Hi-I'm new and a novice, as you will soon, see so please bear with me.
I want to listen to the digital music stations from my Comcast HDTV box via my Sony receiver ( model STR-DE897) without the TV on. I currently can listen with the TV on by using my optical cable attached to Sat/TV port. But I'd like the television off.
My understanding is that this can be done, and Comcast said it could but were very uninformed as to how to do so. Can anyone help with what connectors I would use, and from where on the cable box to where on the receiver?
Thanks!

If your cable box has another output (digital coax or analog), connect that to an available input on the Sony.

Well, that's simple enough. As soon as I buy cables long enough I'll give it a try. Thanks so much!

Do you have a surround sound system, squawbush? Very few TVs will actually pass-through DD5.1 via their optical output. Usually they only pass a 2-channel downmix. So, you probably should use a digital connection from your cable box directly to the receiver for all of your cable audio.

Yeah, I have it set up with audio going straight to my receiver and I can hear music channels without the TV on. If your cable box displays the channel and you've memorized where they are, you don't need the TV.