Montgomery County's PEG community cable TV stations to begin broadcasting in HD on Oct. 1

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Montgomery County’s PEG cable channels

to begin broadcasting in high definition

Starting on Oct. 1, HD television broadcasts of County’s

community stations will be available on Comcast and RCN

 

ROCKVILLE, Md., August 9, 2016—Montgomery County’s community cable PEG (Public / Education / Government) television stations will take a big step in bringing in-depth local information to residents on Oct. 1 when they add broadcasts in high definition (HD) to subscribers of Comcast and RCN services.

 

The additional services were made available through new franchise agreements with Comcast and RCN that were negotiated by County Executive Ike Leggett and approved by the County Council earlier this year. The agreements continue broadcasts of the community stations on standard definition (SD) channels, but add four HD stations starting on Oct. 1 on the cable providers and will add a fifth HD community station in 2018. Verizon subscribers will continue to be able to view the community stations only in SD formats.

 

HDTV is a digital TV broadcasting format where the broadcast transmits widescreen pictures with more detail and quality than found in a standard analog television. HDTV is considered to be the best quality digital television format available. HDTV, which requires an HDTV tuner to view, provides the most detailed format of 1080i.

 

The PEG channels that will be available in HD are:

• Public access Montgomery Community Media (MCM—will broadcast on HD Channel 995 on Comcast, HD Channel 1055 on RCN).
• Government channel County Cable Montgomery (CCM—will broadcast on HD Channel 996 on Comcast, HD Channel 1056 on RCN).
• The community channels of the cities of Rockville and Takoma Park and of the Montgomery Municipal Channel will combine as the Municipal Broadcast Network (MBN—will broadcast on HD Channel 997 on Comcast, HD Channel 1057 on RCN).
• The combined education channels of Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery College (MCPS/MC—will broadcast on HD Channel 998 on Comcast, HD Channel 1058 on RCN).

“The PEG community channels have been bringing a wide variety of local information to Montgomery County residents since cable television first came to Montgomery about 30 years ago,” said County Cable Broadband and Cable Administrator Phil Roter. “Over the years, the content has evolved as the needs and desires of residents have changed. The stations have combined to win many national awards as a result of their content and production. This next step will provide clearer, sharper broadcast options that will make this information burst onto the screens of viewers.”

The PEG stations are launching a marketing campaign to let residents know that the new HD stations will be added to their cable service. Information about the new service can be found at connectmontgomery.com or #MoCoCableHD .

“Throughout the Comcast franchise negotiations, the County insisted that the highest level of services be made available to residents, and that is what we achieved in bringing HD television broadcasts of community stations,” said County Councilmember Hans Riemer, who is the Council’s lead member for digital government. “In 2012, I successfully pushed to record 100 percent of Council meetings. With this upgrade, Council meetings and the excellent content produced by PEG channels will be broadcast in HD. This is an important step forward in bringing about a more digital and connected Montgomery County.”

# # # #  Release ID: 16-245
Media Contact: Neil Greenberger 240-777-7939, Delphine Harriston 240-777-7931