Remember last summer’s news about needing to get a cable box on Shelter Island in order to continue to receive programming from Cablevision?

It turns out the company’s warnings to customers were premature. Now it’s at it again, saying that its Shelter Island customers’ screens will go blank on Valentine’s Day, February 14 if they don’t have a cable box.

Until now, the few customers who want only basic programming sent by analog signal have been able to get it merely by connecting a cable directly to their TVs. That won’t work anymore afar the looming switchover to all-digital transmission.

Most Cablevision customers converted to the all-digital system many months ago. Shelter Island was slated for the conversion by August 31, 2011. Then the deadline was extended to late September in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.
That deadline was further delayed, but now Cablevision is looking to complete the conversion in all areas it serves, according to spokeswoman Sarah Chaikin.

The Federal Communications Commission mandated the conversion from analog to digital signals as of 2009 but it didn’t require cable companies to stop providing analog signals. But Cablevision has opted to transmit digital signals only, according to a written statement provided by the company.

The good news is you won’t have to dig into your own pocket to pay for the required cable box. Cablevision will provide you free converter boxes for every television set connected to its service without cost, according to a statement.
 At last report, the company will begin to levy a monthly rental charge after two years. Every TV in the house will require its own box.

“Customers who require new or additional set-top boxes can request to have them sent to their homes, free of charge, or pick them up at any Optimum Store location,” the company said. The closest Optimum stores are in Southampton and Riverhead.

Conversions in New York City and Connecticut were completed, but Long Island Has lagged behind until now.
A full story on the conversion will appear in the Reporter on February 16.