My Digital Plan: Where’d the Channels Go?

Last week, an Oceanic Cable installer came by to install a CableCard into my Tivo. Took about 30 minutes since he said they don’t do this very often and wasn’t completely familiar with all the steps. Funny, but both he and I had the same CableCard install instructions provided by Tivo.

Once the single M-card was activated, the Tivo Channel Guide started pulling in new info. The cable guy showed me the new HD channels I had, namely 1003-1010 for channels 3 (KHON)-10 (KHET). But what he didn’t tell me or what I failed to understand is what happened to the rest of the channels. I went looking for the kids channels, 32 and 33, but they weren’t there anymore. What happened?

After calling Oceanic tech support, I was told that I had to use their digital television lineup/channels, not the analog lineup. The Disney channel is now on 444 for example. Now this is a complete surprise since I now have digital channels that I did not request (and hopefully should not be paying for). From what I know, I’m only paying $3.10 per month for the CableCard, maybe $6.20 since the CableCard is a dual M-card type, but I didn’t sign up for Oceanic’s digital services. I’ll have to check out my next bill to see what’s up.