Mediacom moving to primarily digital cable

Mediacom Communications Corp. will begin phasing out all but 17 channels of analog cable television service on March 1 in a nine-county area of Eastern Iowa that includes the Corridor, moving toward a 100-percent digital lineup.

The state's dominant provider of cable television on Wednesday said it will distribute adapters with a rent-free lease that will allow subscribers with non-digital televisions to view digitally-transmitted channels. The adaptors will require a fairly simple installation.

Newer televisions manufactured since 2007 with built-in digital tuners can view Mediacom's all-digital lineup of 82 Family Cable channels using only a cable connection, but a digital or high-definition cable box is needed to receive most HD channels and digital features like On Demand.

Phyllis Peters, Mediacom communitcations director, said channels 2 through 22, known as basic or limited cable service, will continue to be offered in analog format for customers with a non-digital TV who do not wish to use a digital adaptor.

“We're shutting off the analog above channel 22 n March 1. Without the adaptor, subscribers without a digital TV will only have access to those 17 channels,” Peters said. “With the digital adaptor you will get 54 channels, but you will still pay the basic subscription rate.

“The additional channels include digital channels from local broadcast stations and Iowa Public Television, C-SPAN channels and others.”

Doug Frank, Mediacom regional vice president, describes analog signal transmission as an outdated and inefficient process that most of the larger cable companies are working to eliminate.

“In television technology, digital is the world of ‘more' because consumers get more channel choices at every level of cable service,” Frank said. “As we eliminate much of the analog bandwidth from our network, Mediacom customers can be confident that we'll keep pace with their demand for more high-definition channels and the ultra-fast speeds of our next-generation broadband service.”

The Eastern Iowa area where Mediacom is making the initial conversion from analog to virtually all-digital cable TV includes Linn, Johnson, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Keokuk, Muscatine and Washington counties. It will affect up to 28 percent of Mediacom's area customers who  are not using digital cable service, and also digital customers who use older televisions for some of their viewing.

Mediacom will provide free shipping for adapter orders submitted online at www.MediacomCable.com/GetDigital or by phone to (800) 578-8697.  Digital adapters also can be picked up at local Mediacom  offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Monticello.

Peters said Mediacom also is planning several open houses in area communities to make the adaptors available and answer customer questions.