# Whats the deal with Clear Qam channels being removed?



## pjs344 (May 21, 2014)

It seem that cable operators are removing locals. Some say that some cable operators taking the risk of violating the FCC rule by secretly encrypting locals. Cable csr will say that the locals have been moved to other channels that older TV tuners can not tune to and the channels are not there because they have changed there system that only newer tv use. Most likely ASTC 3.0 Qam for 4k HD? Has any one got a grip on this or tried a 4k HDTV on a cable system that does not get local with 1080 HDTV?


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

You might want to actually read the rules. That whole "locals must be in the clear" thing hasn't been a rule for years. And even when it was a rule, there was an exception if a cable company went all digital.

Also, there's no such thing as "ATSC 3.0 QAM for 4K HD". ATSC 3.0 is something completely different from QAM that hasn't even been finalized yet. It's for over the air broadcasts. QAM already gives them much more bandwidth per 6 MHz channel compared to ATSC, even more than what the proposed ATSC 3.0 standard will offer. If cable companies wanted to, and if there were something to offer, they don't need to switch to something else to carry a linear 4K channel, especially with switched video freeing up bandwidth.

No cable system actually offers 4K today over QAM. (Heck, none of them even have 4K settops) When Comcast had the Olympics in 4K, they did it over IP with an Xfinity UHD app on select Smart TVs, but it only worked if you also had Comcast as your ISP. (i.e. if you have Comcast cable, but FiOS for internet, it didn't work)


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## Glen_D (Oct 21, 2006)

KyL416 said:


> You might want to actually read the rules. That whole "locals must be in the clear" thing hasn't been a rule for years. And even when it was a rule, there was an exception if a cable company went all digital.


Yep, Time Warner (now Spectrum), our local dominant Cable provider, encrypted everything, including locals, a little over a year ago. It effectively rendered QAM useless, and requires at least one proprietary set-top box per account (first box provided free of charge), and additional rented set-top boxes or ROKU app for each additional TV.

Since Dish, DirecTV, and U-verse have always required set-top boxes, the built-in ATSC tuners are effectively for OTA-only now.


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

They figured out too many people were "stealing cable". If you had internet service but no TV service you could still hook up your TV to the cable feed and get all of the clear QAM channels. The only way they could keep you from receiving the clear QAM channels was to put a trap on the line going to your house that blocked them. They made the argument that installing all of those traps to keep people from "stealing cable" would cost them too much money in labor and material costs so they got the government to agree to let them scramble everything as long as they offered DTAs for free/cheap.


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## GoLongAndChopChop881 (Dec 20, 2017)

Glen_D said:


> Yep, Time Warner (now Spectrum), our local dominant Cable provider, encrypted everything, including locals, a little over a year ago. It effectively rendered QAM useless, and requires at least one proprietary set-top box per account (first box provided free of charge), and additional rented set-top boxes or ROKU app for each additional TV.


*Look, I know that this thread was a year old, but I have a theory.*

When I got out of Orange County, CA on August 4th, I've noticed that my local Spectrum provider (obviously used for internet and I had DISH.) still had WGN America (SD/HD) and 16 local FM radio stations on Clear QAM. In Tustin, CA, which was my local restaurant, I can receive KNBC, KTLA (CW), KABC, KMEX (Univision), CMT, E!, HLN, NBCSN, etc. on Clear QAM instead of my cable box which didn't had CMT on my subscription package. I feel so disappointed while different cable providers always shut down analog and slowly discontinued Clear QAM with popular cable networks.

Don't believe me? Just watch my channel surfing.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Not sure what you are trying to say.. but they are shutting down the analogue so that they don’t have to use traps on lines anymore when things are all digital and it gave them the spectrum to increase internet speeds easier..


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## jsk (Dec 27, 2006)

Most of that is true (about not having to make visits to shut off service and preventing theft of signal), except that ClearQAM is unencrypted digital (not analog) cable that you don’t need a box for, if your TV supports ClearQAM. It’s a dying standard that probably won’t be around much longer for consumers.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I would not expect many channels to be left in ClearQAM. Cable systems want people to pay for their channels. Including additional outlets.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

jsk said:


> if your TV supports ClearQAM. It's a dying standard that probably won't be around much longer for consumers.


if you'll look into technically:
- QAM is digital standard (using by cables/terrestrial/satellite companies) of transmission
- "clear" QAM is marketing gimmick to show buyers, a particular device as TV/DVR/etc have no provision (usually CI/CI+ slots) to decode encrypted digital content
- it's NOT dying "standard" - a lot EU and Asian TV models have CI/CI+ slot(s) from same mfgs who are selling TV/DVR in US
- it would be longer then you knew


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