Fox: Comcast customers need kit for digital switch

Have you caught up with Comcast yet? You might be running out of time.

The upshot is more channels and services, but the transition takes a little work on the part of customers.

The company’s nationwide switch to all-digital service has come to Independence and Blue Springs, and next Monday is the big day. That’s when some customers with enhanced basic – the vast majority of customers – will lose channels unless they have installed a free adapter the company has been persistently reminding customers to pick up.

The installation takes a few minutes, and spokesman Dave Nyberg says 80 to 90 percent of customers are able to get the job done. If you run into a problem, free help is available on the phone. If that doesn’t work, the company can send someone out to do the work for $15.99.

The switch to all-digital service means Comcast can use its bandwidth – that line running into your house – more efficiently. That means more channels and other services down the road, what the company calls the “World of More.” Enhanced basic customers who have already installed the little black box have seen the addition of channels such as Biography, Hallmark, History International, local weather channels, Sprout and – a new favorite for me – Bloomberg News. And, of course, G4. Anything with more James Bond movies has to be good, right?

“In essence, what it comes down to is a free upgrade for our customers,” Nyberg said.

There’s been an uptick in Independence customers coming by the company’s office on Little Blue Parkway, he said. The company has been sending cards and letters and following up with phone calls to drive the message home.

So if you haven’t gotten on board yet – if you’re still analog, that is – you’ll lose about 20 channels next Monday, including The Weather Channel, AMC, TCM, Versus and Food Network, followed by more a few weeks later. On the other hand, customers with high-definition service will start seeing new channels – a total of more than 100 channels by early May.

The company is also promoting its On Demand service, which catalogs available programming – everything from movies to new and old TV shows to instructional programming on how to play a musical instrument. Nyberg said 80 percent of that content is free. He uses an example of the hit show “30 Rock,” new episodes of which are available starting the morning after they first air.

The switch to digital will eventally mean better services overall, such as faster Internet speeds, Nyberg said.

Customers with basic service – essentially the local network affiliates and a handful of others – are unaffected by the change.

Better place to build?

It has only some details and has zero analysis, but a recent report suggests Independence and Blue Springs have a leg up on the likes of Overland Park when it comes to speeding the process of commercial development.

The Society for Industrial Office Realtors and students from the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City looked at 14 cities, from Liberty to Leawood to Lee’s Summit. They visited each with plans for a typical 60,000-square-foot office building and a 100,000-square-foot industrial site and walked through the permit-approval process.

They made no attempt to be comprehensive in their review, but their glance at the costs of such things as water and sewer hookups, building permits and plan reviews gives a little insight.

On the office space project, Riverside came in the lowest, but Independence came in fourth and Blue Springs sixth – and Overland Park was dead last. Similarly, Independence came in third on the industrial site (behind Riverside and Lawrence), Blue Springs was seventh – and Overland Park was again last. And permit approval time? Independence was No. 2, and Blue Springs was No. 10.