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Originally Posted by Markel
The FCC mandated that cable to continue to carry analog (at least for local channels) until 2012. What I want to know is, if digital is so much cheaper than analog, why does the cable company need to charge at least double to go from the cheapest analog service to the cheapest digital?  |
i wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, as the date has been changed 425 times in the last 5 years (give or take 420 times). however, my current figure is
feb 17, 2009.
what the cable company charges is their thing. however, the equipment that goes into give you all the features and stuff is pretty expensive. as is maintaining the plant overall, competing with other technologies, etc. those costs will be the same whether or not they carry analog, but they will be able to offer more with digital.
basically, analog takes up too much room and would have to bump off quite a few other services. so, the "cheaper" thing is that they can offer 500 channels with the same effort as 79 channels (oversimplification, but still).
if you really need cheaper cable, ask for the cheapest and don't settle for the $50 package. there should still be some limited packages that give you the first 79 or so channels for less. i wouldn't know how each cable company does it, but i would ask for whatever gives just the local channels and a few others.
or go to the link provided earlier for the for-purchase box. that should allow you to get a few channels without the cable co.