[April 25, 2010] Comcast going (almost) all digital Tweet Apr 25, 2010 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- For many Comcast customers, today means goodbye to extended basic and hello to digital. The cable company is eliminating its extended basic, also called standard, service and gradually switching the entire city to digital cable. The move will free up bandwidth for more high-definition channels, more specialty channels and faster Internet speeds, said Comcast spokeswoman Cindy Parsons. "This really helps us move our customers into the digital age so they can begin to realize the benefits," she said. Customers who have basic cable, the lowest tier available, will not be affected by the change. More than 85 percent of Comcast customers in Colorado Springs already subscribe to digital cable on at least one television, Parsons said. However, many of those people also have a second or third TV without digital. Those will need to be upgraded, Parsons said. If people do nothing, they'll lose the extended basic channels, such as Disney, CNN and Lifetime, but still have the basic cable channels. Comcast is offering customers up to three digital cable set-top converter boxes for no additional charge. Comcast is switching its customers in three waves, each affecting about a third of the city. Today is the first. The second will be in early May and the third in mid-May, Parsons said. Customers who will be affected today should have already received mailings and e-mails, Parsons said. Comcast will ship them the additional boxes and will offer online and phone assistance to help them install the converters. "We're trying to make this as easy as possible," Parsons said. "I know that the customer service centers in Colorado Springs have been very busy with distributing equipment." Up to 10 digital channels, or four high-definition digital channels, can be squeezed into the bandwidth of a single analog channel, Parsons said, so the change frees up quite a bit of bandwidth for other uses. Comcast has already switched much of the country to digital and is midway through the switch in Colorado, Parsons said. -- Comcast going digital Comcast is eliminating its extended basic, or standard, service and switching those customers to digital cable. People who subscribe to the basic package, the very lowest tier, are not affected by the change. Comcast is providing up to three digital converter boxes to customers for no additional charge. For more information, go to comcast.com/digitalnow or call 877-634-4434. To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]