[Discuss] Comcast gets rid of the remaining analog channels

[bogstad at pobox.com (Bill Bogstad)]

On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 5:11 PM, Tom Metro <tmetro-blu at vl.com> wrote:
> I received a letter this past week that Comcast is getting rid of the
> remaining analog channels on their Newton/Needham system (other towns
> likely to do likewise). After their "digital conversion" a while back
> they continued to transmit the "basic" channels (largely local
> broadcast) in analog, but by March 13 will be strictly digital.

Haven't seen it in Cambridge yet, but I guess it is coming my way.

> If I recall correctly these same channels were the few you could receive
> unencrypted with a digital tuner. I'm not sure if that will remain the case.

As I understand it, they are required by FCC regulations to transmit
rebroadcasts of over the air channels in the clear.   They already
send those channels in both analog and unencrypted digital in
Cambridge.   You never can tell what Comcast will do, but I suspect
that they won't add encryption to a signal that I could get for free
with just an antenna and they are supposed to keep in the clear
anyway.

Bill Bogstad