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$1.99 each per month… every month.
Comcast customers in parts of Minnesota are receiving notification their cable lineup is about to switch to “all-digital,” requiring most to rent Comcast-supplied digital cable set-top boxes that will add at least $1.99 per box, per month to customers’ bills.
Residents in Eagan are so upset, a special meeting has been scheduled tonight by the Eagan City Council to discuss the burgeoning cable fees from the largest cable provider in the state.
“What we’ve decided to do is try to gather more information on behalf of our residents,” Eagan communications director Tom Garrison told the Eagan Patch. “I think people are certainly hearing about it. They’ve got questions, they’ve got mailings, and we hope to get them good and useful information they can act on.”
Comcast is in the process of reclaiming space on its cable systems by switching analog television channels to digital service, which will free up considerable bandwidth for other uses. But customers are inconvenienced if they do not already have Comcast set-top boxes.
Comcast has notified customers they can have a Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) sent to them for $1.99 per month, per adapter. The device makes digital signals available in analog so customers can keep watching. But the equipment no longer is provided for free. Customers will have to either install a DTA, a traditional set-top box, or a CableCARD on every television in the home after the conversion is complete.
Although the city will meet with interested residents, local government officials have very little say over how Comcast chooses to conduct business and cannot force the company to change its plans.
The problem here is that the DTA is basically a $30 device (that was the primary requirement for the development spec.). So Comcrap plans to pay them off in 15 months (then pure profit from there out.
At least TW will spread that out for 30 months (count our small blessings Rochester).
Do you need a device to receive a satellite signal?
What about FIOS? Do you need a box on every TV?
I think the reason people are more sensitive to cable companies doing this is that for many, cable has been the default choice for more than 20 years now. People could have rejected those competitors because of things like set top boxes. These customers like watching analog cable on their traditional televisions sans box. I understand the need to move to digital to regain capacity, but things like set top boxes and DTAs in particular should be available for sale. Comcast specifically sees the fee as a new revenue source so they are charging well in excess of cost. People… Read more »
If you have an analog tv, and you’ve been seeing channel after channel move to the digital tier, maybe this is a wake-up call that Comcast does not want your business. It also raises the question — “what the hell are you watching?”
Eagan is 20 miles away from the transmitters — easy for OTA! Maybe communications director Tom Garrison should also be looking into finding a “preferred vendor” for antenna installs in the area. Maybe the threat of basic cable subscribers fleeing en masse, will get Comcast to reconsider their DTA fee.
FCC Fail – there must be a requirement allowing for subs to buy their own. The right way would have been to go to a basic ClearQAM solution, however I understand the encryption to combat signal theft.
That said, more and more people are going to ditch cable for other options. I’m ready to give OTA plus streaming a go. There is no value in pay TV any longer.
Originally, the FCC was requiring that ALL STBs have a CableCARD with the idea that consumers would be able to purchase STBs and get the security device (CableCARD) from the cable company. This is still the rule: HOWEVER, the cable companies were able to convince the FCC that there was a need for a limited function (no DVR, no OnDemand, etc.) simple device (the DTA) that had built-in propriety security. Hence the DTA.
Bottom line, is that these devices will probably never be for sale because the cable company insists on complete, iron-clad control of security.
We realized 90% of what we watched was OTA stations so we pulled the plug on Comcast, installed an antenna, and bought Tivo’s. I live in Minneapolis and get 40/20 service through CenturyLink for $35/month. I’ve found that they value me as a customer and will extend my special pricing when my promotional pricing is up. We have channel guides, 3 DVR’s and stream plenty of content through Netflix. Now if we could get more content providers to bypass to sell to us directly we’d all finally have what we want that the cable providers have been telling us for… Read more »
So forgive my stupidity on this issue because the above posters are obviously more well-versed with this stuff. I have comcast internet, and i split the actual cable and run it to my TV just to get good reception. It’s “basic” cable at its most basic.
Is this going to require me to buy one of those stupid thingies, or am I good to go? I hate comcast as it is, but i hate century link even more, so I feel like i’m stuck…
Sorry, but it is true that you will have to get one of these DTAs when your cable provider does this. The reason is that: First, the signal will now be digital instead of analog; and second, they will encrypt the digital signal so even if your TV has a QAM (digital) tuner, you won’t be able to get it. Incidentally, if you are just paying for Internet and you have installed a splitter to feed the TV, you are likely stealing the TV service. (Stopping “theft of service” is one of the justifications for forcing customers to use these… Read more »