Why not? Senior Living is not all the same so that’s a bit of blanket statement.
At my parent’s place, they had free TV from Comcast. And you could add internet and phone if you wished on the same cable. Then some brilliant administrator took a deal to give them free direcTV instead, claiming it would make no difference at all.
And if you had no internet or phone from Comcast, and didn’t care that the channel numbers and UI all changed, then I suppose it didn’t! :-)
On the other hand, people who wanted internet or phone (not available from DirecTV) had to either refuse the transition, and start paying comcast for TV as well, or they could refuse the transition and stick an antenna in their room, and/or go with streaming, or they could accept DirecTV and come up with something else for their phone and/or internet. The result is a total mishmash of systems.
That admin was gone before the transition happened, and the next admin (also gone) had no idea how this cable stuff worked. I never discussed it with the admin after her, who is also gone.
Mom, 92, was able to figure out streaming – within reason. Dad, 97, wanted comcast back. Only the comcast you pay for is bigger and fancier and it turns out that he doesn’t like that either.
A bunch of people have moved into a new building a couple of miles away. You’ve reminded me that I need to email one of them and ask her how she is doing. She’s one of the ones who chose to pay comcast for TV in this building. (Yet is able to email at 101!)
Thank you for your detailed response and encouragement. For the record, it wasn't a decision by the property management. As of today, the Internet provider has stopped providing TV services altogether.
Mergers and acquisitions of the Internet provider moved the decision making to other parts of the country. What started as an innovative local company (who did a complete fiber overlay of the entire city) has been acquired several times by larger and larger corporations. The current company recognized that "everyone is streaming" (with solutions like Roku). Continuing to provide TV to those few who don't stream, was very costly.
They're not entirely wrong. I can't tell you the last time my wife and I have watched anything even remotely resembling standard TV. We have a few on-air channels in the house, but we never watch it. (Commercials. Ewww.)
There is another cable TV/Internet provider in town (also owned far away), but they are coming to a similar decision. Internet is competitive and aggressively priced. They continue to provide massive (250+ channel) TV services to those who can pay. The price for even the smallest version of their TV service exceeds the ability for those on fixed income.
All of that said...
Day two and three have been better. She is starting to get it. I went back over there yesterday afternoon -- when comprehension is a bit better. Together we "practiced" over and over. She called me late last night to tell me she had found her way back to a PBS show that she and I had started watching the night before. Not the live channel(s), but at least something which she enjoyed.
