After we hit Rocklands on Saturday night with our friends, it was back to their place for a watching of The Godfather on A&E. Our friend Steph had never seen it, and it was well past time that she did. We sat through all the commercials, but learned some valuable things. Jon was quick to point out that he’d seen messages from his TiVo that indicated he’d gotten a bunch of new channels added to his lineup by Comcast. Indeed, there they were: Sci-Fi HD (mmm, BSG in HD!), Food Network (mmmm, Giada in HD!) and USA HD and TBS HD (mmmm more Jack McCoy in HD!) and a few other channels! How exciting!

When I headed home, we fired up the TiVo HD that I jumped through so many hoops to get showed all of the brand new channels! Hooray! Unfortunately, nothing but grey screen. I confirmed this with Jon, and sure enough, he was in grey screen land as well. My friend Jeff didn’t even see them in his lineup, but got “Channel Not Available” messages when he tuned to them with his Comcast DVR.

Oddly, though, they’re part of Comcast’s Programming Lineup page, and yet, they’re dark for all subscribers in the region. (Feel free to use either Arlington’s 22201 or a DC zip code to check if you have to.) When I talked to a technician this afternoon, he said they had yet to launch, but gave no indication as to why they were in the system. When Jeff talked to a technician this afternoon, he said they weren’t supposed to be in any lineup published anywhere. And yet, there they are.

When I reached out to Comcast’s Press Office, I was told by Lisa Altman that Comcast would launch the new networks “sometime in the first quarter of 2008.” Odd. Seems like they’re advertising a service that they’re not delivering. Generally, that’s frowned upon by various federal regulators when it comes to a service like cable television. I’ve put the new HD Lineup in the Extended Entry, copied directly from the Comcast website. What are you seeing on your cable box?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.