Time Warner Cable to begin first step of upgrades in early June

Time Warner Cable says the first step in its transition to all-digital services for Charlotte customers will take place in a few weeks.

TWC will start shifting remaining analog TV channels to an all-digital format in early June in the Charlotte region, and the process will be complete by mid-August, said Scott Pryzwansky, the company’s spokesman.

Certain individual channels will be transitioned to digital in weekly waves, and customers will be alerted that those channels will only be available with digital equipment after a certain date. It isn’t yet clear which channels will be the first to go digital.

The switch to all-digital requires video customers without TWC digital equipment to order a digital adapter, a small device that allows only digital signals to be displayed on the TV, TWC has said.

For qualifying customers who order before Dec. 10, TWC will offer the adapters free until Aug. 11, 2016. After that, each adapter will billed $2.75 a month. Nearly 90 percent of Charlotte video customers already have digital equipment, Pryzwansky said.

“Going all-digital delivers better picture and sound and transitioning the remaining analog channels frees up capacity in our network to deliver faster Internet, more channels and On Demand content and other advanced services,” Pryzwansky said in an email to the Observer.

The TV change is part of TWC’s rollout of its “TWC Maxx” service, which also includes faster Internet speeds. Competitors Google and AT&T also recently announced plans to roll out faster Internet speeds in Charlotte.

TWC has about 480,000 customers in the Charlotte area.

This story was originally published May 14, 2015 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Time Warner Cable to begin first step of upgrades in early June."