Audio Video News

At least one major cable operator is pruning analog channels in advance of the end of analog broadcasting, slated for February 17, 2009. Time Warner Cable's Staten Island Project will provide 100 new channels of HDTV to the southernmost borough of New York City.

However, the company isn't exactly trumpeting the news. It came out in court papers filed in connection with TWC's lawsuit against DirecTV. The cable operator has accused the satellite operator of false advertising regarding the latter's supposedly superior channel capacity.

"TWC is not limited to approximately 30 HD channels, even in the near-term, because it may readily redeploy some of its existing bandwidth to accommodate more HD channels," a Time Warner engineer told the court. The report in Multichannel News estimated that 30 to 40 analog channels may have been removed to make way for the new digital channels.

Multichannel News also reports that Comcast is making a similar move in Chicago, removing 38 analog channels, and freeing up 228MHz of capacity, enough for 360 standard-definition channels.

Removing analog channels shouldn't affect subscribers using cable boxes (except that they'd need new ones). However it would require customers feeding an analog cable-ready set to get boxes.