Cablevision: No more expanded analog service for new customers after 2009

Cablevision will stop selling analog expanded basic cable service to new customers at the end of this year, becoming the first major cable company to switch to all-digital service. The estimated 150,000 or so of the cable operator's 3.1 million customers who currently get the analog expanded basic tier can continue to receive it.

However, it's likely those analog subscribers will be getting fewer stations as time goes on. Cablevision, in fact, just eliminated 16 channels from its analog lineup, which means that customers will have to rent a digital cable box or a CableCARD to continue receiving the dropped channels (which include Lifetime, MTV, CNN Headline News, and MSNBC, among others). Cablevision will provide analog-only households (who have no TVs connected to a box) with a free box and remote for one year. After that it could cost customers almost $7 per month for each box they need. For a home with three TVs, that would add about $20 to a monthly cable bill. The alternative is to live without those channels. As a result, some customers are complaining they're now getting less for their money.

Cablevision's decision is one that's likely to be mirrored by other cable operators in coming months, as they move to all-digital service. Many cable companies have already been shifting some analog programming to digital tiers in an effort to free up bandwidth, which can be used to provide more high-def channels, plus newer fee-based services, such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view. Cable operators can typically fit eight or 10 digital channels in the space required for a single analog channel. At the same time that it dropped analog service for the aforementioned channels, Cablevision also announced the addition of 30 new HD channels in parts of New York

"The transition to digital television is something that is happening across our nation, because digital is a far superior format for delivering television service, both in terms of quality and capacity," said John Trierweiler, Cablevision's senior vice president of product management, in a statement explaining the company's decision. "The vast majority of our customers have already embraced this standard, and Cablevision's move away from analog expanded basic for new customers is the next logical step in an evolution that will deliver clear benefits, including more programming, particularly HD, and additional choice."

Still, not everyone feels that this trend is good for consumers. We'd like to hear about your experiences with your local cable companies, and whether you feel like you're now getting fewer channels for your money—and if so, is it making you consider another TV service option. —James K. Willcox