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| reply to dworsky
Re: [CATV] RCN to Encrypt Basic Cable, Boxes Needed on ALL TVs e Over the weekend, I set up a brand new Samsung TV for my mother in law room. We have RCN and an HD TiVo box in our bedroom with basic cable (no extra channels packages). I was going to get an extra box during the week but I plugged the coax directly into the TV, then I noticed that during the setup the TV started looking for analog/digital channels and "descrambling" signals and found a bunch of them, enough channels that she might not need the extra cable box.
I was not aware that you could use cable without a box, specially now that is digital. Is it possible that I got lucky with the TV with a built in feature but that this will go away come April 10? Can I still have basic channels (HD?) without paying a monthly fee for a cable box?
The TV is a Samsung ES46UN7500 and I have RCN in Boston. | |
| This will go away on April 10. The cable companies were required by FCC rules to provide free, in the clear, any signal that was available over the air in your area. They have changed that, and now RCN is taking advantage of that change and will encrypt these same channels. So, yes, you are currently able to receive those, but that will go away. | | |
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dworsky
join:2004-10-29
Somerville, MA | reply to Geto
>>Is it possible that I got lucky with the TV with a built in feature but that this will go away come April 10? Can I still have basic channels (HD?) without paying a monthly fee for a cable box?
You are the very category of person that the change applies to. Most HDTVs have a built-in QAM tuner that has been able to display high definition pictures of basic channels, as long as they are not encrypted. You WILL need a box starting on April 10, otherwise that TV will become a doorstop.
If you want HD on that set, argue for an HD box, as I did... and you will get it for a year. (I assume you have a higher level of cable service than basic elsewhere in the house).
Edgar | |
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| reply to Geto
said by Geto :Over the weekend, I set up a brand new Samsung TV for my mother in law room.
I was not aware that you could use cable without a box, specially now that is digital. Is it possible that I got lucky with the TV with a built in feature but that this will go away come April 10? Can I still have basic channels (HD?) without paying a monthly fee for a cable box?
The TV is a Samsung ES46UN7500 and I have RCN in Boston. Short answer is NO.
Longer answer is that the FCC required that all tv's sold in the USA after 2005 be developed to have what is called a QAM tuner that would allow you to receive unencrypted digital signals via a cable. The equivalent tuner for "over the air" (OTA) digital signals is called an ATSC tuner.
When HBO began operating in 1972, and TBS began cable broadcasts in 1976 the Fcc realized that cable companies would be more profitable if they only transmitted a hand selected group of channels. In order to protect the broadcast television stations they passed a regulation that the cable companies had to carry those stations as well as any others. When the technology was developed to cheaply encode all channels, protecting the cable companies against widespread signal theft, the Fcc ordered the cable companies to leave the OTA signals unencrypted.
So prior to April 10, 2013 plugging a cable into some or all of the TV's in a home to get these stations was not "theft of services". But in November 2012 the Fcc regulation was successfully challenged in court, and the cable companies could begin encrypting all channels.
In my humble opinion, RCN should voluntarily leave some channels unencrypted. I would suggest the:
(1) RCN TV
(2) Public Broadcasting Stations
(3) Local independent stations. In the Lehigh Valley that would be:
69.1 720p WFMZ-HD Main WFMZ-TV programming
69.2 480i WFMZ-AW The 69 News AccuWeather Channel
69.3 WFMZ-ME Me-TV
69.4 WFMZ-RT Retro Television Network
39.1 Main WLVT Programming / PBS
39.2 V-me
39.3 Create
60 WBPH-TV
These channels would not be a threat to RCN's business model, and people who want to put small TV's in the kitchen, garage, or bathroom would still be able to watch the news, or old reruns without cluttering the space with setup boxes. | |
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