Step Four:
Cable
If you’re like most people, you probably have cable. Fortunately, some cable services offer both local and premium HD channels. They may even offer regionally available sports channels, like the Madison Square Garden Network and Comcast SportsNet, or their own pay-per-view movie channel, such as iN Demand. Numerous companies offer HD via cable, but not all of them do, and the ones that do don’t always offer it in every city. Time Warner, for example, has reached the majority of its markets while others, including Cox, Charter, Comcast, Cablevision and Insight, to name just a few, are slowly adding more markets and channels as time goes by.
You have to call your local cable company to find out what’s available in your area. Have a refreshing beverage (and a speakerphone) handy, and don’t be surprised if the person you finally reach doesn’t know what you’re talking about. The operator might confuse digital TV with digital cable, which is different and doesn’t guarantee you’ll get HDTV. Digital cable, similar to satellite, is just a digitized version of analog cable and allows for hundreds of channels instead of just dozens. The image might be slightly cleaner than analog cable (or considerably worse, in some cases), but it still originates from the analog recording, not a digital or high-
resolution recording. Make sure the company specifically offers HDTV.
For an on-line listing of cable companies and the locations where they offer HDTV, visit
Consumer Electronics Association's HDTV Guide and download the file named Broadcasters List (a PDF file). Last we checked, the list hadn’t been updated since April 2003, but it should give you a good starting point. The cable company may provide the appropriate cable box or HD service for little or no charge. Add the TV and that’s it. In the future, so-called digital-cable-ready displays will eliminate the need for a box altogether. You’ll just need a smart card from the local cable company. If you want more (or want to pay less), you should check out your antenna options.
