TWC dropped analog channels

[simonen]

I haven't been following the cable company world too much these days, but I think TWC has dropped analog channels in the San Diego area. My QAM locals got reorganized as well (at least those still work).

Have any other forum members in the same area noticed this?

I have done some internet searches for news on this, but nothing so far.

[jbrandon]

TWC in Kansas City did this about a month ago, they also blocked some of the QAM channels. I of course complained but it get no where with them. And here we really have no other choice unless you want DSL for Internet – which I do not.

[Monedeath]

Originally Posted by jbrandon

And here we really have no other choice unless you want DSL for Internet – which I do not.

I think I'll stick with the 1.5 Meg DSL line I'm currently stuck with(fiber hasn't made it to my neighborhood yet) that has no bandwidth consumption caps, and isn't shared with my neighborhood. Rather than grab the 5 Meg Cable service available here(through Cable One) that would limit me to 3 gigabytes/day.

Not that I consume that much bandwidth on a regular basis, but there are occasions where I can easily pull in more than double that amount in a day on a 1.5 meg connection by (legally) downloading software, and/or streaming videos. Looking at TWC in the closest community to me, I see they cap out at 5 meg for residential, and I can't find an option to even read the fine print to see what their caps are.

[mdnttoker]

Originally Posted by simonen

I haven't been following the cable company world too much these days, but I think TWC has dropped analog channels in the San Diego area. My QAM locals got reorganized as well (at least those still work).

Have any other forum members in the same area noticed this?

I have done some internet searches for news on this, but nothing so far.

Yeah, it looks like Wide Open West just dropped analog chan's in Chicago.

Seems everyone is now on the move to digital only...

[simonen]

I just realized that not only did they drop analog, they downgraded the open QAM local channels to SD resolution.

[davephan]

This is the trend for all cable companies. They discovered by making changes like that, they boost their revenue as more people have to rent more set top boxes. It's not helpful to the customers, but they don't care about them, its only the cable company's bottom line.

Dave

[Monedeath]

Originally Posted by simonen

I just realized that not only did they drop analog, they downgraded the open QAM local channels to SD resolution.

That could be a mixed issue of greed on the part of the CableCo and greed on the part of the feed providers.

The feed providers aren't too concerned about SD quality recordings, although they may make noises about them being digitized and distributed with no loss factors. It is the HD quality recordings that they're being truly twitchy about being unprotected.

And in many respects, I'd personally be a lot happier with a ClearQAM digital feed of a channel in SD resolutions than dealing in the Analogue NTSC feed being digitized on my end. The quality tends to be higher when it is done on their end. It is when they decide to encrypt everything that I become an unhappy camper.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by simonen

I haven't been following the cable company world too much these days, but I think TWC has dropped analog channels in the San Diego area.

As of 1 June 2011 9PM PT, TimeWarner cable in my area still feeds channels 2-99 as standard definition analog.

TWC in San Diego has two regions: San Diego per se and North County, with the latter being essentially telephone area code 760. I'm in 858, just south of the TWC North County boundary.

I've heard no rumors of discontinuing analog - and I'm sure there would be a big broo-ha-ha in the news if it was imminent.