Atlanta, GA - Comcast - Page 171

Yes, in other markets the local Comcast management made the decision to put their HD channels in the 600 tier, 700 tier, while here in Atlanta they are mostly in the 800 tier. Although some of the premium movie channels are even in the 700 tier.

They need a channel line-up strategy.

They need to reorganize so the channels flow logically. For instance, all the premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime) should be together, not at the end of the 700s AND some at the end of the 800s. They also need to carve out enough space for all the regular HD channels.


PLUS, Comcast is coming under increased regulatory pressure due to their impending ownership of NBC (with MSNBC and CNBC). Critics are afraid that what Comcast is doing already accidentally with haphazard planning it will start doing on purpose , in an effort to increase ratings for properties it owns outright.

Bloomberg News, a competitor to Comcast-owned business news cable network CNBC, suggests that Comcast could "hide" channels -- like Bloomberg and Fox Business News -- in the nether part of the channel range, while putting channels it wants to promote next to already popular channels (like putting CNBC next to ESPN).


Bloomberg is calling upon regulators to make "neighborhooding" a condition of Comcast's ownership. Channel line-ups with genre "Neighorhooding" would include categories like “News & Local,” “Kids,” “Sports,” “Movies,” where channels with similar content would be grouped together. That way, consumers would make an informed choice of what they wanted to watch -- not because they couldn't find the non-Comcast owned competing channels easily.

Years ago -- before small dish satellite TV became ubiquitous -- I worked at a local NBC station in a mountainous area of Virginia. Most people used over-the-air (OTA) antennas for TV viewing. We were far and away the #1 station in the market. Our local newscasts got a 70 share. Why? Sure NBC was pumping out popular programming at the time, "Must See TV", and our local newscast ratings benefited from that. But mostly our advantage was GEOGRAPHICAL. With a low channel VHF frequency we had the best signal that could carry and penetrate the furtherest. We had a clear signal, whereas one of our competitors had a higher channel (weaker) VHF signal and the others all had UHF signals which cannot carry well in mountainous regions. Ha! Viewers couldn't watch the competition because they couldn't find the competition. In this case it was nothing my station did, it was just luck. But competitors are afraid Comcast will rig the channel line-up to make their channels harder to find.

I don't know what system you're on, but here in Dekalb county, on the Stone Mountain headend, all of the HD premium channels are as follows:

701 - HBOHD
703 - HBO 2H
704 - HBOCH
705 - HBOSH
706 - HBOZH
707 - HBOFH
709 - HBOLD
710 - STZHD
711 - SZEHD
713 - SZKHD
715 - SZCHD
720 - MAXHD
721 - MDMXH
722 - AMXHD
727 - 5MAX
730 - SHOHD
732 - SHO2D
733 - SHOCD
734 - SHOXD
740 - TMCHD
741 - TMCXD

As shown above, all of the HD premium channels are in the 700 series as I posted before, and it's organized by premium channel company. I've had the above premium channel lineup since the Cavalry transition occured in my area in October 2009.

CC does have the main premium and a couple of extra premium channels in the 800 series, but I think they would eventually be discontinued, probably sometime after the Cavalry project has been completed.

It would be very unwise for comcast if they did place competing bradcasters on a higher channel in an attempt to 'hide' them. This, by law, is illegal and they could easily be slapped with an anti-trust lawsuit. I don't think they'd be willing to take the risk, as the fines are 90 mil plus and the government doesn't even have to offer concrete proof of malicious intent, but only the possibility of it.

I have Digital Starter with no premium movie channels. All I know is I see premium movie channels LISTED in the high 800s (Cinemax, Showtime, HBO) and when I go down to low 800s and go too far, I also see premium movie stuff down in the 700s. They should keep all the premium movie stuff together.

And I have the platinum tier, and I have all of the HD channels together in the 700 series as listed above on my cable TV. And what's listed on Comcast web page is not necessarily up to date. So for the platinum tier, your statement about the premium channels not being organized together is flat-out wrong, at least at my headend.

They are all together on the 700's on my system....the MAIN HBO, Cinemax, Starz etc are still on the 800's too. Frankly, it doesn't matter to me, my guide works just fine.

Exactly. That's what I am saying HBO, ,Cinemax, Starz, are also in the 800s. They are both places. You have premium movie HD channels with the same name like HBO existing in two different tiers.



Then obviously you are the exception. Oh, but what's this?



What is "CC"? If that is some abbreviation for Comcast, then you just contradicted yourself. ALL ALL ALL the premium HD movie channels then are NOT NOT NOT in the 700s, dude.

My goodness, why are you arguing over this? They are either all there in the 700s or not. I said I saw them both places, and it looks like I am right.

My point is they should all be organized better, they should all be together, not spread over two different tiers.

Look who's talking about arguing.

I'm the exception based on what?

Just because there are some premium channels duplicated in the 800 series doesn't refute the fact that all of the HD premium channels are in the 700 series and in an organized way. So there's no contradiction in my earlier post.

My point is that the premium channels are organized and the ones duplicated in the 800 series will eventually go away.

But don't let me stand in the way of your imparting your infinite wisdom on Comcast, since you're always right.

They are either all in the 700s or they are not. You have plainly stated they are not.

End of discussion.

When they are no longer in two different tiers, be sure to let us know.

That's hilarious.

Anybody had any luck getting just a plain (non-DVR) HD box with Firewire lately? I'm going to try to swing by a store today or tomorrow to pick one up - am I wasting my time?

While channel surfing today on Comcast Peachtree City, I found some new channels that I had not seen before.

Comcast SportsNet New England on channel 763. (Labeled as CSNHD)
The Comcast Network on channel 765. (Looks like the Mid-Atlantic version)
The MountainWest Network on channel 786.

I have the sports tier and digital starter. Anyone else getting these channels? CSNNE blacked out the Patriots programming this afternoon, so they may not be able to air NBA or NHL games.

Wow! Got them here in Alpharetta as well! Based on flipping ahead some in the guide, I believe 763 is indeed CSN New England and 765 is CSN Washington, even though the football games and guide info right now don't match up to what I'd expect on each. And you're right, they aren't allowed to broadcast pro team content outside of their local areas, so these are really just a benefit for college sports. At least Comcast is finally making sense by putting a network they own on their sports packs around the country in The Mtn...

they are definitely not all in the same place in any capacity right now. in our guide, everything is in the 800's EXCEPT the additional premium channels (showtime extreme, etc). for isntance, the main Showtime channel shown up in both 700 and 800 tiers but the HD sub-channels are only in the 700's. very aggravating...

Sorry, that's still hirlarious.

Hmm... I'm really not sure what's going on with channel 765. The guide shows CSN Washington programming (VA Tech vs UNC-Greensboro in basketball from 1-3), the commercials are for CSN Washington, but it's currently showing Miami vs Rutgers, which according to Mattsarz should be on CSN Philly instead.

I think it is The Comcast Network for DC-Baltimore. They use it as CSN+ in that region.

Got my Comcast bill yesterday in the mail. They list all the new prices for the upcoming year - 2011. I'm surprised no one has jumped on here and ranted about the annual price increases.

I quickly glanced over it, and looks like my monthly charges are going up by $6 per month (+ taxes, of course).

• $2 increase for Digital Starter package
• $2 increase for Performance Internet
• $2 increase for HD-DVR

Roughly a 1% increase in my monthly bill.

Modem rental goes from $5 to $7 a month.
HD box rental goes from $7.99 to $8.50 a month.

Hmmmm... I'll have to look over the prices again. As I said, I just glanced at them.

If so, then 50 cents more to the bill for the HD box.

But I own my modem, so that doesn't affect me.

Sorry, I realize that this is a common issue, but I can't find the NBC and CBS HD channels. I do not have a comcast box on my upstairs plasma. We do subscribe to HD channels and have a HD-DVR downstairs.

I hooked up cable directly to the TV. Did an automatic channel scan. Found like some 30 channels, including HD ABC, FOX, PBS, etc.

But I can't find NBC and CBS HD. I tried 73.1, 46.1, but no luck.

Any suggestions?

I live in Cobb county, in 30075 zip code.

Thank you

I don't have any help, but some commiseration of the same condition in Douglasville, 30135. I have no DTA on the 26" flat screen in my office, relying on pulling the local HDs from Comcast. Those seem to be missing as of 1/30 when I turned on the TV and tried to remap. ABC, NBC and FOX HD feeds seems to be gone from my world.

My solution is pulling cable from the coat hanger antenna in my attic that gets all of the local digital channels. Just have to get up there and do it.

I'm in S. Cobb area (Vinings headend) and the HD locals are all in the same place as before, no changes. I have a Win7 Media Center HTPC with QAM mapping set for all locals and would see them go away if they did, but none have. NBC is on 73.806 and CBS is on 73.809 here.

I can likewise offer no help on NBC and CBS. In downtown Atlanta I still get them on 73.xxx (albeit I tune them as 11.1 and 46.1). I did note last week, on the day before the Comcast takeover of NBC became offical, that all the expanded basic SD channels that I received with QAM were deleted (not encrypted, -gone-). I figured that once Comcast had the offical approvals it wanted, it no longer feels the need to appease the FCC, or it's customers.

I have been thinking of getting a cheap DVR and noted that Best Buy had a big display pushing a TiVo DVR for $99. The salesman assured me that I could manually program it to record QAM channels, but the packaging made repeated insistances that I would have to sell my soul to TiVo before I could use it.
My only interest is to record the Nightly Business Report, which GPB airs on a secondary channel at 04:00 (they carry it at 02:30 on the main channel, but tend to pre-empt it randomly). Basicly, all I want to do is replace an aging VCR and avoid using Comcast's DTA. I don't want to subscribe to anything or pay Comcast any more than I now do (i.e. $0 - I'm on a bulk subscription).
Can anyone confirm that the cheap TiVo DVR will work with cable QAM and can be used without a subscription?
(By the way - where did everyone go for the last two months ?)

A Tivo can only be used as a cable box without a subscription. No recording, but you can pause/rewind/ff live TV. It will pull in all the clear QAM channels without a cablecard. If you don't get a cablecard, it's no better than what any TV gets nowadays but if you do get a card you will be able to watch all your exp. basic channels on it.

BTW your Comcast exp. basic SD channels went away as part of a larger digital migration which has been hashed to death endlessly here and elsewhere, it had nothing to do with the merger. If you don't like it, switch to someone else but you'll have to get a box from them too. Yes, it sucks.

Before putting together a trek into the attic yesterday to pull coax, I checked the non-DTA TV and found ABC (2.1) and NBC (11.1) right where they should be. So I relaxed and stayed warm.

Wondering whether it might be a signal strength issue, since I have been having issues with FSN and On Demand content breaking up or dropping completely on the big TV in the living room.

Does anyone have Xfinity in cumming. georgia yet? I know its available in our area but we havent seen anything yet.

I know one of my friends just started losing analog channels up that way... which is what happens when you ignore 6 months worth of postcards

I have been asking the same question for 2 years. My understanding is that in order to get multi room DVR and remote access DVR you have to have a Motorola box. However the Motorola box DOES NOT work in any former Adelphia territories which Cumming is one of several (Woodstock, Canton, etc). I have not gotten any realistic answers as to why we have do not have the expanded number of HD channels I enjoyed in Marietta before I moved to Cumming. I pay exactly the same amount and get less service, go figure. All I get from multiple Comcast sources is "we are not sure"!