ACES Transition Plans

Updated October 27, 2011

GOING DIGITAL
We are in the midst of upgrading all of our channels to digital delivery. This gives us the ability to provide more content to you with a better picture.

The changes to our premium channel lineup have been completed. Where the channels are now is where we intend to leave them. Click here to see our current channel lineup.

If your TV is not capable of picking Digital Cable (also called "Clear QAM") signals, you may want to get a new TV or a converter box.
 

BUYING A CONVERTER BOX
The $40-$60 converter boxes sold in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Radio Shack etc. WILL NOT WORK as they do not support Clear QAM. They were required by federal law to work with antenna signals only so they do not support digital cable TV signals.

If you wish to order a basic converter box online, here is one that we have tested and that works well on our cable system. The remote control is difficult to use but this $40 device is the best "inexpensive" (less than $100) converter box that we have found:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OQGJV6

CHANGES TO BASIC
If you do a digital channel scan today (October 27), you will find lots of "new" content in our basic service. We are adding lots of content from broadcast stations in Chicago and Kalamazoo. WE ARE IN A STATE OF TRANSITION. SOME OF THESE "NEW" SIGNALS MAY MOVE OR BE REMOVED DEPENDING ON HOW RELIABLY WE CAN RECEIVE THESE CHANNELS. We expect the adding/removing of digital channels in our basic program lineup to continue for 1 or 2 more weeks. We will publish a stable channel lineup when we have completed our testing.

Timeline

September 28 - Premium Content Available in Standard Definition Digital (channel lineup)

October 17 - Premium Content no longer available in Analog

Late October (target) - minor changes to Basic Analog channel lineup

Late October (in process) - significant addition of Basic Digital content

Early November (target) - New Channel Lineup (showing Basic Digital) available

Middle of May, 2012 (target) - Basic Content no longer available in Analog