TVs sold before 2006 may no longer be able to receive basic (analog) cable services on campus beginning this fall semester.

Eastern’s cable services have switched from analog to digital, meaning the picture and sound quality is high definition.

“We thought that would be better and people would appreciate it,” Mark Hudson, director of University Housing and Dining Services, said.

There are a couple of ways to tell if a TV will be able to support the digital output.

One way is if the TV’s channels say “DC” next to them, or if the channel is given in a decimal, for example, 42.2, which is Disney Channel.

However, the best way to see if the TV will support digital channels is to go into the menu and do a full channel scan. If that fails, students should head to the nearest electronic store to purchase a digital QAM conversion tuner.

Hudson said Eastern’s main cable feed is Mediacom, but the university’s contractor is I.N.C.

The university contracts with I.N.C. to acquire Mediacom and out of that comes the HBO and Spanish channels.

Eastern pays $228,000 a year for the cable services that last for a 10-year contract. A portion of that fee is paid quarterly, but the box that feeds the students’ cable is $7.62 per box.

All of this is at no additional cost to the students and the new digital form of cable has brought with it a few new channels such as Galavisión, The Church Channel, Headline News and many more.

“It’s a good deal,” Hudson said.

Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].