Comcast Cable is going digital Thursday and taking Kosciusko County cable television customers along for the view. Standard converter boxes should be turned in by today and replaced by digital converters and new remote controls.

"We're offering adding more than 300 channels to the lineup," said Lori Marsh, manager of government affairs for Comcast Cable, Tuesday.

Since taking over the Insight Communications cable television franchise in August, company representatives have answered a number of complaints.

Marsh said the $4 increase in August reflected a hike already scheduled by Insight Communications.

Another increase for various packages is expected this month: $13.25 to $13.99 (an increase of 74 cents) for basic service; expanded basic from $26.74 to $29 ($2.26). Standard cable costs, which include basic and expanded service, increase from $39.99 to $42.99 ($3).

Many customers are dismayed that the Fort Wayne television stations, except for WPTA-21, will no longer be available.

"The Federal Communications Commission regulates which marketing area's stations are available on cable," said Debra Piscola, Comcast director of government affairs. "Kosciusko County just happens to be in the South Bend marketing region. We do not know how Insight Communications included Fort Wayne stations. It was against the law.

"We could have explained that better," Piscola said, "instead of just removing the channels."

Piscola added that Comcast is able by law to offer Fort Wayne ABC affiliate WPTA because the South Bend ABC affiliate is a low-power broadcaster and does not have the same legal status.

Another change experienced by many Comcast customers in Warsaw, Winona Lake, Burket, Etna Green Silver Lake and other areas of the county was an alteration in the viewing guide. Somehow the time is set on Eastern Standard Time. If it is 8 p.m. in Kosciusko County, the viewer must scroll back from 10 p.m. to see the current listing. The guide returns to the cable channel 2 instead of to the viewer's current channel.

This inconvenience will disappear with the conversion to digital cable. The new on-screen guide should not only be set to the correct time, but programs can be searched by category, time or favorite channel.

Parents can control their children's viewing by locking out all R-rated or NC-17-rated programs or by restricting viewing by program title. Children can be locked out of entire channels, too.

"High definition television is the first significant improvement to television since black and white television was converted to color," Piscola said. "Regular" televisions have 520 scan lines on the screen, refreshed every 30th of a second. HDTVs, as they're called" have from 720 to 1,080 scan lines.

"It's a huge difference," Piscola said. "You can see each blade of grass on a football field during a game."

Customers with digital video recorders can store up to 80 hours of programs and watch the shows, sans commercials, at their convenience. They also have the capability to watch a program they missed that aired a week ago.

Of course Comcast has several channel packages for sale. In addition to the basic and expanded basic services, there are seven channels for HDTV. The digital classic package of 24 channels includes 45 channels of music-only programming. There's a digital-plus package, digital sports, premiums on digital, selections in Spanish only and pay-per-view. The prices start at $13.99 for basic service and climb to $84.99 for various options.

This spring plans are to bring "on demand" programming to Kosciusko County customers. The company also is negotiating with a movie distribution company, which will allow customers the opportunity to watch a major motion picture "in the theaters" in their homes.

The local Comcast office is at 919 E. Winona Ave. in Warsaw. For more information call toll-free 866-594-1234.

On the Net: www.comcast.com [[In-content Ad]]