Customer ServiceeRegister
The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill

Archive for the 'analog' Tag

Psssst: Digital cable TV is cheaper than analog cable

December 17th, 2009, 9:22 am by

Time Warner Cable signHere’s a little known fact about cable TV service from Time Warner Cable: Digital cable is cheaper than analog.

In Orange County, Time Warner’s digital cable package includes 200 channels, on-demand video and one special tier of channels (movies, variety, sports, etc.) for $50.95. This is the published rate, not a special promotion. You will need to rent a digital cable box for $6/month.

Basic analog cable, which is $55.50 to $58 per month depending on what city you live in, offers much less. That number shrunk this week as Time Warner moved some of these analog channels (ABC Family, The Weather Channel, TruTV) to digital to make room for more digital services for the majority of its customers. Time Warner has said that 80 percent of its Southern California customers are digital subscribers. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 48 Comments »

Time Warner makes room for 100 HD channels, kicks out others

November 10th, 2009, 4:53 pm by

Time Warner Cable photo, courtesy of AP.On Dec. 8,  Time Warner Cable will move eight channels to digital for those in Orange County and Los Angeles. That means customers who get cable TV service by plugging a TV into the wall or using an older analog cable box will need to upgrade to digital equipment.

The change will make room for several new HD channels, including AMC HD, The Weather Channel HD, History International HD, ESPNU HD and “many more,” according to a letter sent to subscribers this week. Next month starts the company’s kickoff to reach 100 HD channels.

The analog channels that are moving – KWHY, Shop NBC, AMC, The Weather Channel, ABC Family, Oxygen, TruTV and Style — will all still be exist on the same channel number, but only in a digital format. If you don’t have a digital set-top box, you won’t be able to access them.

For customers who don’t have a digital box, Time Warner will let you borrow one for free for one year. This offer only applies to households without a digital box. If you already lease digital boxes but have an extra TV plugged into the wall, you’ll need to pay for a digital box to get all the channels on that TV.

TWC changes Channel
KWHY 22
Shop NBC 96
AMC 55
The Weather Channel 47
ABC Family 46
Oxygen 68
TruTV 49
Style 130

“With more digital carriage space available, we will be able to free up bandwidth for future uses, such as launching new channels, providing more services and offering even more HD, not to mention, this will enhance picture quality and sound on existing services,” said Darryl Ryan, Time Warner Cable’s local director of media relations.

Lots of things are going on here including: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | 8 Comments »

New guy: No more digital TV delays, expired coupons to get 2nd chance

March 18th, 2009, 10:32 am by

America will move to digital TV on June 12 and that’s final, said Gary Locke, President Obama’s nominee for head of the Department of Commerce. 

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, the Washington state governor said he has no plans to seek more funding or an extension to the digital TV transition, initially set for Feb. 17 but delayed till June after politicians felt America wasn’t ready.

Consumers who rely on antennas and analog TVs will have no TV service when networks begin broadcasting in digital only. But consumers don’t need to buy a new digital TV or subscribe to cable or satellite TV. They can buy a digital converter box, which costs between $40 to $100. (For tips, see the  ”Gadgetress Guide to the 2009 Digital TV Transition.”)

One reason the DTV transition was delayed was the government-funded program offering $40 coupons on converter boxes ran out of money in January. About 33 million coupons had been redeemed and new requests were put on a waiting list. Thanks to the president’s economic stimulus plan, the coupon program got another $650 million.

That money was received earlier this month and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which runs the program, begin mailing out coupons to the 4.1 million on the waiting list.

Of the $650 million in new funding, approximately $160 million was set aside for administration and operational expenses. Those include contracting the service to IBM to process the coupon requests and mail them out. The $490 million dedicated to coupons can fulfill 12.25 million requests. 

“It takes us a few days to sort through the (waiting) list and make sure they are valid requests,” said Bart Forbes, the NTIA’s public affairs specialist. “We’ve been mailing out 400,000 coupons per workday.”

The law that delayed the digital transition in June also allows for people who let their $40 coupon expire to apply for one more. Details on when and how the reapplication process will work will be released as soon as next week, which Locke also mentioned during his confirmation hearing, Forbes said.

“We’ve been changing our process” to accommodate requests from expired coupon holders, Forbes said. “We had to rework the whole system.”

For those who still need a coupon, here is how to get one: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

FCC got 28,315 calls Tuesday over digital TV switch

February 18th, 2009, 4:25 pm by

In Orange County and Los Angeles, only one channel, KHIZ’s Channel 64, made the switch to digital yesterday, the original deadline for the transition from analog.

But even though the government postponed the move until June 12, some 421 channels were allowed to switch anyway. (Read “Today is NOT digital TV transition day.“)

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, 28,315 people called its consumer help line on Tuesday wondering what happened. That’s nearly 20 people per minute. I’m assuming none were from O.C.

Call volume had been increasing in recent days. Last Friday, there were 11,819. On Monday, there were 20,673 calls. However, since the 421 channels stopped broadcasting in analog at midnight, the FCC expects more calls today. As of 8 a.m. this morning, the FCC call center received 6,750 calls.

The biggest complaint: People who didn’t realize they needed to rescan their converter boxes to find newly digital channels. 

Also, National Association of Broadcasters surveyed its members and found that they experienced low call volume in the 12 hours after the stations went digital. On average, stations received 50 to 200 calls.

“These findings from local stations, coupled with the FCC data, paint the picture that by and large TV households affected in those markets were ready,” Jonathan Collegio, NAB vice president for the digital television transition, said in a statement. “Given the large number of broadcast-only households affected during yesterday’s transition, a relatively small percentage of viewers so far have needed assistance.”

Here in Orange County, only three full-power stations have switched to all digital, according to the FCC: KJLA’s Channel 33, KHIZ’s Channel 64 and KVMD (which actually has been all digital for several years). The rest have agreed to hold off until the new June 12 deadline.

The NAB offered results from the San Diego market, where three channels went digital:

  • KFMB-TV received 3 calls and 25 emails, most of which were antenna-related questions.
  • KSWB-TV has only received about 20 calls so far.
  • KGTV-TV, which turned off its analog signal just before midnight on Tuesday, has received about 10-20 calls per hour since switching to digital. Over 60 percent  of calls are from viewers who needed to rescan. Since the station has moved to a new channel on the VHF band, some people didn’t have the right antenna.

More digital TV transition news: Check out the Gadgetress Guide to the Digital TV transition. Latest headlines:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • | Comments Off

SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline