[mythtv-users] Comcast to drop analog cable

[Brett Kosinski]

> I have had an on going feud with TW about this...I have 3 digital TV's
> with both ATSC and Qam tuners...My question to them is why do I need a
> STB? I don't want or  need premium content ..I want just what i pay

Well that's easy.  Switched digital television.

See, old QAM tuners, and the current CableCard spec, make technologies
like switched digital impossible to roll out, as each channel change
requires a two-way communication between the tuner and a service in
the network.  STBs, OTOH, make it trivially easy for cable operators
to roll out these kinds of sweeping changes, as they end up
controlling the entire network right down to to the home.

Make no mistake, there really is a good reason for this.  It's not
just a nasty conspiracy to suck more money from your wallet (and for
the record, many cable operators will offer STBs at no charge... just
look around for a deal.  Certainly ours was free as part of the
sign-up).  On the bright side, whatever ends up replacing CableCard
will hopefully solve the problem (assuming it's rolled out in a more
concerted way than CableCard was...)

Brett.