The end of analog cable for Mt. Lebanon? (Updated)

Today I received a letter from Comcast, informing me that all of my televisions would need to be digital ready if I wanted to continue receiving my television programming. Since I have the most basic cable subscription available, the implication is that, soon, there will be no analog cable service of any kind in Mt. Lebanon.

To see if this was indeed the case, I called Comcast and spoke with three representatives. None of them gave me the same story.

The first said that, yes, two weeks after the March 31st deadline to order digital equipment, all of the analog channels would be migrated to digital-only service. The second said that only some of the analog channels would be migrated; she thought that the local networks and government-access channels might remain. The third, however, said that the real story was a work in process: there is currently no plan to turn off analog service, and any discussions of moving the basic analog channels to digital-only service were still “in the works.”

So there you have it, straight from Comcast: confusion.

Does anybody know what’s really going on? Is analog cable service going away? If so, when?

Update 2011-01-04 19:35:

Commissioner Dan Miller has an update on the analog-cable situation:

Comcast is going all digital by late March 2010. Subscribers who do not have boxes now will be provided up to 3 boxes (1 digital set-top box and 2 digital adapters) free of charge. Customers can have these boxes sent directly to them. Also no charge for shipping. The conversion will begin in late January and continue through the end of March. For customers who have the most basic level, the stations will be converted in the last step which is scheduled for March 31. So in theory these customers could continue without boxes until then. But after that they will be needed. I have no idea what the lowest level of digital cable will include or what it will cost.

Cable Choice Could Be Years Away

Most of the Mt. Lebanon community should get FiOS TV service within three years, according to the municipality's agreement with Verizon, which it posted on its Web site after introducing an ordinance to approve it. It could be six years before homes farthest from the wire centers get service, and fiber-optic lines won't be run to areas where there are fewer than 30 occupied homes per mile, the agreement states.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_520142.html