I think the problem, at least for me, is do we need a converter box or don't we? My wife and I have cable, but don't use any kind of box, and this works for us. However, when we bought our 37" LCD high def TV we were told that we wouldn't need a converter box. I have now been told that I will need a converter box, even though I was told that I wouldn't need one when I bought my new high def TV. I wish someone would pull their heads out of their hinnies and tell us the truth. I think that's where the confusion and the lack of response in getting boxes.
First, you are talking about reception of cable television, not reception of over-the-air television. The DTV transition that is evidently going to be delayed pertains to over-the-air television. There is no requirement for cable to switch to all-digital, and indeed there
is a requirement that cable has to retain some type of analog service through 2012. So they are, very deliberately, two different situations.
Second, I bet at the time you asked the question of your cable company whether you need a converter box for the channels you have the answer you were given was absolutely correct. At some point in the future, or perhaps even "now" (specifically, between March 17 and April 12) your cable company may decide to initiate their own digital transition -- having nothing to do with the over-the-air digital transition. Until they decide to make that happen, they aren't able to tell you when it will happen, or even if it will happen, since they may decide (may have decided) to not make it happen for a long time. They're responding to the market, and for folks who are reliant on analog service, unfortunately, a lot of other folks want more HD and other advanced services, and
that is prompting cable companies to switch channels from analog to digital service, and that would require you to, going forward, have a cable converter box.
EDITED: So, to be clear, you may or may not need a converter box to receive all the channels you want from your cable company, and whether you do or don't has nothing to do with the February 17/June 12 DTV transition, but rather only has to do with local decisions made by your cable company with regard to providing advanced services for other customers.
However, let's be clear: The February 17/June 12 transition is all about the
over-the-air digital transition, requiring over-the-air digital-to-analog converter boxes. Whatever transition your cable company chooses to effect (which, when-and-if it happens, would happen at least a month before or a month after the over-the-air digital transition, so as to reduce confusion between the two) is about a
cable digital transition, requiring cable digital-to-analog converter boxes. The two different transitions have, for most intents and purposes, no relationship with each other, and the converter boxes needed in each case have nothing to do with each other either. Cable television uses a completely different digital transmission protocol than over-the-air broadcasters use.
