Digital TV Coming Soon
From Peter Briggs:
Corrections to your story:
The Cable TV Advisory Board is not doing a presentation on Monday; that presentation is from the City Administrator.
Comcast has already applied for that 5 year extension.
Please don’t forget the 3 free boxes come with the stipulation about people who already have boxes do not get the 3 free. Only additional boxes that would total three and the price that they are currently paying for any boxes that they already possess would remain the same.
Digital conversions and other changes to Comcast of the Plainfields dominated the discussion Thursday at the Plainfield Cable Television Advisory Board meeting.
Charles L. Smith III, Area Director for Government and Community Affairs for Comcast, was on hand to answer questions that ranged from the impact of new technology to possible concessions to subscribers.
Smith outlined upcoming changes that will require subscribers to obtain converters to get digital reception, although some subscribers to basic analog reception may still keep what they normally receive. In that case, the company will have to rework digital transmissions back to analog for that class of subscribers. The new digital lineup will result in changes to channels, with Channel 74 expected to become Channel 6.
The change will come in two phases, one at the end of July and another at the end of August. The need for subscribers to get the converters is being explained in spots on Comcast as well as through mailings and ads. A subscriber can get up to three free converters and Smith said the Rock Avenue office is gearing up for an “onslaught.” Subscribers can also call to have the boxes delivered to their homes for self-installation.
Plainfield is the first system in Northern New Jersey to get the conversion, Smith said.
Ultimately, all transmission will be digital, Smith said, as the digital signal can be compressed to one-sixteenth of an analog signal.
Under the franchise agreement approved in 1999, Comcast was to have provided two local access channels, one for municipal government and one for educational purposes. Part of the discussion Thursday involved the possibility that there might be enough room on Channel 74 for content from both while further possibilities are explored. There is no extra channel in the analog lineup, so the second channel would mostlikely have to be digital.
Council liaisons Linda Carter and Annie McWilliams and Board of Education liaison Pat Barksdale successfully pushed in May for viewings of school board meetings, over city administration protests that Channel 74 was understaffed. Now the question is when best to schedule the school board meetings.
At the time of the franchise agreement, Comcast agreed to build two “returns” for local content, one at City Hall Annex and one at Maxson Middle School. Channel 74 operates out of the annex, although concerns continue over its programming. The middle school connection is not in use. Barksdale asked whether an educational channel return could be placed somewhere else, but Smith said the city would have to pay the cost.
Barksdale also asked whether Comcast would consider and “givebacks” or “rebates” to customers, but Smith said, “Rates are rates.”
The city’s 10-year franchise agreement with Comcast expires on Aug. 3, but Smith said the company will apply for an automatic five-year renewal. Although the Board of Public Utilities lists an ascertainment process that should have begun in 2006, Smith said the three-year process will start later. The process provides for public hearings on Comcast service and other concerns before a franchise renewal.
Members of the Cable Television Advisory Board are expected to make a presentation to the City Council Monday. The agenda-fixing session is at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice Paglia
Corrections to your story:
The Cable TV Advisory Board is not doing a presentation on Monday; that presentation is from the City Administrator.
Comcast has already applied for that 5 year extension.
Please don’t forget the 3 free boxes come with the stipulation about people who already have boxes do not get the 3 free. Only additional boxes that would total three and the price that they are currently paying for any boxes that they already possess would remain the same.
Digital conversions and other changes to Comcast of the Plainfields dominated the discussion Thursday at the Plainfield Cable Television Advisory Board meeting.
Charles L. Smith III, Area Director for Government and Community Affairs for Comcast, was on hand to answer questions that ranged from the impact of new technology to possible concessions to subscribers.
Smith outlined upcoming changes that will require subscribers to obtain converters to get digital reception, although some subscribers to basic analog reception may still keep what they normally receive. In that case, the company will have to rework digital transmissions back to analog for that class of subscribers. The new digital lineup will result in changes to channels, with Channel 74 expected to become Channel 6.
The change will come in two phases, one at the end of July and another at the end of August. The need for subscribers to get the converters is being explained in spots on Comcast as well as through mailings and ads. A subscriber can get up to three free converters and Smith said the Rock Avenue office is gearing up for an “onslaught.” Subscribers can also call to have the boxes delivered to their homes for self-installation.
Plainfield is the first system in Northern New Jersey to get the conversion, Smith said.
Ultimately, all transmission will be digital, Smith said, as the digital signal can be compressed to one-sixteenth of an analog signal.
Under the franchise agreement approved in 1999, Comcast was to have provided two local access channels, one for municipal government and one for educational purposes. Part of the discussion Thursday involved the possibility that there might be enough room on Channel 74 for content from both while further possibilities are explored. There is no extra channel in the analog lineup, so the second channel would mostlikely have to be digital.
Council liaisons Linda Carter and Annie McWilliams and Board of Education liaison Pat Barksdale successfully pushed in May for viewings of school board meetings, over city administration protests that Channel 74 was understaffed. Now the question is when best to schedule the school board meetings.
At the time of the franchise agreement, Comcast agreed to build two “returns” for local content, one at City Hall Annex and one at Maxson Middle School. Channel 74 operates out of the annex, although concerns continue over its programming. The middle school connection is not in use. Barksdale asked whether an educational channel return could be placed somewhere else, but Smith said the city would have to pay the cost.
Barksdale also asked whether Comcast would consider and “givebacks” or “rebates” to customers, but Smith said, “Rates are rates.”
The city’s 10-year franchise agreement with Comcast expires on Aug. 3, but Smith said the company will apply for an automatic five-year renewal. Although the Board of Public Utilities lists an ascertainment process that should have begun in 2006, Smith said the three-year process will start later. The process provides for public hearings on Comcast service and other concerns before a franchise renewal.
Members of the Cable Television Advisory Board are expected to make a presentation to the City Council Monday. The agenda-fixing session is at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 6:36 PM
3 Comments:
I ordered a box for the one TV in my house without one. It was on my doorstep within 5 days and connected in 20 minutes. Very easy to do.
Hi Bernice -- just a little background on the schools channel.
It was the school district's decision to put the return at Maxson School...way back when. I visited the studio setup which the District had put in the basement of the new learning resources addition after it was installed. Frankly, I was envious -- it was a very nice setup, well thought out.
The difficulty came later, when the District decided it wanted the studio and return at PHS, to which Comcast replied they had done what they were required to do by the franchise ordinance and if the District wanted it moved they would have to pay for it.
And that is where things have been stuck ever since, far as I know.
Any comment or info for us poor over the air users ?? I do not get all the NY stations.
GB
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