More details on Comcast changes / additions in New Jersey
by Darren Murph 
posted Mar 15th 2008 at 10:53AM
As February closed, we got word that Comcast users in unspecified parts of New Jersey would be getting nine new HD channels on March 27th. Now, we're finally getting a touch more information on the whole ordeal. Reportedly, Comcast is gearing up to "reorganize its channel lineups in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties" in order to compress six channel lineups in southern New Jersey into two and to bring AMC, Cartoon Network, The History Channel and Turner Movie Classics to the all-digital side on April 12th. As for Ocean County, Cartoon Network, The History Channel and Philadelphia broadcasters KYW-3 (CBS) and WPHL-17 will make the leap to digital. For a breakdown of which high-definition channels are being added in which locales, head on past the break.New Comcast HD channels coming to "most of southern New Jersey"
- TLC HD
- Discovery HD
- Food Network HD
- Animal Planet HD
- HGTV HD
- AMC HD
- CNN HD
- History Channel HD
- SciFi HD
- USA HD
- SportsNet NY HD
- A&E HD
- Food Network HD
- Discovery HD
- Animal Planet HD
- HGTV HD
- USA HD
- History Channel HD
- SciFi HD
Filed under: Industry, Cable, New content
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gimpgutter @ Mar 15th 2008 11:54AM
About time we get some more HD channels. But, knowing Comcast these will be some overcompressed, blocky, saturated channels that are hardly worth watching (if there is even any HD content on them). Please God, let FIOS come to this area soon.
Jason @ Mar 15th 2008 12:00PM
Sounds great, I can't wait for Discovery HD! Does anyone know when central NJ (Middlesex County) will be seeing these upgrades?
Joe Otero @ Mar 15th 2008 1:26PM
The changes in Middlesex County, I believe, will take place on 3/27
Sriram @ Mar 15th 2008 3:00PM
What part of Middlesex County are you in? If you're in the Woodbridge area you ain't getting those channels. Up here we're just getting SNY-HD on 3/25 with NFL-HD being dropped from the lineup.
wes @ Mar 15th 2008 4:08PM
but what about north jersey
Ryan @ Mar 15th 2008 6:54PM
Gimpgutter, I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but I had fios for a month. I hated it, so we went back to comcast.
Terrible service
Terrible channel order
Terrible guide
Terrible picture quality
Terribly long to install the whole thing (Took almost 10 hours)
Every single thing you want is an extra fee.
A Verizon tax. It said on the bill "Verizon tax" Not quite sure what it means, but sounded like it was a fee Verizon gets in pocket.
Even the man that came to pick up our boxes (He works for Verizon) refused to switch to Fios because of the horror stories.
Oh, and I kept getting disconnections and bog downs on my internet. I had to restart my modem daily.
If i think of any more complaints I'll let you know.
And to prove I'm not a "fanboy" of comcast, my father used to work for them, but recently got let go. That was the main reason we tried Fios.
ryan
gimpgutter @ Mar 15th 2008 7:48PM
I certainly understand that Verizon can definitely offer horrible to service to their clients. I have read many stories from both sides of customers and only hope I get the good service. I had a friend whose cheap 720p Olevia HDTV with FIOS service looked many times better than my 1080p Sony Bravia W3000 simply because of the excellent cable/fiber quality. However, if i'm lucky enough to receive a good connection, I know I'll be charged an arm and a leg for it. Nothing is cheap anymore.
It is sad that no provider can provide excellent quality and consistencny across it's customer base. You can go to people who live two houses away from each other and realize one of theirs is horrible because their cable connection is inhibited on the pole somewhere. Shouldn't they check these things routinely and have a standard to measure the signal levels and other things? I don't know the technical aspect, but no home should ever experience packet loss with internet, blockiness with tv, and sound cutouts. That is a clear sign of poor company practices and clearly not caring about the consumer. /end rant
George @ Mar 16th 2008 3:22AM
So, does this mean those in Middlesex County aren't going to receive the influx of HD channels?
Darkest Daze @ Mar 16th 2008 4:21AM
All I have to say is, "finally".
Matt W. @ Mar 17th 2008 6:23PM
Ryan, you sound like the Comcast employees who seed misinformation over on the NJ.com message boards. As a happy FiOS customer, I have to say, there is no line item on the bill labeled "Verizon tax."
Additionally, the only people unhappy with Verizon's logical groupings of channels by interests/subjects are the media companies who prefer the old way of doing things, where they jockey for the lowest number on the cable system. From experience, I can say it works better when channels are grouped logically. My wife found channels she never knew existed on Comcast because of the logic Verizon uses.
As for picture quality, it is like night and day as Gimpgutter also notes. FiOS really does have the best picture quality.
I could go on about how great FiOS is, but I'd rather go watch TV...
Dave @ Mar 18th 2008 5:03PM
Does anyone know if these reported HD additions for 3/27 are going to be happening in East Brunswick for Middlesex County?
Jason @ Mar 27th 2008 9:35AM
Dave...check your TV tonight...we got the new high def channels...didn't get to see if we got all of them, but I know we definitely got SciFi HD USA HD, and SNY HD.
mark Solley @ Mar 29th 2008 4:27PM
Comcast had ads running earlier this year that stated that BBC America HD was coming. Does anyone have any nsights into this?
Dan Gagen @ Apr 1st 2008 12:34PM
Don't get too excited. I was happy when I noticed a number of new HD channels. For whatever reason, they removed NFL HD channel, which was one that I watched often. I still have the non-HD version, but I can't see a reason to remove any.
The bigger issue is what's gone. I have 3 kids, and we have 4 TV's without digital cable. Comcast pulled off Cartoon network, TBS, and others. My kids all enjoy the cartoon network, and there is no HD version available. This was simply taken off to force anyone with kids to get a box for each television, as if they weren't charging enough.
My number of TV's was a reason I stuck with Comcast as opposed to DirecTV, but if I have to get a box for each one now, I may as well go to the one which offers better programming. I'm sure soon all other channels will be removed to force you to get a box.
To think I was actually happy when I noticed the additional HD channels. That feeling quickly went away when my kids all asked what happened to cartoon network. Thanks comcast for continuing to screw your paying customers
EILEEN BLOCK @ Mar 31st 2008 10:08PM
VERIZON/COMCAST Which is the lesser of two evils? Ever since there has been construction going on near my home, since last August, I might add, I have to make a daily call to Verizon to get connected to my computer. Every time I get a new Comcast bill, it is 4-5 dollars higher. What to do? We get new channels on Comcast and get charged more, but when we lose channels, the bill dosen't go down.
David B @ Apr 4th 2008 5:30PM
Come on COMCAST customers! Demand they add HDNet and HDNet Movies. Far and away better than the stretch-o-vision crap channels Comcast has BEEN adding all across the country.