O Canada! > Canadian > Rogers > [TV] Downgrade to Analogue

[TV] Downgrade to Analogue

reply to Tracer6

Re: [TV] Downgrade to Analogue

reply to Tracer6
I'm still researching ways to view a similar channel set from an alternate source - like a dish with two tuners. My Extended Basic Plan with Rogers has a few channels I want to maintain - like Turner Classic and Space. Will they be kept if I attach their digital box? I don't know. Their letter requesting that I drive to a store and pick up the box lacked such information.
Here's the Extended Basic line-up for Ajax/PineRidge as of Jan 12, 2012.

2 TVOntario (TVO - CICA)
3 Global Toronto (CIII)
4 OMNI.1 (CFMT)
5 CBS Buffalo (WIVB)
6 CBC Toronto (CBLT)
7 Citytv Toronto
8 CTV Toronto (CTVTO)
9 CTS (Crossroads Television System)
10 Rogers TV
11 CHCH
12 CBC Oshawa (Channel 12 CHEX TV Durham)
13 SRC Toronto (CBLFT)
14 OMNI.2
15 PBS Buffalo (WNED)
16 TFO (CHLF)
17 NBC Buffalo (WGRZ)
18 ABC Buffalo (WKBW)
19 The Shopping Channel (tSc)
20 CTV Two Toronto
21 ShopTV Canada
22 Sportsnet Ontario
23 The Weather Network
24 CablePulse24
25 YTV (East)
26 CBC Newsworld/Voiceprint (SAP)
27 W Network (East)
28 FOX Buffalo (WUTV)
29 MuchMusic
30 TSN (The Sports Network)
31 A&E
32 Spike TV
33 CNN (Cable News Network)
34 TLC (The Learning Channel)
35 Telelatino (TLN - East)
36 MuchMoreMusic
37 BBC World News
38 CMT Canada (Country Music Television)
39 Showcase (East)
40 Bravo! NewStyleArtsChannel
41 Slice
42 Discovery Channel
43 History Television
44 Comedy Network (East)
45 Teletoon (East)
46 HGTV Canada (Home & Garden Television)
47 Peachtree TV
48 Turner Classic Movies
49 BET (Black Entertainment Television)
50 SPACE: The Imagination Station
51 Family Channel (East)
52 MTV
53 The Score
54 TVtropolis (East)
55 American Movie Classics
56 Food Network
57 BNN (Business News Network)
58 Outdoor Life Network (OLN)
60 VisionTV
61 PBS Buffalo (WNED)
62 CTV News Channel
63 Treehouse
64 TV Guide
70 APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)
95 TVA Montreal (CFTM)
96 RDI
97 CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel)
105 now fuzz
129 Ontario Legislature

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reply to Tracer6
Rogers will eventually be turning down most, if not all of the analog distribution, in favour of SDV... It frees up bandwidth on the cable plant for things like VOD, higher speed internet, etc

I'm not sure when or how much of the analog system will be shutdown, but educated guess says sooner rather then later, and probably everything over 30 will go switched video.

It's not that they'll be "scrambled" - they just won't be broadcast, unless a subscriber in the cable segment is requesting it...

That answers another question. Why are cable corps going digital? [Not only will it block extra televisions in the home, but allow the cables to carry more content.]
Two days after receiving the "pick up your 'free' digital box" letter, the price increase letter came. They've conveniently circumvented any negative option rule; hence not saying NO means YES.
Therefore, my choices are three:
1. Bite the bullet and install the box, along with the price increase (which totally pays for the free box in the first year).
2. Find a better deal on a dish system.
3. Dump the above and go with a decent tower/antenna for 'Over The Air' digital. I already own a good digital tuner box (now lent out).
Still looking.

if you paying for the cable but did not connect the box, its not the cable company fault. your mother in law should have connected it, she noticed the channels were gone im also sure she got the letter from cogeco. btw, i am a shill, i get paid from cogeco to say that. lol j/k. anyways they dont know if u did not connected it and do not charge u less. bell does not charge u less if u use less minutes per month on your cell phone, btw, i get paid from bell to say that too, cus im a shil.

reply to Tracer6
in your mothers case, she was paying for the same channels before and after hooking up the digital DTA box. she was being sent all the same channels before, its not the cable companys fault she did not hook up the equiptment and was not receiving channels above 30. her account DID indeed GIVE HER access to all the channels above, so the cable company is NOT at fault, and is NOT required to refund you just because you did not connect your equiptment.

FYI if i have 200 mins a month but one month i decude to only use 30, do i complan to the cellphone company to refund me because i did not use the full 200 mins? thats absurd, and is a mute point. your cable co provided you all the channels, they even gave you the equiptment at their cost during the analog shut down. what more do you want? them to come to your house and hook it up for you too?

thats like me going to a restaurant and asking for a sanndwitch, and the server not only makes me the sandwitch, but she eats it too.

just a fyi.

reply to Tracer6
I don't have a digital box and am still viewing analog channels. Have been for several years. Until the time comes that I am requested to upgrade to digital, I'll stick with analog. The price is cheaper $32.49 ($34.49 March 1st/12) as opposed to $38.49 (March 1st/12).

Let's take a look at business morality here - something we have learned not to expect from any corporation. Cogeco did know that she/we had not activated the digital box. This is a signal to the company that this person either does not want to go digital, or can't understand what that package in the mail was. In both cases, the feed supplies only channels below 30. An ethical company would create a new, lower price point, for that service. But, companies make the rules, even though they may not be stated clearly and fully to customers. If Cogeco did call my mother about installing the box, she would have thought it was another scam caller. We've asked her to hang up on such calls. A stroke has diminished her memory and decision making capacity. She's already been taken in by the gas, electric and hot water tank scam. Now, I will give Rogers credit for having called me, offering to actually deliver a box to the door. My only worry, should I choose to accept a box - Will I, be asked to sign for it? And, by signing a form, will I have signed myself into a long term contract? Tell me they are not capable of such behaviour!

reply to Tracer6
> Here's the Extended Basic line-up for Ajax/PineRidge as of Jan 12, 2012.

My channel lineup here in London looks very similar to yours - about a dozen channels are in different locations, you seem to have 2 shopping channels (we don't have ShopTV Canada). I don't think we get BET either.

What are you paying for that package?

Im paying $69.65 (total cost including all taxes). I have that analog-only package, nothing digital, I rent no boxes or other equipment from Rogers.

My Extended Basic Rogers package will go to $67.72, starting March, from the current $64.68.
The basic service will be $38.04 from $36.01.
Since about 1977, cable rates have gone from about 33 cents a day to about $2.40 (extras and taxes on top). Granted, there are more channels (some of which I watch), and the picture is good except for a couple of low analogue channels. But I've tried my over the air tuner with rabbit ears, and the signal is pretty good. Here, on the edge of Lake Ontario, there appear to be enough channels to interst me in switching to free tv. With a tower and antenna rotor, I'm thinking more American signals will get through.

reply to Tracer6
they are already switchign to digital..

reply to Tracer6
Rogers is getting rid of analog all together. Nothing you can do.
I believe you can get as many boxes as you currently pay for, so if you pay for 1 line, you get 1 box. This move is for two reasons, free up bandwidth (analog takes way more than analog) and two prevent people from splitting their line..these digital "adaptors" require activation.

As for the over-billing, I would fight it. "only $6" a month over, 10 year, is $720. + interest. + punitive damages. Pretty sure it would have been illegal. Bastards, eh?

The digital adaptor box, btw, is a hunk of trash that somehow Cisco got suckered into making. Better off getting a digital terminal box from wal*mart when they're on sale. They are not worth the $40 Rogers claims they're worth.
--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. - Albert Einstein

reply to Tracer6
Are any US cable-co's removing NTSC channels from their service offerings at this point?

I had an analog cell phone (was part of a package I had at $Dayjob) and a few years ago when Rogers turned off their analog cellular service, I did not accept any of their offers for a digital phone and I let the service expire. I rarely used it anyways. If they do the same thing with cable TV, that's when I cut the cord and put up a real TV antenna tower.

I was already experimenting with OTA here in London last summer, and in the evenings I was consistently pulling in stations from 80 to 150 miles away - with a medium-sized yagi and no pre-amp (tropo was phenomenal last July / August). I'm going to get serious with an OTA antenna this summer and my neighbors are really interested in tapping into my antenna output and cancelling their cable TV service.

All US TV is digital now. No Never Twice Same Color services left so nothing to remove.

What a great idea - a shared OTA tower antenna to supply signal to nearby neighbours! All could share in the cost. We did something similar for a swimming raft at the cottage.
I visited our local Rogers store tonight. The manager said Rogers is being forced by the government to switch to digital in order to increase the flow of data in their cables. She offered to give me an extra remote control for the digital box, since folks at our house, who wish to control the family room television, find it quite handy to have two identically set remotes. When our tv set was new, I bought an extra remote. The digital box does not use the tv manufacturer's remote at all.
I appreciate the advice about getting a digital box at WalMart when on sale. I didn't know you could use a non-Rogers device (Or is it Rogers certified?). And is the Wallmart box HD, for which Rogers will charge an extra $3 per month just to let you connect to their system. The cheap Rogers digital box does not come with an infrared eye either, like the Cogeco device that I hooked up for my mother. Her remote looks better too - with a handy, yellow, mute button.

reply to Tracer6
OK - Roger's manager is feeding you crap... the Government hasn't mandated they do ANYTHING within their cable plant (SDV, etc) - either she doesn't know what she's talking about, and is as confused as the general public, re: the analog BROADCAST (as in over the air) shutdown. Or she does know, and is just playing on the public's confusion, rather then coming out and saying Roger's is doing this on their own...

As for the Walmart digital converters - those are for broadcast signals - as in what you'd pull down with an attenna - for TV's that don't have digital converters built in. They will NOT work in place of the Rogers digital converter, afaik...