Comcast shuffling channels as part of its own digital transition

Turns out regular broadcast television viewers aren't the only ones who are undergoing a major digital transition this year.

In the Chicago suburbs and nationwide, cable television is now making a shift to digital channels and the change may affect how you watch many channels, if not the channels themselves.

Comcast Corp., which has its Midwest headquarters in Schaumburg, plans to switch analog cable channels, such as ESPN and others available on its Expanded Basic Service, to digital starting in March and finishing around September 2010. This will ultimately open more space in its network for more OnDemand programs, more new channels, and even faster cable service, the company said.

"Putting ESPN, for example, in digital format will allow us to put in 10 to 12 more digital channels in the same space or two to three HD stations in the same space," said Comcast spokesman Rich Ruggiero. "This frees up a tremendous amount of capacity."

In recent weeks, Comcast subscribers around the suburbs have been receiving letters that outline the digital transition for their area. For example, those living in the Mount Prospect area received notices last week that if they have the Digital Starter package, they'll need digital adapters to continue receiving certain channels.

They can get up to two free digital adapters, while more will cost $1.99 each per month. Other customers may need a new digital set-top box, while extras of those will cost $5.99 each per month.

Comcast intends to promote its digital transition as "World of More," because once the transition is complete, more products and features will be made available, the company says. The expansion includes boosting the number of OnDemand choices from 10,000 to about 20,000, including about 6,000 movies with some in high-definition. And, Ruggiero said, the company plans to offer a new tier of service for international programming for Spanish, Polish and other languages.

The other digital transition

Cable operations in many markets nationwide have been working on their own digital transition for years, some even before the broadcast digital transition earlier this year, said Brian Dietz, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.,-based National Cable & Telecommunications Association.

"Because the two different transitions were occurring simultaneously, it undoubtedly has resulted in some confusion, but there are important differences," Dietz said.

The digital transition that occurred earlier this year related only to "over the air" broadcast channels, such as the ABC, NBC, CBS affiliates. Cable operators pledged that they would continue to carry these broadcast channels in a format that would not require customers to obtain a set-top box and that customers who still want to watch the broadcast-only channels without a set-top box can continue to do so, Dietz said.

The primary reason for cable's digital transition, he said, is to free up bandwidth that can be used to provide consumers with a host of new interactive services, including more HD channels, faster broadband speeds and more Video on Demand in the future.

"Analog channels consume much more bandwidth, so as cable operators move to a digital format, they have considerable more flexibility to offer consumers these exciting new services," Dietz said.

CLTV on the move

In addition to the digital shifts, Comcast has moved other channels. CLTV fans with Comcast may be wondering where their 24-hour news source went. To another tier of service, the company said.

Chicagoland Television News and Comcast recently signed a multiyear agreement that purposely moved the channel from Comcast's Extended Basic, for which there is no additional charge, to its Digital Starter tier of service, costing about $59.

The change affected about 150,000, or about 10 percent, of area customers, said Comcast spokesman Rich Ruggiero.

Comcast pays CLTV, as it does other channels, for the right to offer it to subscribers. Terms of the agreement were not made public, Ruggiero said.

This was the first major change in how Comcast offered CLTV, since it began including the channel when it launched in 1993, he said.

"Actually, this change is huge," said Dale Bugno of Arlington Heights, a 21-year Comcast customer and CLTV fan. "It affects all consumers with only Expanded Basic Service. It also affects ... higher levels of service such as the next-up Digital Starter package if your TV does not possess digital equipment."