Analog/digital cable question
 

With cable providers that no longer offer analog cable, does anyone know how likely it is that they would still come through unscrambled if you pay for digital service?

I ask because I recently bought a dual-tuner TiVo but have to move, and the cable company that provides service to my new apartment no longer offers analog cable, thus possibly rendering my dual-tuner unit into a single-tuner unit.

I didn't know they made dual-tuner standalone Tivos.

Yeah, they just released them a few months ago. Very nice units, but they can only control one digital cable box.

While my local Comcast doesn't offer analog cable as its own package anymore, the first 100 stations or so are still essentially analog cable, available to be picked up unscrambled via the TV tuner or TiVo without the need of the digital box. (Obiviously your mileage may vary.)

Ah, that's good news. Now the only question is whether my new cable company leaves them unscrambled as well.

I'd be pretty shocked to find out that any cable company has gone 100% digital. The whole issue of not needing a box for every single TV is a good marketing angle. It will almost certainly change once it's all HD, but we're a good bit away from that at this point.

I questioned that as well, but for a different reason- I thought it was illegal for cable companies to require you to have a box to receive channels (which is basically what they're doing by dropping analog packages). I remember this from the bad old days when cable-ready TVs were widespread yet people were still renting those damn boxes by the month.

Don't go citing this as any authority, but I think all of those regs have long since changed. I imagine that once somebody does go all-digital (which is coming eventually), there won't be a problem with renting them tuner boxes or cards for each device.

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But at that point most people should own a TV with a built-in digital tuner, correct?

Of course, none of this would be a problem if we had actual cable competition. I live in a competitive area and I pay $100 a month for cable/phone/10mpbs broadband right now. When I move, I'll be paying $130 month for cable/phone/5mbps broadband. How odd!

An OTA tuner is not the same thing.

I imagine by that point, most people will only need the cable cards.

It sounds like those who live in more affluent areas should have competition for their cable provider by the end of the decade from what I have read in the past. Who knows where that leaves the rest of us.