[mythtv-users] OT: FCC investigates cable companies' analog-to-digital migrations

[Mark Knecht]

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Johnny Russ <jruss at mit.edu> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 2:44 PM, John Drescher <drescherjm at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >
>> > Comcast forced us to move to a different tier and to get a cable card.
>> > That they claimed would be $2.50 / month but this ended up costing $15
>> > / month for the cable card. I did not demand that they fix this yet.
>> > Wow Comcastic!
>> >
>> > John
>>
>> Is this region specific or is this because you wanted to use (or need
>> to use) digital input to the TV. I was curious so I called Comcast
>> just now. They tell me they will continue to convert digital signals
>> to analog and send them down the cable just like they are today. They
>> will do this for 1 to 2 years. No additional cost as long as you are
>> subscribed to at least basic cable.
>>
>> I'm in the San Jose area.
>>
>> - Mark
>
>
> You are confusing two separate things. This is exactly what the cable
> companies are exploiting and is the cause of the complaint with the FTC. The
> February 2009 DTV transition for OTA broadcasters essentially has nothing to
> do with the cable operators. However, the cable operators are using the fact
> that people know there is some "digital tv transition" and the fact that
> most don't really know the details about it. The cable companies are
> deactivating various channels from from their analog line up to free up more
> bandwidth. They say they are moving the channel to digital so that most
> people will assume it has something to do with the DTV transition and they
> won't complain about it. In reality they are reducing the number of channels
> in the package that people have paid for without adjusting the price
> accordingly. Even worse, they frequently require people to pay more by
> switching packages or renting new hardware to get the channels back. Again,
> this has nothing to do with the DTV transition in February, it is just a way
> to free up bandwidth at a minimum or to force people in to more expensive
> contracts. I suppose it is up to the cable operators if they want to move
> channels around like this, but it is manipulative and deceptive to do so
> under the guise of the DTV transition, as if it is cause and is beyond their
> control.

OK, good point. I have no way of knowing what channels they will make
available on the analog side. For now I can only assume that it will
be equivalent to whatever they make available on the digital side for
channel numbers below 99 or some upper limit. Today our analog cable
doesn't go above about 84 but there are channels that have no
programming. I suppose they are free to remove channels over time and
leave us with less to watch on those TVs/ Eventually I'll probably
have to go to digital converters.

Thanks,
Mark