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Time Warner continues to unify O.C., L.A. cable TV systems

September 28th, 2009, 8:35 am · 9 Comments · posted by

Time Warner Cable signIt’s been nearly one year since I spoke to Time Warner’s local president to find out what it was doing in Orange County. Essentially, the company was merging three different cable systems into one after previously acquiring bits of Adelphia and Comcast.

Unfortunately, the president is no longer with the company and the three cable systems haven’t been completely merged. But Time Warner continues to plow away to unify the different platforms, said Darryl Ryan, director of media relations for Time Warner’s West region. He’s not sure how much progress the company has made since acquiring Adelphia three years ago.

The benefit of having one system, like Cox Communications does in Orange County, means one cable TV system, one lineup of channels, one type of software and one billing system. This helps customer service employees stay focused and learn one system instead of three. Without the unity, customers are treated differently. For example, customers in Costa Mesa, or former Comcast territory, get 72 HD channels, while everyone else in Orange County,  including Huntington Beach, are at 60 HD channels (see charts below).

“Right now we generally have two HD lineups, former Comcast (customers some parts of Orange County the South Bay area, Santa Clarita and a portion of San Fernando) and everywhere else. In the former Comcast areas subscribers have a few more HD channels. We are working to get subscribers all of our subscribers up to the same number of HD channels,” Ryan said.

The company is testing ways to squeeze more channels into its system using switched digital video, which turns some regular channels into on-demand only. Time Warner has previously said it is planning to move the least popular channels to this technology and fill the opening with channels more people want. I’m fine with that because that’s good news for almost all customers, although TiVo users with CableCARDs will need to get an adapter.

Here are the available HD channels in Costa Mesa vs. rest of Orange County:

Orange County Costa Mesa
# of HD Ch. Channel # HD Ch.# Channel
1 401 KVEA HD (Telemundo) 1 401 KVEA HD (Telemundo)
2 402 KCBS HD (CBS) 2 402 KCBS HD (CBS)
3 404 KNBC HD (NBC) 3 404 KNBC HD (NBC)
4 405 KTLA HD (CW) 4 405 KTLA HD (CW)
5 407 KABC HD (ABC) 5 407 KABC HD (ABC)
6 408 KOCE HD (PBS) 6 408 KOCE HD (PBS)
7 409 KCAL HD (Ind) 7 409 KCAL HD (Ind)
8 410 KPXN (ION) HD 8 410 KPXN (ION) HD
9 411 KTTV (FOX) HD 9 411 KTTV (FOX) HD
10 412 KCET HD (PBS) 10 412 KCET HD (PBS)
11 413 KCOP HD (myNetworkTV) 11 413 KCOP HD (myNetworkTV)
12 414 Palladia HD 12 414 Palladia HD
13 415 TNT HD 13 415 TNT HD
14 416 HD Theater 14 416 HD Theater
15 417 TBS in HD 15 417 TBS in HD
16 418 Discovery Channel HD 16 418 Discovery Channel HD
17 419 Universal HD 17 419 Universal HD
18 420 Smithsonian Channel HD 18 420 Smithsonian Channel HD
19 421 Crime & Investigation Network HD 19 421 Crime & Investigation Network HD
20 422 MGM HD 20 422 MGM HD
21 423 The Golf Channel HD 21 423 The Golf Channel HD
22 424 ESPN HD 22 424 ESPN HD
23 425 ESPN2 HD 23 425 ESPN2 HD
24 426 ESPNews HD 24 426 ESPNews HD
25 427 HBO HD 25 427 HBO HD
26 428 Showtime HD 26 428 Showtime HD
27 429 Starz HD 27 429 Starz HD
28 430 Cinemax HD 28 430 Cinemax HD
29 431 HD (Pay-per-view) 29 431 HD (Pay-per-view)
30 432 CNN HD 30 432 CNN HD
31 433 HGTV HD 31 433 HGTV HD
32 434 Food Network HD 32 434 Food Network HD
33 435 Disney Channel HD 33 435 Disney Channel HD
34 436 ABC Family HD 34 436 ABC Family HD
35 437 TLC HD 35 437 TLC HD
36 438 A&E HD 36 438 A&E HD
37 439 History HD 37 439 History HD
38 440 National Geographic HD 38 440 National Geographic HD
39 441 USA HD 39 441 USA HD
40 442 Bravo HD 40 442 Bravo HD
41 443 Sci Fi HD 41 443 Sci Fi HD
42 444 CNBC HD+ 42 444 CNBC HD+
43 445 Live Well HD (KABC-DT2) 43 445 Live Well HD (KABC-DT2)
44 451 Animal Planet HD 44 451 Animal Planet HD
45 452 Travel Channel HD 45 452 Travel Channel HD
46 456 FX HD 46 453 Planet Green HD
47 460 Science Channel HD 47 454 The Weather Channel HD
48 463 FOX Sports West HD 48 456 FX HD
49 464 Prime Ticket HD 49 457 BIO HD
50 465 Fox News HD 50 460 Science Channel HD
51 466 Fox Business Network HD 51 461 Toon Disney HD
52 469 Versus HD 52 462 Cartoon Network HD
53 470 MLB Network HD 53 463 FOX Sports West HD
54 471 NHL Network HD 54 464 Prime Ticket HD
55 502 HBO HD 55 465 Fox News HD
56 522 Cinemax HD 56 466 Fox Business Network HD
57 552 Showtime HD 57 467 ESPNU HD
58 572 Starz HD 58 468 Speed HD
59 732 iN Demand HD Sports 1 59 470 MLB Network HD
60 733 iN Demand HD Sports 2 60 471 NHL Network HD
61 473 The Tennis Channel HD
62 475 Lifetime Movie Network HD
63 476 Hallmark Movie Channel HD
64 481 HBO HD (East)
65 482 Cinemax HD (East)
66 483 Showtime HD (East)
67 484 The Movie Channel HD
68 485 Starz HD (East)
69 502 HBO HD
70 522 Cinemax HD
71 552 Showtime HD
72 572 Starz HD

Recent Time Warner Cable news:

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 9 Comments

  • Jimmy says:

    i think i know what their problem is…i am with twc in the diamond bar area…this was jones intercable and adelphia country before…then twc took over…i can get espn on three different channels…i think the first one was from jones, the second one was from adelphia and the last one was the hd channel…this is true also for mtv and vh-1although they are not available in hd…if twc can just eliminate those duplicate channels, then they will have plenty of slots available…

    • Thanks! Getting ‘evidence’ from readers about differences between cable systems helps me when I ask Time Warner questions. By the way, I just tallied up the number of HD channels for Diamond Bar and got 58. Hopefully by eliminating duplicates you too will get to a higher number.

      • Bobomo says:

        I don’t think the “duplicates” are actually duplicate broadcasts. That is, they are only sending one signal down the line, but the cable box is splitting it into all different channel numbers. However, that’s just a guess. It is terribly annoying if you use the Favorites function (which is already broken as it is) because if you select one duplicate, you get ALL the channels. I have 19 favorites, but I have to flip through 30 channels to see them. HGTV, for example, is repeated 4 times!

        • Good point. However, there is some duplication because Time Warner still offers analog and digital channels. I should verify this, but I believe the lower 99 channels are analog. Hence, at least 2 HGTV channels. And you’re right, I get 4 HGTV channels – 53 (analog), 173 (digital), 433 (HD), 891 (??).

          • Bobomo says:

            I also get an HGTV on 1411! I am basing my guess off the behavior of the old guide software on my Scientific Atlantic box. If you switched between the dupe channels, the picture wouldn’t change and there would be no tuning delay. I’m not entirely sure, but is their some rule that requires channels on “digital cable” to actually be digital? If not, they could just be duping the analog signal and marketing it as digital, because you need a “digital box” to tune it. Somehow I doubt Time Warner will tell you!

  • Merging systems for 3 years and it still isn’t working half way decent. I hate Crime Warner.

  • H8cable says:

    Yea and I’m paying for all their expense
    $65 a month for garbage basic!
    They refuse to fix the too loud or too soft volumes on many channels like Weather and TV guide!

  • ThisIsNotAnExit says:

    I am with TW in Costa Mesa. Since they took over my TV goes from normal color, to bright green, to purple, to black and white. This happens several times a day and the only way to fix it is to change the chanel a few times and then go back. It happens anytime you watch anything on demand that is longer than 30 minutes. To fix it then you have to stop it, go to a regular chanel and then start it again. I have called them several times and they send someone to look at it, he says he fiexes it and it happens again. Been going on for years.

  • shemp says:

    It amazes me that people still pay for cable. I gotta tell you, the difference between cable and satellite is unbeleivable. I know a few peolpe have horror stories about satellite, but like any other business, you will get that. In the long run and for most viewers, satellite is much more reliable, a better picture, CHEAPER and MUCH MUCH easier to navigate thru. I have had both and woould go to over the air before I would ever let a cable guy in my house to install that over priced cr*p.

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