By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
In less than a week, Charter Communications – Whitewater’s cable provider – will no longer transmit channels on its line-up through analog transmission, a method that has been used since the dawn of the cable industry.
While Charter’s decision will be seamless to some of the company’s subscribers – particularly those with newer TVs – others will need to take extra steps to ensure they are able to watch some of their favorite programs.
Alan Luckett, Whitewater community TV coordinator, came before the Common Council on April 3 and discussed Charter’s change, which takes affect next Tuesday, April 22. The city has long had an intricate relationship with Charter, in part because locally produced programs appear on public access channels on the company’s line-up.
Luckett said Charter is doing away with analog transmission – typically found on Channels 2 through 99 – in an effort to increase bandwidth. For every analog channel, Luckett said Charter could fill the bandwidth space with about 10 channels delivered through digital transmission.
Charter’s decision is not to be confused with the Federal Communication Commission’s mandate, implemented five years ago, that required broadcasters shut off their analog signals and transmit only in digital.
Although over-the-air television is almost completely digital at this point, cable TV can still be transmitted through the analog method that has been in place since the dawn of TV.
Kim Haas, communications director with Charter, said the change essentially means company-issued equipment will be needed to receive cable service. Customers with a cable plugged into the back of their TVs will be impacted by the changeover.
“The type of TV (a customer has) really doesn’t make a difference,” Haas said.
Charter is offering set-top boxes for free in some instances for up to a year. For complete details, visit www.charter.com/digitalnow or call (888) 438-3427.
