Comcast Cable Outage?

Question

We live in the zip code 98409 area (Tacoma, WA) and Have Comcast BASIC cable and have only lost a few channels.

We did not loose all the channels only a few,

ch 8

19

31-37

39-40

42-69

78

I know that the 2009 change affects antenna only but i heard comcast can pull any of the channels from their basic cable if they are not local channels, well we did not lose any local channels here.....Is this outage Temporary or Permanent!

(If your wondering why i am asking here is that our cable was just "on" when we moved in and do not get billed for it..)

Answer 1

By my count you had/have approximately 72 analog cable channels on your local Comcast Basic Cable service of which 40 channels appear to have been discontinued leaving 32 channels remaining. The 32 channels that remain—roughly a little more than one-third of your Basic Cable channel lineup—are comprised of almost all “must carry” stations (with the exception of those marked with an asterisk, which are almost certainly “retransmission consent,” aka “retrans” or “may carry,” stations.)



As you have already experienced ANALOG retrans channels may be discontinued at Comcast’s discretion unless prohibited by the terms of a content provider’s individual retrans contract. A compromise agreement in September 2007 between the FCC and the cable industry, which resulted in a subsequent FCC ruling, requires cable operators to pass the LOCAL MUST CARRY stations to analog cable TV subscribers in analog form through 2012 or until each individual cable operator has taken sufficient action to provide their analog subscribers with the ability to view digital must carry stations without the need of a duplicate analog signal supplied by the cable provider.



Must-carry TV stations include qualified NON-PROFIT/NON-COMMERCIAL STATIONS, such as educational, municipal and (CPB) public broadcast stations, LOCAL COMMERCIAL TV STATIONS, and a limited number of other stations that qualify under statutory must-carry regulations. Retrans content is exempt from the FCC’s latest ruling regarding cable customers and the digital television transition though cable operators may voluntarily choose to provide some retrans stations in an analog format (if it’s in the cable provider’s best interest to do so and/or if the cable provider is willing to [continue to] pay for it; cable operators do not pay must-carry TV stations for content.)

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Comcast Basic Cable Channel Lineup for 98409 Service Area



RETRANSMISSION CONSENT CHANNELS



8 Discovery Channel



19  Hallmark Channel



31  ESPN

32  ESPN2

33  Speed

34  Versus

35  Food Network

36  Travel Channel

37  History



39  ABC Family

40  Nickelodeon



42  Cartoon Network

43  Animal Planet

44  CNN

45  CNN Headline News

46  CNBC

47  MSNBC

48  FOX News Channel

49  TruTV

50  Oxygen

51  Lifetime

52  A&E

53  FX

54  TNT

55  TBS

56  BET

57  Spike TV

58  USA Network

59  Sci-Fi

60  Comedy Central

61  CMT

62  VH1

63  MTV

64  MTV2

65  E! Entertainment

66  Bravo

67  AMC

68  HGTV

69  Golf Channel



78  The Weather Channel

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(LOCAL) MUST CARRY STATIONS/CHANNELS



2  NWCN (Northwest Cable News)

3  KBTC (PBS)

4  KOMO (ABC)

5  KING (NBC)

6  KONG (KING5 Companion Channel)

7  KIRO (CBS)

9  KCTS (PBS)    

10  KMYQ (MyNetworkTV)

11  KSTW (CW)

12  Government Access

13  KCPQ (FOX)

14  KBCB

15  ION (KWPX / ION Television)*

16  QVC*

17  HSN*

18  KWDK

20  KTBW

21  KHCV

22  Government Access

23  TVW

24  C-SPAN

26  Educational Access

27  UWTV (University of Washington TV)

28  College Vision

29  KUNS (Univision)

30  FSN Northwest

38  TLC*

41  Disney Channel*

75  Government Access

76  Local Access

77  Public Access

99  CBUT



*(In all likelihood these channels are retransmission consent channels. If you would like to know which channels are “must carry” channels on your local Comcast cable TV service you should contact Comcast. Cable television service providers such as Comcast are required to maintain an up-to-date list of their must carry channels.)

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Based on the list of discontinued analog channels you’ve provided you will very likely need to: (1) lease an addressable converter box from your cable TV provider or (2) purchase a (CableCARD equipped) digital TV or full-featured set-top DTV tuner containing an integrated ATSC-compatible QAM tuner if you wish to maintain access to all of the channels in your local Comcast Basic Cable service. It’s important to keep in mind that option (2) does not guarantee that you will be able to view scrambled or encrypted cable TV content. You may be required to lease an addressable converter box if you choose to stay with your current cable TV provider. Other alternatives include switching to a satellite television service provider or switching to terrestrial over-the-air (aka off-air) digital television.



You should also be aware that retrans contracts expire on a regular basis. If a cable operator (or a retrans content provider) chooses not to renew a given retrans contract the cable operator must/will discontinue carrying any channel (or channels) covered by that particular retrans contract. So there remains the possibility that the disappearance of one or more (analog) channels isn’t permanent but rather is simply the result of (temporary) non-renewal of several retrans contracts. That said however, with the disappearance of such a large number of channels I would be MUCH more inclined to suspect that Comcast simply chose to discontinue the majority of their duplicate analog retrans channels. It’s difficult to tell with any certainty considering you weren’t being billed by Comcast for cable service.



Before making any decisions regarding your television service I highly recommend that you contact Comcast first for more information. Otherwise you’ll likely be limited to the few remaining Basic Cable channels as long as you continue as is with Comcast.



######## RESOURCES ########



Digital TV Reception - Digital TV Facts

http://dtvfacts.com/latest/category/digi...



Cable Television and the Digital Transition

http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Cable_Televis...



What happens to the analog cable TV after February 2009?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...



DTV in 2009 (Consumer Misconceptions?)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...



I am confused about the Feb. 2009 change...help, please?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Digital transition is very confusing to me?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

(Note: a revised and corrected answer has been posted under the Comments section)

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Communications Act of 1934: as amended by Telecom Act of 1996

http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf

  

Code of Federal Regulations

TITLE 47--Telecommunication



CHAPTER I--Federal Communications Commission

SUBCHAPTER C--Broadcast Radio Services

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/tex...



PART 76 - Multichannel Video and Cable Television Service

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/tex...