Analog cable services are a thing of the past or fast heading in that direction. We recently received a letter that our community was going to be changing to a newer infrastructure which would allow us to take advantage of digital service. The market trends appear to lead in that direction, so what benefits will digital television will provide the customer?

I know that having a nice tv guide available through your television is nice to have but I want more. A better signal could also be a welcome benefit but what about the casual person who does not watch a whole lot of tv? The reason that I ask is because I would like to see a change in how we consume these services. I would like to be able to buy channels on demand, I see that a true value proposition which would be feasible through true digital tv signals.

For example, currently Fox Sports en Español is showing the games for Copa Libertadores. I would really like to watch these games live but in order to do so I would have to buy the entire latin package from Cox. A package that includes several channels which we already receive from our local stations. I don’t think that one channel is worth the cost of the entire package so I listen ot these games over the web. However, if I was able to buy just this channel for a period of time, maybe even just pay for the programming related to this event (similar to what you can do with big sporting events like March Madness) I would do it without thinking twice about it.

I have not done much research on this since I have just been thinking about it recently but I believe that by giving customers options and easy access to them, the entertainment companies will provide a more valuable offer to ALL customers. The casual tv watcher will have a reason to believe in this medium again if he/she has the option to spend its money buying only the programming they find worthwhile. Cox, this is what I want from my digital tv package!