Bandwidth of various HDTV formats

I got cut off from Comcast a few months ago. No, this post isn't about that, but I do question the legality of their 250gb cap.

I want to know how much data is sent to feed an HD-TV, if you were to watch it 24/7.

I know that not all stations send the same signals, and that not all channels are even HD. I've done some reading on HD-TV and found that there are standards, but the bitrate and resolution aren't always followed.

Does anyone have experience with type of video feed Comcast puts out, and how much bandwidth it uses?

My assertion is that, because High-definition content on the internet (legal or non-legal, either way) is a threat to their cable service, Comcast has created a usage limit that is less than the amount of data transferred, if a person were to watch it entirely on their HD-TV. This implies anti-competitive policies, which is at the heart of the matter.

Specifically, if a person were to watch HD .ts 24/7 on their television, would it be significantly more monthly bandwidth than if a person were to stream netflix or watch legal HD content over networks like Vuze?

Thanks for your help.

So it seems the consensus is that both regular and HD-TV take up quite a bit of bandwidth, and would far exceed the 250gb monthly limit if watched 24/7?

Does anyone have numbers for the typical Comcast HD channel?

Thanks for you excellent responses, by the way.

Don't cable internet and digital television run across the same infrastructure?

I get a cable from my wall that, depends on what it is plugged into, can either provide data to my TV or bits to the internet.

Granted, I'm not saying they're exactly the same. Comcast probably compiles all of the signals to local stations, then sends them to the neighborhoods, which is much less bandwidth intensive than downloading a movie from Sweden.

However, as far as product vs product goes, internet high definition video is an inferior product because Comcast has created artificial restrictions upon it, which they have not done so for their competing product.

Maybe I just have way too much time on my hands, but I think it would be interesting to enlist the help of my campus law office to see if I could challenge them in court.

And the last thing:
I don't actually hate Comcast. I was using Qwest previously, which was nightmarishly slow after seeing Cable. Comcast has usage limits (and previously forged ********** packets), but they're not draconian like in Australia, nor have I ever been contacted by Comcast in regards to the content of my usage; just the volume of it.

Both the internet and cable come out of the coaxial cable though, so even if the volume cable traffic is routed efficiently, it still cuts down on the usage available for internet, right?
You guys aren't saying that, once the cable goes to the box outside my house, it is split into internet and cable?

I would imagine that there wouldn't be any separation between them until it went to their local substation, at least.