[geeks] TV tuner Questions

[Lionel Peterson]

Geoff,

Nothing from the cable company is free, except for the first set of
batteries for your remote ;^)

There are local channels (local netowrk affiliates, independent and
PBS stations) that are part of "Basic Cable" - those appear to be
wide-open, analog channels.

Then there are other Basic Channels (CNN, USA Network, Fox News, TNT,
etc.) those channels play commercials and allow the cable company to
rebroadcast them AND insert a few local commercials without revenue
sharing. These are typically called "Free Channels" (at least by me).

Then there are Premium channels, only available for an additional fee
(typically a "Digital Cable" or "Premium" fee) like ESPN, Disney, etc.
These channels are mixed together to make a package that appeals to
the widest swath of consumers.

Then there are subscription channels - HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc.
These are subscribed to individually as a line item in the bill,
either alone or as part of a package offer.

My goal is to get local and basic cable channels decoded without the
cable company decoder box. I don't think that is possible, but I am
hopeful. The free converter box gives me channels 2-96, but my digital
cable box, which I pay a monthly fee for, gives me several hundred
channels.

Lionel

On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 3:17 PM,  <gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 02:48:09PM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>
>> Anyone found a way around this? The free cable boxes have to be activated,
>> so I'm guessing even non-subscriber channels are 'protected'...
>
> I'm confused. Is this free as in you pay the cable company nothing, or is
> it just that they are included in the basic package?