Optimum Online Explains Why I Can't Watch Dallas

We finally have an update to our problem. I describe in an earlier post the fact that, even though I'm a paying customer and validly logged in to my account, I am not allowed to watch the new reboot of Dallas while in Romania.

I had sent a message to my cable provider, Optimum Online, describing the problem, and I received the following response:

Dear Keith Massey:

Thanks for your email.

TV to GO allows customers to watch specific programming on a computer or mobile device from any high-speed Internet connection in the U.S. If you are out of the country you will not be able to access the TNT to go.

Thank you for choosing Cablevision.

Sincerely,

Fatima,
Cablevision

Now, this basically states what I had already described as THE PROBLEM. I have sent the following response back, to which we have not yet received a reply:

You have only stated what I already know, having tried to watch Dallas while in Romania.

I'm saying it isn't fair and has no rationale. I am a paying customer validly logged in to my account. Whoever has to press a button to allow people like me to watch a show from outside the US can press it and this problem is solved. Telling me that "TV to GO" only works in the US is a circular response. I would at least like to learn why paying customers validly logged in to their accounts are not allowed to watch shows while outside the US. Telling me that they cannot is different from telling me why they should not.

I fully understand that you, the person answering this Customer Support Ticket, are not responsible for the problem I am describing. But I am requesting you to send this matter higher up whatever chain of authority needs to reconsider this matter. Please inform me if and when you have done so.

Adriana Toma and Keith Massey

I remain optimistic that someone somewhere at Optimum Online or TNT will correct this problem.

Would Love to Watch Dallas But...

My wife and I both watched the original series. She watched it in Romania during Communist rule. I enjoyed it in the United States.

And we're loving the reboot on TNT! We're humble public school teachers, summering now in her native Romania. 

We settled in a few days ago, I go to load up the episode we missed on July 4th. We had watched a few of the episodes through the TNT website even before we left. We log on through our cable provider, Optimum Online. Once we logged on, we watched the episode at our convenience. Sure, it included commercials, but we were happy to watch them. (Do you hear that, Optimum Online and TNT [and your sponsors?])

Sorry, back to the story. I go to log on and the screen tells me "Video Not Available in Your Area." Again, the site knows I'm validly logged on. It states at the top "In Partnership with Optimum Online."

Now, it acknowledges that I am validly logged on with Optimum Online as a Cable Consumer who pays to see TNT at home. And even though I'm here in Romania, we haven't cancelled our cable subscription. For two months while I'm here, I'm still giving them my money.

The least I should get from that is the ability to watch Dallas while validly logged on!

This is a simple fix, TNT and Optimum Online (I don't know which one of you is actually responsible for this block, I suspect TNT). A person validly logged on to one of the American Cable Providers carrying TNT (such as I am) should be able to watch Dallas regardless of where their IP address says they are. Yes, I'm in Bucharest, Romania. But I've paid for the right to watch this show. Go ahead and block Dallas to people in Romania who haven't paid to watch it. I would fully understand.

I've just sent emails to both TNT and Optimum Online, hoping for some resolution to this issue. If you love Dallas or even accept the justice of the situation I have described, please forward this post (or twitter message on it). I hope to post a follow-on in the next few days about how TNT and/or Optimum Online resolved this issue.