[mythtv-users] [Slightly OT] comcast moving to settop on Bay Area - goodbye analog

[R. G. Newbury]

Brad Fuller wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/ant2zz
> 
> At least they are giving settop boxes away... for now.  Who knows if
> they will add a lease to your bill afterwards.
> 
> I'm not happy about this since I depend on analog cable and QAM for my
> feeds.  Didn't I read somewhere on this list that it _could_ be
> against the law to do this? Something about local free channels... or
> something...

American's are lucky that the FCC has mandated that cable systems must 
provide 'must-carry' channels in the clear on the 'Basic' tier. Must 
carry channels are basically those which the customer can receive OTA in 
  that area. But this does not specifically require the cableco to 
provide that signal in HD...they can compress it down and push a lousy 
SD analog signal if they want to.

But it appears that lots of cableco's are pushing the idea that the 
digital conversion changeover *requires them* to switch to digital 
too...and the customer "has to" use an stb. As you say 'who knows....'.

You may want to google for 46 CFR Part 76 and read the legal-ease of the 
regulation. Or search the archive: it's been covered before.

Geoff



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