Dear Senator Gregg,

Effective November 1st Comcast made a change to their programming line-up which has a strong and direct impact on how many Americans stay informed about the goings on of government and the political process by moving CSPAN-II from analog to digital. CSPAN has two analog channels that provide unbiased coverage of government events including hearings, deliberations, and book-signings. It charges Comcast 6-cents
per subscriber, and is the only station that provides raw coverage of residential campaign events - allowing citizens to make up their own mind about a candidate, instead of being fed influenced analysis from the other analog cable stations such as FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC. Analog channels can be received directly by any television, VCR or Tivo. The change requires Comcast analog subscribers upgrade to digital and rent a set-top-box in order to receive CSPAN-2.

What makes this change unacceptable is the timing. Few will argue that 2008 presidential election will be one of the most important in our country's history, and Comcast has just cut off the debate. I urge you to contact the company and ask them to restore and maintain both CSPAN channels as part of the analog line-up.

Joe Briggs
Manchester