Comcast XFINITY TV → Re: What channels come with what bundles?

You'd think a multi-billion dollar company could at least keep a website relatively correct.

Given the ammount of systems, local changes, and local specific channels, and number of changes with the cavalry project, it would be nearly impossible.

One area where the DBS guys (Dish/DirecTV) actually have the advantage.. Everyone everywhere has the same thing. Same channels, Same place on the dial (Who remembers TVs with dials?) the only real difference is local channels, and those are still fairly simple I'm going to guess.

When I was in to do a box swap a year + ago, I asked and they gave me a couple of cards with the channel plan. Sadly it seems to change... ALOT.

My biggest complaint is just an apparent lack of organization with regards to channels. They built in gaps, but not enough for what's been implemented. If Comcast wanted to pay me in TV Services, I'd be more than happy to realign the lineup.

(2-99 are what used to be analogs, 100-148ish are your Basic Digitals as I call them, 149-170 are Encore, 180-299 are HD, 300-339 are HBO/Cinemax and the like, 340-349 are Showtime/TMC, 370-380 Starz, 400-450 are MusicChoice, 500's are Adult PPV... EXCEPT: 225-230 are HD of All the movie (HBOHD, TMCHD, ShoHD, CinHD, StarzHD), 260-280 are Local HD & Local .2,.3,.4 Broadcast), There are some Encore channels mixed into the 120's... Not to mention some serious duplication of channels. (Right now, I have at least 4 different channels for Hallmark Channel. 2 SD, 2HD. All show the exact same thing, except for the HD/SD aspect. Before the "Watch in HD" Button started appearing, it was hard to keep track of what I had in digital and HD and access to and where it was. This is one area that I think ATT got it right with Uverse. There is the channel set between 100-999; then for HD streams (this isn't absolute, but a majority), simply add 1 to the beginning of the channel. IE: SD Version of Channel 150, HD is 1150.

As much as it would hurt those who know the channel lineup, I think it's time for a massive re-organization. Breakdown by subscription class, and have HD streams either offset by a given amount(Add 500 or 1000) or "next door". (IE: SD Streams are Even, HD is Odds. Want the HD Stream, just chan-up. Would slow down channel surfing though for those habitual. (Of course, even better would be to implement hardware that could down-convert on the fly. Eliminate SD streams all together. Think of the bandwidth that could be reclaimed.

Actual from what I've read Comcast will be doing exactly that in the next year or two.

That still doesn't help when they don't label their triple play packages with the same name as their lineups.

You know Morac, some days it feels like CC is 5+ years behind when it comes to the TV side of stuff. Sure we have the latest channels and HD, but the rest seems to have stagnated.

I mean, changing the channel lineup is as simple as updating a text file on a server now that everything's all digital. Yes, I know there's a huge social side (Updated channel lists, advising the customers, marketing, etc.).

I just had a wild idea. Now that we're into the age of Digital, and Channel Numbers no longer really mean anything (With ATSC, Broadcast Channels can be mapped to different on tv channels than their broadcast channel), why not eliminate the concept of a channel number all the way around?? Every channel has an Network now, or an Station ID (those 4 letters). Why should I have to jump on my TV and say I want to watch Channel 27. Or 222. Why can't I just punch in "AMC". or "AMCHD". Yes, I know, that would be another major standard change, but in 5, 10, 20 years, we'll be changing everything again anyways, so maybe it's something to consider.

(Not to mention we're still using the same visually appearing on screen guide that we've been using for 10 years? Only real difference I seem to notice is now there's a TV window in the top left for some models. Oh, and the "ad" bar in the bottom that takes up a line or two.. I think it's time for a nice visual overhaul.

no do like Directv and have HD and SD have the same number or same number with -1 on it (used for part time channels mostly over flows) and you can hide the SD channels as well.

There are to many SD boxes out there to get rid of sd real fast.

In actuality, it is a relatively simple enterprise database application.

If any local Comcast office changes the channel lineup, then those changes need to be entered into the application. Chances are very good that those changes are already entered into a database somewhere and that the problem is that the various local databases are not interconnected.

To me it looks like another problem caused by Comcast's fast growth over the past few years.