Comcast Adds Four HDTV Channels in Chicago
Gripes About Operator’s Analog-Reclamation Project Drop in June
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/17/2007 5:14:00 PM
On the heels of completing an analog-reclamation project in the Windy City, Comcast Wednesday will launch four new HD channels in Chicago: A&E HD, Food Network HD, Home & Garden Television HD and National Geographic Channel HD.
In April, Comcast began chopping out 38 analog channels in its expanded-basic analog tier -- a process it completed during the last week of June, according to Rich Ruggiero, vice president of communications and public affairs for Comcast’s Greater Chicago region.
The four new HD channels will occupy bandwidth freed up by the elimination of the analog channels, Ruggiero said. When Comcast first announced the digital transition, he noted, “we mentioned that additional HD and on-demand programming were among the benefits that customers could experience as a result of this change.”
Meanwhile, customer complaints in June to the City of Chicago’s Department of Consumer Services about the analog-reclamation project dropped precipitously -- to just 13 for the month, compared with 121 in the previous two months.
The 13 analog-related complaints last month were just 9% of a total 147 complaints regarding Comcast service to the City of Chicago’s Department of Consumer Services.
There were 78 complaints to the city in April about the analog-reclamation project, representing 39% of 198 total Comcast-related complaints. That dropped to 43 in May (36% of 121 total).
