# Digital TV, legislation, and the cable company

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094 "2007-11-28T21:56:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094/1 "2007-11-28T21:56:28Z")

</div>

I was talking to my cable company today, and they said that starting 2/17/2009, they will no longer be \*allowed \* to provide analog service, due to the digital TV legislation. I thought that legislation affected only over-the-air broadcasts, and that cable companies could do whatever they damn well please. I also thought that cable customers would be the only ones who would be able to continue to receive analog content without a special set-top box to convert digital to NTSC.

Is my cable company right, or was the rep misinformed?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094/2 "2007-11-28T22:08:16Z")

</div>

AFAIK, the rep is misinformed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094/3 "2007-11-28T22:08:22Z")

</div>

According to the FCC [here](http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html), only broadcast TV is affected. It doesn’t make any sense to require cable companies to stop using analog, since the whole point of the mandated conversion is to free up some of the RF spectrum, which doesn’t apply to cable companies. So your cable company is misinformed/lying to you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-tv-legislation-and-the-cable-company/428094/4 "2007-11-28T22:15:05Z")

</div>

The [DTV Answers](http://dtvanswers.com/dtv_how.html) website explicitly suggests subscribing to cable to watch digital TV on your analog set:

> [@](#):
>
> Subscribe to cable, satellite or a telephone company television service provider.
> 
> All of these services will allow you to receive digital television signals on your analog television set. No additional equipment is required if you decide to go this route. However, be sure to check that the pay service you choose carries all of the program services provided by the local broadcast stations.