Comcast gives Twin Cities 11 new HD options
It is the season to give, you know, and while we've heard that Comcast will be on the receiving end of things when it hikes rates in 2008, at least users across the nation are receiving a boost in their HD lineup before having the family over this holiday season. Up next on Comcast's list is St. Paul / Minneapolis, Minnesota (and western Wisconsin), which is receiving 11 new channels to complement the 22 already available. Among the newcomers are CNN HD, Animal Planet HD, Discovery HD, Food HD, Sci-Fi HD, TLC HD, Universal HD, USA HD, TBS HD, History HD and FSN North HD. Reportedly, customers in the area are already able to view USA, Sci-Fi, Universal and Food, and the rest of the gang is slated to go live on or before December 17th.[Thanks, Ed]
Filed under: Industry, Discovery-HD, Universal-HD, Cable
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zargon @ Dec 12th 2007 11:31PM
Awesome.
I thought it was kind of neat that I noticed Food Network last night and that Discovery had been renamed. I haven't noticed USA, but I guess the UNIHD (or something like that) would be Universal HD.
Can't wait for History, TLC is pretty much worthless now unless you like Trading Spaces .
Also good to see FSN, though one of the other channels played a lot of Twins and Wild games, which is called MOJO now.
gparris @ Dec 12th 2007 11:54PM
Lucky is the Comcast customer in western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities as they really are!
We in god-awful TWC Wisconsin land also get a rate increase for 2008, like Comcast subscribers do, but all we got were 2 HD channels after the baseball-based TBSHD was added.
TBSHD does not really show HD programming, just stretched and distorted programming. TWC Wisconsin likes to say it adds only "quality" HD channels, so what the heck is TBSHD? Junk. Comcast should expand to take over all of Wisconsin and wrap it south to connect with Illinois where it exists, too, a better option than TWC ever was-or will be at this rate.
Though this was not discussed in the above article besides the HD channel additions and rate hikes there is one other mess not having Comcast:
Comcast is starting to add Tivo to its operation of its DVRs, but TWC sticks it to us subscribers with another nightmare called "Navigator", the mess TWC Nebraska had to battle with, so sucks to have TWC vs. Comcast for many reasons, doesn't it?
kastonie @ Dec 13th 2007 1:26AM
wisconsin, home of the cheese....
zargon @ Dec 13th 2007 7:46AM
Don't worry, the Twin Cities is still stuck on the old DVR boxes. I use to be TWC, but got forced to Comcast (still not sure how that legally went down) and I still have the SA 8000HD Explorer and original Comcast owners still have the Motorola one (I think that is the Navigator). When talking to them recently, their newest a greatest DVR box is actually the SA 8000HD Explorer and they had no date on when we would be getting the Tivo units. I have a feeling it will be a while.
Gavin @ Dec 13th 2007 11:12AM
Awesome! I noticed foodtv HD, but it's weird, it's not the same station as the one in analog. Different programming.
I just got a new box (as mine was having problems), that has cable cards. I think it's the SA8000HD. No problems since then.
Now if somehow the stations just made sense. I hate going from 35, to 632, to 1901 switching stations.
Justin @ Dec 13th 2007 11:34AM
Food Network HD & HGTV HD do not play the same thing from the analog channel. They both play 24/7 HDTV programming. Some does repeat but I'll take that over "upconverted" SD programs.
I wish we had Sci-Fi HD, USA Network HD, Discovery HD, and Weather Channel HD (when it goes all HD) in SW Ohio.
Gordon Werner @ Dec 13th 2007 1:24PM
If Comcast can add these channels there ... why can't they add them in Seattle as well?
Marcuscole @ Dec 13th 2007 1:52PM
Interesting. I am a SouthWest Suburbs Comcast Customer (Eden Prairie, Edina, Minnetonka) which was on the old TWC system.
The latest channel sheet/rate card that I got from Comcast has
1) Fox Sports North HD on Channel 402
2) TBS HD on channel 442
both starting on 12/17.
What the new channel card does not have, but the Comcast TVPlanner web site has are
409 - UniversalHD
414 - FoodNetworkHD
427 - SciFiHD
441 - USAHD
The same letter also stated the Comcast would be adding "dozens more HD channels" in 2008.
We are also moving our OnDemand channels from the TWC channels of 1900-19XX to Comcast's Channel 1
John @ Dec 14th 2007 2:18AM
Wow, I was just scrolling through the HD channels and noticed Sci Fi HD. This is going to be awesome. I'm excited for Battlestar Galactica to come back now. Also, it gives me hope that more channels are going to be coming at the beginning of next year as well.
Sounder @ Dec 14th 2007 4:10PM
How nice this would be if only they could make their system work, and if they could decide on one price and keep it. When the audio dropouts got the best of me, I finally asked for a new STB in July. After five visits from the technician, who installed cable card boxes that didnt' work, he finally installed an older box that worked well enough... but still had the dropouts.
As if that's not bad enough, every other month I had to call them and complain about how the bill went up yet again. Between the cost of HD equipment and service, plus HBO and SHO, my monthly cable bill was over $160, just for cable. When last month's bill went up by $40, I had it. They said no more discounts are available. To add insult to injury, within days I got a letter saying the rates would be increasing across the board yet again.
Enough for me. As of this week, I have satellite. The total bill has gone down by over $100 per month for the same service. In 12 months the only discount goes away, and it increases by exactly $20. Not $8 here and $4 there until I complain.
I can't believe Comcast really thinks people will continue to tolerate their treatment. They constantly told me to call back in a month and ask for another discount. Regularly they would "accidentally" cut me off. Several gave me an extension number to call them back later, only to never return my calls.
If you have the same disappointments with Comcast MPLS as I do... take similar action. Vote with your wallet. It's the only way they will start to listen to us!
Marcuscole @ Dec 17th 2007 10:51PM
The Comcast TVPlanner system for Eden Prairie Digital has the program listings for The Science Channel http://science.discovery.com/ for SciFiHD on channel 427. Oops. I also noticed last evening that the program guide for SciFi HD wasn't correct either.
Anyone else on the Comcast system see this?