Story Author: Mike Maroulis, mmarouli@iun.edu
Publish Date: December 2004
Source Publication: TechBuzz Report

On January 18th, Comcast subscribers in Porter County will notice massive changes to their cable service, including lineups and new features that were not previously available.

The biggest changes will be for those customers who currently do not subscribe to Digital Cable. Customers who had been subscribing to Basic service only will lose 22 channels leaving them with only 23 channels on their line-ups, virtually all of them being broadcast channels only, with the exception of QVC. Customers who opt to stay with basic only service will see not just a reduction in channels, but also a reduction in price. The price for Basic will fall from $28.58 per month to $13.39 a month as of the 18th.

The channels that are being taken from Basic are all moving to Expanded basic, a package that when included with basic, called “Standard Cable” will move up in price from $43.99 per month to $46.99.

In order to receive movie channels such as HBO and Showtime, customers will have to be subscribers of Digital Cable. Digital Cable prices are not changing, however there are new Digital Packages available. Customers who previously had a digital cable package, Silver, Gold or Platinum will automatically be placed in an OnDemand digital package for the same price as before. OnDemand will appear automatically when it is available and can be accessed on channel 1.

OnDemand will allow customers to access a variety of shows from a variety of networks that are stored on Comcast’s central computers. Watching these shows are like watching a DVD. You will be able to stop, fast forward, rewind, and pause these shows. There is no charge to watch these shows, unless you order a Pay Per View movie or a movie that is a new release. Each time you go to watch a show, it will indicate if there is a charge on your screen. Parents who may be concerned about children ordering TV shows and being charged simply just need to activate a parental access code to prevent children from accessing pay services.

Comcast will also start offering “Cable Latino” on the 18th in Porter County featuring 10 Spanish language channels including MTV Espa ńol, CNN en Espa ńol, and Casa Club TV. In addition all HBO subscribers will begin to receive HBO Latino on channel 558.

New channels are also being added to Standard Cable including BET, FX, The Hallmark Channel, and South Bend’s CBS affiliate channel 22, WSBT and NBC affiliate channel 16, WNDU on respective channels 16 and 22.

One of the most frustrating aspects of these changes for customers is the change in the line-up. 59 channels will be changing locations on the 18th.

When asked why the channels are being moved, Comcast’s Director of Media Relations, Angelynne Amores replied, “We are trying to maintain similar line ups in all of our systems to maintain our system more efficiently for our customers”.

The only channel that will be leaving the system completely is America’s Store which was on channel 96. Also, channel 274 which was Discovery Wings will now be The Military Channel and will have original series and specials for those interesting in Military happenings and the history of the military.

A new service being offered to Porter County are other Chicagoland subscribers is Cable Guard this $1.49 a month service is like SBC’s Inside Wire Maintenance Plan. With this service Comcast customers will not have to worry about something going wrong with their inside wiring, Comcast will take care of it.

Another exciting feature that is now available is DVR service. The Comcast DVR works just like TIVO but much easier. To record something on your Motorola made DVR simply use your menus to select record, just like you would set a reminder.

Comcast will also begin to offer Dual-Tuner DVR service in the near future. A Dual-Tuner DVR will allow you to record one channel and watch another, or record two shows simultaneously. The cost for DVR service is $9.99 a month and there is a one-time charge of $15.99 for the technician to install the Digital DVR box. If you would like to see Motorola’s promo of the DVR log onto our website, http://techbuzz.iun.edu and look to our video section.

Another new service is being offered to Comcast High-Speed Internet customers. For an additional $10.00 Internet customers can subscribe to faster speeds, the faster speeds may help to increase download speed and gaming speeds, however, it will not help if you have an older computer, or if you are downloading from a server that has a capped upload speed.

Look below for the new rate list and channel lineup for Porter County.

If you are a Comcast subscriber and would like to change your package or order new services, call toll-free 866-594-1234 or log onto www.comcast.com.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROMO FOR MOTOROLA DVR (REQUIRES WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW NEW PRICE LIST AND CHANNEL LINEUP FOR PORTER COUNTY