This Ars Technica article from 2006 sort of explains what cable companies are up against. If you want to complain about the lack of HD, blame all the analog SD channels that even "cable ready" televisions can receive:
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HD channels stretch cables bandwidthIn short, everyone is going to have to get a digital set top box or DVR in order to see cable television in the future. Having a "cable ready" TV just won't cut it for long.
Cable TV will become truly digital instead of a amalgamation of digital and analog. Analog is a bandwidth hog. It was fine years ago when there were about 100 channels, but that's no longer the case anymore.
For services like DirecTV and Dish Network, they're both true digital and each single analog channel aboard their orbiting satellite has the bandwidth capacity to deliver up to 6 digital channels at the same time with minimal compression.
Cable providers everywhere are transitioning customers over. Just a few months ago, a friend of mine in Washington state who is a Comcast customer was told that her "cable ready" TV would no longer work on their system and she was forced to take a set top box. Luckily for her, she didn't have to pay extra for it.
Here in Rapid City, SD, Midcontinent went all digital last year and now ofter more channels and higher speed internet for the same price that us Knology/WOW! customers are paying. In short, Midcontinent subscribers got a free upgrade.