Question about Comcast and converter boxes.?

Question

If have have Comcast's cable service, and one TV already has Comcast HD with all of the other channels, yet the other TVs in the house lack the box for additional channels, do we still need the converter box?

A while ago, I saw that comcast commercial where a guy was getting all paranoid about loosing the channels on his regular TVs (or maybe I miss understood the commercial?), and yet his wife told him to stop worrying because they have Comcast.... but what I don't understand is how exactly that works.

In my house, we have cable on all TVs, except the one we have with the Comcast box has more and has HD. The second situation is with my grandmother's setup. She has a Comcast box downstairs, and upstairs she has everything coming in from antennas. Does this mean the TVs at my house will be fine, and hers won't be?

Answer 1

You will only need a converter box for TVs that ARE NOT connected to your cable service.  If they are all hooked in to the cable (boxes or not), you will be fine come February 17, 2009.

See the cited link I found to back this up.

You are correct that your grandmother however will lose all programming on her TVs upstairs when the transition happens.  Hopefully, she has ordered her coupons (the link also has that info) or is planning to hook her upstairs TVs into the cable service.

Answer 2

The change occurring in 2009 is that over the air broadcasts from you local stations are required to become digitial in format.  If you have an tv antenna either outside on your roof or rabbit ears sitting on top of your television, you need the converter box.  Cable subscribers and satellite subscribers do not need the converter box period.