Dear Ace: What’s with there only being one High Definition TV channel in Charlottesville? I’ve got this kick-ass TV, and I don’t have anything to watch on it!—Cuckoo Channel
Cuckoo: Ace knows how you feel. Why bother even watching “Flavor of Love” if you can’t make out every last pore on Flava Flav’s nose? And sure, NBC 29 (www.nbc29.com) may broadcast in HD, but what of the “Ugly Betties” of this world, the “Prison Breaks,” the—my God—the “Two and a Half Men”? If you can’t get a thread count on one of Charlie Sheen’s bowling shirts, is life even worth living?
 Putting the fun back into “high definition”: Charlottesville’s recent switch from Adelphia to Comcast means HDTV is coming to town. |
Well, don’t ready the noose quite yet, because HD, five years behind the rest of the civilized world though it may be, is coming to Charlottesville. Ace talked to Linda Altman, spokesperson for Comcast (www.comcast.com) (they of the local cable monopoly), and, to Ace’s shock, it turns out that Charlottesville’s recent switch from Adelphia to its corporate buyer-out Comcast wasn’t just a meaningless name change. Altman tells Ace, “In the coming months, former Adelphia customers will have access to the same products and services (including HDTV) that Comcast has been rolling out across the Comcast footprint.” Kind of an odd business analogy—“we keep the consumer firmly underfoot!”—but who cares, as long as it means HDTV, right? And in fact, that glorious, “Two and a Half Men”-centric future that Ace once thought was but a beautiful dream is closer than you might ever imagine: Altman continues, “In fact, just last week we launched CBS in HDTV in Charlottesville just in time for the Super Bowl.” And here Ace just thought Prince always came in with such clarity.
Over the next few months, Comcast is rolling out more high-def channels, though the exact HD lineup has yet to be announced. Altman does tell Ace, however, that this will include more local broadcast channels, which means that soon enough, you’ll be seeing every corny local commercial for meteorology teams or car dealerships as if it’s happening live before your very eyes. It’s a brave new world.
Putting the fun back into “high definition”: Charlottesville’s recent switch from Adelphia to Comcast means HDTV is coming to town.
