That's according to an article by Multichannel News.
Massillon Cable, a small cable system based in Ohio, plans to eliminate analog TV service starting this summer in preparation for next year's nationwide switch to Digital TV.
On February 17, 2009, all full-powered local stations must switch their analog signals to digital which means viewers will need a Digital TV, a digital converter box or a pay TV subscription to watch television.
Bob Gessner, president of Massillon, tells Multichannel News that his company will deploy approximately 100,000 'low-cost' digital-to-analog converters this summer. This will enable analog TV owners to continue watching the new digital signals.
Gessner estimates that the converters will free up roughly 500 Megahertz of bandwidth, which will be used to add HDTV channels that require more space than non-HD networks.
“People are going to expect everything to be in High-Definition,” Gessner told Multichannel News. “The only way to meet that expectation is to start now.”
Massillon, which now carries 25 HD channels, says the digital converters will be free to subscribers until March 2009. At that point, the cable service will charge 25 percent per converter per month.
Comcast said in a recent investors call that it also plans to use digital converters to expand capacity. The nation's largest cable operator has also been moving analog channels to digital tiers in some markets to create more space for high-def.
“We’ll be rolling out (digital-to-analog converters) pretty aggressively in the fourth quarter,” Comcast COO Steve Burke told Wall Street analysts.
_______________________________________________________
Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.
© TVPredictions.com
______________________________________________________
Phillip Swann is
president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in
dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox
News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The
Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
Click TVPredictions.com to read more news and features on TV
technology.