Will my apartment be "cable-ready"?

July 9, 2005 12:47 PM

Does cable/satellite availability vary from building to building in New York City?

I'm heading to Manhattan in a few weeks to look for apartments. I've been researching for months, aided in no small part by some excellent questions and answers previously posted on Ask MeFi. The one thing I can't figure out is whether I'll be master of my TV destiny in whatever home I choose.

When I lived in New York in 2001 (sublet), TV wasn't part of the rent. So I called Time Warner myself to get the cable hooked up in my apartment. I was in a neighborhood with digital availability, so I got that — easy.

But during my current hunt for living space, I often come across apartment listings that boast of "BUILDING HAS DIGITAL CABLE!" or "DIRECTV," etc. The presence of these "selling points" make me wonder if I'll be locked into a building's designated setup.

My main desire is to have my options as open as possible so that I'm ultimately in charge of the decision. Am I being unrealistic? How does TV typically work in an NYC apartment building?

posted by TPIRman to grab bag (9 comments total)

If it talks about Direct TV, it may not be wired for regular (TimeWarner) cable, digital or otherwise.

The vast majority of Manhattan buildings of 4 stories or more are wired for cable.
posted by amberglow at 1:06 PM on July 9, 2005

The one area you might have trouble is if you want DSL thru the phone--not everywhere is within the required number of feet/miles/whatever.
posted by amberglow at 1:07 PM on July 9, 2005

This is not NYC, but here in Chicago my building is wired for RCN cable only. There is no other choice. This came as a shock to me, and it is something I will always ask about before I sign a lease again.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 2:25 PM on July 9, 2005

Time Warner, Comcast and RCN's websites have a function that lets you enter the address and it will show you if service is available in the building.
posted by softlord at 2:52 PM on July 9, 2005

Have you checked to make sure that the cable or satellite service isn't included as part of the rent? I was apartment hunting in Minneapolis/St. Paul about three months ago and was quite surprised at the number of building offering TV and highspeed internet as part of the building services.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:56 PM on July 9, 2005

In NYC, large rental buildings are almost always exclusive to one provider of multichannel service, with no way to substitute another provider.

Most are Time Warner Cable, some are RCN, some (in the outer boroughs) are Cablevision, and some are DirecTV or Dish, but the DirecTV and Dish systems will be master satellite distribution systems -- from the standpoint of your apartment it will function like cable, with the exception that there are sometimes two jacks to reflect the odd way that DBS systems are engineered to support dual-tuner DVRs and multi-TV units.

Sales agents and realtors often don't volunteer the TV provider, not so much out of malice but because most people who care about their TV care enough to ask upfront.

While it wasn't unusual even a couple of years ago to find large buildings which had only 1980s style 80-channel analog systems, it's now pretty rare. There's so much money to be made on DVRs, broadband subscriptions, and pay per view that the vast majority of buildings are fully upgraded. At least in Manhattan, the competition for building access between RCN and Time Warner Cable has given both an incentive to additiona incentive to upgrade, in addition to the improved revenue.

For smaller buildings, it can be a much more varied thing. Plenty are the worst of all worlds: no choice of providers AND an unupgraded system, and sometimes too poor of a telephone wiring to permit DSL to work effectively. Some are the best of all worlds: a nice upgraded cable system AND the landlord will let you put of a satellite dish (if you have the right visibility to the bird) so you can do your own thing.
posted by MattD at 7:50 PM on July 9, 2005

To expound on the above, no, in Manhattan you will have next to no control over whose cable service you get. Unless you face southeast and have a discreet place to post a satellite dish, you're pretty much locked into the building's choice. Co-op boards and management companies usually make the selection for the building.

The good news is that, this being the center of the U.S. media, the services of the monopoly are excellent. Time Warner not long ago finished rewiring all of Manhattan below 96th Street with fiber optic cable, so most buildings have access to high-speed digital cable. There may be headaches or service lags--I had issues last year in my modern high-rise, since its 1980s copper wire was faltering in unlikely places--but the infrastructure is in fine shape. The secondary players are not very visible but reportedly all have competitive products.
posted by werty at 8:17 PM on July 9, 2005

Thanks for all the responses, especially MattD and werty — exactly the information I was looking for. I'll be sure to get the lowdown on each building when I'm shopping around.
posted by TPIRman at 7:13 AM on July 10, 2005

Hi TPIRman, it depends which part of Manhattan you'll be choosing a place to stay. I'm in Hell's Kitchen (between 39th Street and 53rd Street, Eighth Avenue to the Hudson) and like the restaurant choices here, there's everything to choose from. Almost all the local buildings have tenants who take RoadRunner (the best I know about), RCN (good second choice), Verizon (lots of IT people I know say it's the worst) or others. You can basically take your pick in this hood.

By the way I'm subletting my apartment for $938. a month, utilities not included (small one bedroom, 4 storey walk up, typical Hell's Kitchen building) for two months starting in August. If it's of interest my email is [e-mail]
The cable for hi-speed internet plus TV is 96 bucks a month.
posted by nickyskye at 5:33 PM on July 10, 2005