkiemommie1]

6. ABC ? what 'channel 7 kabc' ?

my tv jumps from channel 6 to channel 8! lol!

[Eric J in MN]

9. Comcast Digital doesn't let us skip channels while flipping...

...through them. They should.

[City Lights]

7. I've done the same thing.

Ditto for Fox. They are both dead to me.

[me b zola]

8. I've done the same with our dvr through Dish tv

It felt good! :bounce:

[Chichiri]

10. Me too -- and for once in my life . . .

I won't feel guilty about downloading episodes of "Lost" from bittorrent ;-)

[emcguffie]

11. I'm going to do the same thing, to keep my whole family from watching it.

My daughter is upset about losing Gilmore Girls.

I think there's probably a few other things she might be upset about, when she realizes everything that's locked. And my husband, too.

But I'm going to lock them.

[Eric J in MN]

13. Are you sure that "Gilmore Girls" is on your ABC affililiate?

It's usually on "The WB," which is now part of "The CW."

[Catshrink]

12. Does the Cable company notice a drop off in viewers?

Do they capture data about channels that are on?

[ajriot]

14. I was wondering the same thing...

Aren't you allowed to actually have channels removed from your cable/dish service? I just called, and all they'll do is "help walk me through the steps to lock a channel." I already don't watch ABC, Disney or ESPN, so locking won't change anything, I wanted ABC/Disney to get a report from DISH that xxx number of people have taken their channel off their service. Does anyone out there know of any rules regarding that?

Off to lock up ABC for good. I won't miss it much at all...


-aj riot

[Eric J in MN]

16. I don't know. NT

NT

[BadGimp]

15. Done - I hope the network sees the drop off

This strategy is btw a great protest mechanisim.

Can be tracked by the cable operators and promoted via email.

hhmmm

[AndyA]

18. I plan on removing ABC/Lifetime/Disney/ABC Family, ESPN, etc.

from my digital cable box when I get home tonight. And I plan on letting my local ABC affiliate know they will no longer have me as a viewer. Getting new viewers is hard, but getting an angry one back is almost impossible. Especially when your station doesn't even come up on the screen.

[The2ndWheel]

19. You're all nuts

I like it.

We're all part of this freakshow called human civilization, and if you think doing this will take Disney down, more power to you.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. I blocked them on Friday

It felt good too.

I'm not deluding myself to believe it has any impact other than making me happy. But, for me that's enough. :)

[KansDem]

21. I locked all my channels when we got a new set in last year.

We use the TeeVee for selected movies...movies the family selects; not some grunt in a station somewhere.

Sure, my kids complain now and then, but mostly in the evenings we read, play games (my 8-year-old son loves chess), and listen to or play music. I'm not being elitist; I just got tired of crap the TeeVee execs put on night after night.