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Soft porn and “The Sopranos” are no longer part of the on-campus living package.The reinstallation of cable filters two weeks ago has successfully blocked the two premium channels, HBO and Cinemax, from campus cable outlets.Despite rumors to the contrary, DU never subscribed to the two channels.”The word ‘canceled’ that people are using is incorrect. We never subscribed on campus to any of those services from day one,” said Mike Hiskey, the director of Student Life Budgets and Technology.The filters that were in place originally were removed accidentally by Comcast crews that were updating the equipment to be moved into the new University Technology Services building almost two years ago.”Comcast came to replace the equipment for the new building but when they put it together they neglected to reinstall filters for HBO and Cinemax,” explained Hiskey.After being made aware of the situation by university officials, Comcast decided to replace the filters when they moved the equipment into the new building at the end of November 2004.”Comcast made the decision to leave the filters out until they reinstalled all of the equipment into the new building. However they once again neglected to replace them in the move,” said Hiskey. “We of course told them again of the error and it has taken them this long to install the filters.”In the meantime, students were able to enjoy, free of charge, access to both premium channels. With the filters in place students now receive only the basic cable channels from campus outlets. Students once accustomed to watching such shows as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Da Ali G Show,” no longer have access. The response has been less than positive. “Students are in an uproar about it. Everyone wants it back. People I didn’t even know were approaching me about it, sending emails and everything,” said Aaron Schwarzberg, sophomore senator and Nelson resident. “This is the single most student involvement I’ve ever seen by far, they are very passionate about it. Mostly they are mad about not getting the shows on HBO and the free porn on Cinemax.”From Towers to J-Mac and every on-campus apartment in between, students university-wide are upset about the loss. “I’m pissed off because I no longer get Skin-a-max and HBO. That’s the bottom line,” said Sophomore Michael Berthold who lives in Towers. The overwhelming response from students has prompted Schwarzberg to take action in trying to bring the channels back to DU. “It was canceled about two weeks ago and I’ve been working to get it back ever since. I’ve taken initiative to set up meetings and figure out a solution,” said Schwarzberg.Despite the dramatic reaction from students, Hiskey doesn’t foresee the university subscribing to the two networks. Because there are 1,284 cable jacks on campus, the price of signing a contract would be extremely high.”With HBO retail rates at $12.95 a month, it would end up costing the university over $160,000 to provide the service for the academic year alone,” said Hiskey. Although it doesn’t seem feasible to contract HBO and Comcast, UTS is working on other options to accommodate students.”We are talking about providing video On Demand via computers for the campus,” explained Hiskey. “We are negotiating prices and it should be less expensive plus it will cut back on illegal downloads.”

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