Since this morning Cablecom offers Channel E! only with German dubbing (and rather poor one at that!). There is no option to change language settings to English.

After calling support I've beed told that it's a technical issue, they are working on it, but could not tell me when I could expect it to be fixed.

What makes me suspicious is that the "new" E! now also got German text on screen, which was not the case before. I recon they just going to switch to full German, like they have with History, Discovery and NG Animal etc. channels. Screw the expats, hey?

Well, let's see if they fix the issue...

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"It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value." - Stephen Hawking

I have been so annoyed about it since yesterday. I tried calling cablecom but no one knew. Thanks for getting the information out, I thought my E was forever gone.

Welcome to Central Europe. Embrace the power that is an anonymous proxy and hulu. Cable is really only good for BBC and local news and kids channels (which can still be switched to the original language). I hate dubbing. Hate it, not only because it's catering to a different market, but also because it completely disregards the use of voice in acting. France, Spain and Germany (and maybe Italy, too) I'm looking' at you. Fortunately, the Nordic countries understand and merely subtitle. Get a proxy and kill your cable contract.

That would be nice but unfortunately you can^t just cancel soemthing here when you feel like it. If you're under contract with Cablecom you have to wait a month before your contract ends then write them to cancel it...sucks

I have a similar problem. My wife watched E in English because she didnt know it could be changed to german. (i have english default language) Now she loves it in German. I hate it...the Kardashians sound even more annoying.

Before we could joke about them and put on those fake voices and go.....

Hiiiiiii Mom!!

heeeeeeeey Kiiim!!!!

...... but E! is crap - it's just gossip about so-called celebrities. Be glad that you can't get the original dribble. If you so aspire to celebrity gossip buy Hello or National Enquirer.

[btw in my part of the world I get E! France (in French) - it's still crap in any language]

Hehe that would make The Fashion Police especially Joan Rivers more entertaining in German/French. I love E! and Fashion Police is my favourite indulgence and I miss it as I don't have Sky/Cable so far. Fingers crossed maybe next year, in time for the Award season hehehe.

Thank you for your constructive input TiMow , but the topic was not on the quality of the program. The point is that they changed it without notification, without offering an alternative (even though it's possible with other programs).

You can cancel at any time. You just have to pay the remainder of the contracted term, ie: to the end of the contract

A ok....that's waaay more fair

I was annoyed with that too!!! I watch it for a laugh!! Oh well,,,,, they'll just lose more customers....

Aussie Rose

After trying to protest via phone, email and blogs, I just got some feedback from Cablecom.

They claim that the source of the problem is E! Entertainment. Apparently they started broadcasting only in German, and it's nothing to do with Cablecom. According to the help desk person, Cablcom is following up with E! Entertainment, but since they haven't received any feedback yet they can't say when and if it's going to be "fixed".

We have Swisscom - takes less than 30 sec to change to English - never had an issue and approaching 2 years with the service......

Just saying.....

That's the trouble with any cable TV company - they just act as the middle man. If the TV channel decide to change how they distribute their signal, then the cable company is often stuck with whatever the change is.

Often, the TV company does not inform its distributors what it will be doing in the future.

Whether in this case upc cablecom can change anything or not, is yet to be seen. At the end of the day, the problem was caused by E! changing their format. And not by upc cablecom.

Are you saying that right now Swisscom has E! with English option? One piece of info I might mention to UPC. How come that Swiccom can meet their customer's demand and they don't?

Can someone please confirm that Swisscom is still broadcasting E! Entertainment in English?

For anyone interested (in mindless Hollywood) E! is back in English now.

It has been a journey:

1. The English broadcast disappearing many weeks ago, without any warning or info on Cablecom's web site
2. Calling Cablecom, help desk claims there is a technical issue but should be back soon.
3. Calling after some week or so Cablecom claims its not their fault, but the broadcaster's. I can call E! but Cablecom will not do anything. "Would you expect to follow up with the broadcaster and, like other channels as National Geographic or SyFy, potentially resume the English language broadcast in the near future?" ... "No sir, we don't. Sorry. Bye."
   
   .....in the meantime the missus is whining and ready to pack the suitcase toleave this godforsaken primitive land...
4. Writing a lengthy email to Cablecom about their poor attitude to their customers, multiculturalism and how they conduct business (UPC is multinational!), and inquiring when I can cancel my contract with them (TV/Phone/Internet) results in a lengthy response of apology on how they have no influence on the broadcasters and an offer of three months free internet if we don't cancel (TV/Phone/Internet).
5. Writing to E! Entertainment to inform them about their poor attitude to their viewers, their American roots and how they conduct business. Multi channel language broadcasting is commonly available and used. No, I didn't hear back from E!
6. But since tonight the channel is back in dual language. The main broadcast is in German, i.e. all the ads between shows, but at least the programs are now also in English. Yay!

I'm not sure if my complaint has made any difference. Maybe it was planned to be this way anyway and they were just too incompetent to communicate it to their customers. But the main thing is that E! is back for the missus. And I have three months free internet

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"It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value." - Stephen Hawking

And just in time for Keeping Up with the Kardashians...the Divorce Special