Comcast digital transition?

[ron_newman]

A friend in Arlington received a letter from Comcast informing her that all Extended Basic* channels (24 and above) will soon be transmitted only in digital, and that she would need a cable box or digital adapter to continue receiving them. The letter says the analog signals will go away in two stages, some on October 20 and the rest on November 18.

Is this happening only in Arlington, or have Somerville and Cambridge customers received similar notices? ETA: If you got such a letter, what dates does it give for the transition?

* this means stuff like NESN, ESPN, CNN, MTV, AMC and the like -- not pay-channels such as HBO and Showtime

Comments

I got the same notice

[taipeitigers.livejournal.com]

I am in N. Cambridge. I don't understand what it meant though because I already had a cable box.

Re: I got the same notice

[ron_newman]

Thanks. What dates does the Cambridge letter give?

Re: I got the same notice

[taipeitigers.livejournal.com]

10/20/09 for Channel 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 36, 38, 47, 60, 64,66, 95. 11/18/09 for Channel 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 35, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67, 69, 96.

Re: I got the same notice

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yep, this is what we got, too (also in North Cambridge).

We actually do have a little TV in our study now getting a non-digital signal, so we have to decide whether to get a box for it or a converter or just fuhgeddaboutit because we use it three or four times a year.

Re: I got the same notice

[ron_newman]

Thanks. Those are exactly the same two lists as the Arlington letter.

Re: I got the same notice

[tober.livejournal.com]

Comcast doesn't have records of who has TVs hooked up to cable with no form of digital adapter (digital cable box or CableCard or DTA) or how many... and therefore, although they know you have n cable boxes, they don't know how many other TVs without boxes, if any, you have. Subsequent to this change, TVs that are directly connected to cable without a cable box, DTA, or CableCard (even if they contain QAM tuners) will receive more-or-less only local broadcast channels + local educational / public access / government access channels.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i got a notice last month and now have a digital adapter sitting on my floor because i've been to lazy to hook it up. (i have extended cable - i guess that's what it's called - i don't get hbo or showtime but do get, like, tbs and usa and the cartoon network and a&e and ten or fifteen news channels.)

[ron_newman]

Which city are you in?

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

oh, sorry, somerville.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Medford did, too, and I don't know what it means. Mostly I get cable to have internet so if they cut off my tv, I guess I'll just use more hulu

[ron_newman]

Thanks. What dates does the Medford letter give?

[soong.livejournal.com]

This is happening to me in Medford and I am cranky about it becauese they're giving me less service for the same cost in the future. :-(

[ron_newman]

Thanks. What dates does the Medford letter give?

(By "less service" do you mean that you lose channels after you get the digital box?)

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I am in cambrdige and got one. I imagine it is comcast-wide--it'll let them sideswipe a lot of tricks that make it easy to steal analog signals.

[ron_newman]

Thanks. What dates are on the Cambridge letter?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I believe it said Oct 20-ish, I don't recall it having a second date.

[ron_newman]

The Arlington letter said October 20 on the front, but on the back gave two different dates for different lists of channels.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

when I moved from Somerville to Dorchester about 2 years ago, Comcast in Boston was already like this. the only stations that came in on a TV without a cable box were the networks and a very few others like NECN and The Weather Channel.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

I'm in Somerville and got a similar letter. However, there was no mention of two phases, just one transition (for analog 24-69) on January 5.

[ron_newman]

Thanks. The Arlington letter had one date on the front, but two separate dates (for different lists of channels) on the back.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

For the record, I still have the original letter I got in August and there's nothing on the backside. I also got a second letter about two weeks later clarifying the whether I needed a second adapter.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

The last Somerville letter I got had dates in December, but that I could pick up an adaptor for free from Comcast. I have not yet worked out how or if such adaptor would work with my existing digital video recorder (an old Replay).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

January 5th sounds right to me, I was just guessing about December in my recollection.

[ron_newman]

My Arlington friend was told she would have to pay $2 more a month, something she's not very happy about.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I think the "$2 more a month" is for the additional cable box rental, not for the adaptors?

[ron_newman]

But should she have to pay $2 extra to get the same Extended Basic service she now has from analog cable?

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

We're in Somerville and got our adapters at no charge (if we needed more than two, there would have been a fee). We picked them up right in Davis and installed ourselves - no big deal.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Cambridgeport did this transition in July of 2008, according to the message on the screen when I hooked up my non-digital TiVo in August of 2008. (I've also confirmed this with another person who lives nearby.) (I was checking channels in the 30-50 range.)

I never read naything comcast sends me, so I wouldn't have seen anything they sent in the mail about it.

Call Them

[digital01.livejournal.com]

You may want to call the company and talk to them.

comcast cable box (http://www.xomba.com/comcast_cable_box_questions_and_troubleshootings)

Re: Call Them

[ron_newman]

Your link doesn't work -- try again?