Digital transition could cost cable customers

By John Dunbar

updated 8:34 p.m. ET April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - For months, TV viewers have been told by government, by industry and by the media that if they already subscribe to cable, there's no need to worry about the coming transition to digital broadcasting.

So cable customer Doris Spurk was surprised to learn that thanks to the transition, she would have to rent a converter box for $5.95 per month, per television set, plus pay for a $60 service call to install it. With five televisions in her home, the conversion would increase her bill by 75 percent.

"It really ticks us off," the 63-year-old central Florida resident said. "If they are in the right and can do this — charge these prices — then the educational effort that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is doing is really misleading everybody."

Thus far, government and the broadcast industry have focused their consumer-education efforts regarding the transition on viewers of over-the-air television programming. But information about how the transition will affect cable subscribers has been scant.

The congressionally mandated transition requires all full-power television stations to broadcast only in a digital format starting in mid-February. Anyone with a non-digital television who uses an antenna will need a converter box. The government is giving out two $40 coupons per household to subsidize the cost of the boxes, and about 10 million coupons have been requested so far.

Basic cable subscribers
What hasn't been widely publicized is that the transition also will affect some cable subscribers.

There are about 65 million basic cable subscribers in the United States, according to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. About 37 million of them are digital subscribers, meaning they most likely have a set-top box. Those customers will not be affected by the broadcast transition, regardless of the age of their television.

But the 28 million customers who receive analog service — meaning they probably plug their cable wire straight into the back of their set and do not have a set-top box — may have reason to worry.

(Satellite customers, except in rare instances, aren't affected. Subscribers to Verizon's Fios TV system aren't affected unless they have secondary televisions that are not digitally equipped.)

Cable companies have two options for dealing with their analog customers when broadcasters turn off their non-digital signals.

They can either convert the digital broadcast signal to analog at the transmission source, referred to as the "head end"; or they can make their systems all-digital and supply customers with a set-top box that will convert the signal back to analog for viewing on older TVs.

The government-subsidized converter boxes, meant for use on televisions that get signals through an antenna, will be of no help in this situation.

Big cable companies like Comcast Corp., the nation's largest, are expected to take the first option and pump both digital and analog signals through their systems.

"There won't be changes in prices because the broadcast channels are going digital," said Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice. "But there may be changes in prices and services for other reasons."

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