Xfinity Shutting Down QAM Service

I got my Xfinity bill in Monday's mail and to my surprise found an insert about Limited Basic Service being encrypted on May 28. After looking through the FAQ's on the www.comcast.com/digitaladapterinfo website, it turns out that QAM service will be turned off that day. The "Digital Migration" has finally come to Houston!

Apparently Xfinity has HD DTAs now available, but will check at my local Xfinity store soon on availability. According to the insert, the DTA fee will be waived for one year for most customers. Hopefully I can watch basic cable channels that I can watch on my SD DTAs such as USA, CNN, Discovery in HD with the new DTA, not only the broadcast stations. I was hoping QAM service would go on for much longer so I can avoid DTA fees when my tube TVs finally break and only pay the HD fee.

Supposedly they are doing this to stop cable theft, but some others cynically say that this is a way to extract more money from rental fees.

Comcast has been doing this nationwide. I was wondering when they'd get around to Houston.

(Actually QAM is digital - Comcast Houston has been all-digital for some time. But now they'll be all-encrypted digital )

My understanding is that it's mostly so if someone cancels service they don't have to send a truck out. Cable theft is probably a secondary issue. I'm sure they'll rent more cable boxes too, although it's not clear if the revenue from that outweighs the customers who decide to switch to OTA, satellite, etc.

Charter has done the same. No more QAM and no more analog. I switched to satellite several years ago so I don't really care.

And soon it appears Comcast will buy out TWC so Dallas cable subscribers will lose QAM too

I was hoping for an HD-only transition such as eliminating the SD duplicates in the Preferred Plus package and eventually going HD only when available. Not eliminating the QAM channels! Hopefully the internet speeds will get faster just like when analog was shut down.

I guess you could say clear (unencrypted) QAM is being eliminated, but each clear channel will be replaced with an encrypted one. Encryption doesn't reduce the amount of data being sent, so there won't be any bandwidth freed up. Therefore, don't expect any improvement in your cable Internet speed this time.

I thought they were broadcasting the locals in separate streams to accommodate QAM and HD set-top box users. The channel table was oddly organized. For example, KPRC-TV is on 31.612 and KHOU is on 34.611.

Well, all their programming will now be received by either Comcast's own equipment or CableCARD-ready tuners such as TiVos, HDHomeRun Primes, etc. So Comcast may now decide to eliminate some SD "copies" of HD programs. That could free up some bandwidth. I doubt it'll be very much though.

JHBrandt said:

Therefore, don't expect any improvement in your cable Internet speed this time.

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Oddly enough while picking up the HD DTA, the equipment rep also offered to upgrade my speed from 25 Mbit/s to 50 Mbit/s at no additional charge or obligation. That corresponds from Performance to Blast!. I took them on the offer. Though, it felt more like an announcement of the imminent speed upgrade to stay competitive in the market in that interaction.

JHBrandt said:

So Comcast may now decide to eliminate some SD "copies" of HD programs. That could free up some bandwidth. I doubt it'll be very much though.

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There are some that are SD only such as TXCN. Maybe C-SPAN 1,2,3 will be finally in HD (along with the desperately letterboxed NASA TV and EWTN SD channels)? Perhaps Al-Jazeera America will be available in HD in parity with CNN, MSNBC, and FNC.

My biggest gripe is having DIY and Cooking Channel available only in SD but I can watch on the TV app in widescreen. Hopefully that will be rectified since those are the channels in the Digital Preferred package (extra $10/month) that I would watch the most if they were in HD.

Better get you a marcobuster device if you want to use your VCR, or DVD recorder. I got to thank Congressman Louie Gohmert for opposing Comcast merging with Time Warner.
I am glad I moved out of Houston, cable service isn't the same when Comcast took over. I guess I moved at the right time.

If they encrypt the PEG channels then Comcast will be breaking State law. Chapter 551.053 Texas Local Government Code. RECORDING OF MEETING BY PERSON IN ATTENDANCE. Please let me know if you can pick up Houston City Hall channel without the DTA on clearQAM, because if you cannot pick up City Hall channel on clearQAM Comcast will be in violation of State Law, and Attorney General Greg Abbott won't take that issue lightly.

While the FCC may allow encryption of limited basic channels, they haven't given them the green light to encrypt Public, Educational, and Governmental access channels (of which you are levied a PEG fee pursuant to State law, so you can receive those channels)

willdav713 said:

I got to thank Congressman Louie Gohmert for opposing Comcast merging with Time Warner.

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One of the rare times that Congressman Gohmert and Senator Franken have ever agreed on an issue.

True, and one of the very few times that I agreed with Franken. But let me know if you can't pick up the Houston City Hall channel on a ClearQam set hooked up to raw cable, because Texas Law makes it very clear. Which is also one of the reasons I can transfer Austin's Channel 6 recorded from the Tivo to my PC, they have to make the CCI Byte copy-freely on the PEG channels by State law.