Goal is to add more hi-def programming

Tag : 1000M Media Converter

Comcast's changes will move MSNBC, Oxygen, Ion and Tru TV from theStandard Cable package to a digital level service. Customers willhave to pay more for a higher service level to receive thosechannels.

Hallmark Channel, TV Guide Network and EWTN will still be offeredat the Basic Cable level, but will now be broadcast digitally,Grove said. Customers will be required to use a digital converterbox or CableCard to get the digital channels. Grove said Comcast isoffering a converter box rental free for 12 months so there is noextra cost for customers.

PIN channel will be dropped, and 11 stations, such as the FoodNetwork, Golf Channel and BET are changing channel numbers.

New offerings will be Ion Life, Qubo, WPMY HD, WPCW HD, AMC HD,Animal Planet HD and TLC HD. All of the new channels will require adigital cable box or a CableCard, Grove said.

Grove said the majority of Comcast's customers already have digitalservice, or a digital converter box, so they likely will not beaffected by the changes.

"This move will not impact the majority of our customers whoare already experiencing the choice and control of digital cableand will continue to receive this programming withoutinterruption," Grove said in a statement.

For many years, cities had some power to determine which channelswere available and how much cable companies charged as part of thecity's franchise agreements, Morgantown City Manager Dan Boroffsaid.

But now cable service is largely unregulated.

"It's their business decision," Boroff said. "Youknow, 20 or 30 years ago, the federal government said cable TVcompanies had true monopolies. Today, with direct television, thatmonopoly no longer exists; therefore, people do have choices."

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