Many popular 4' and 8' fluorescent tubes will no longer be available after July 2012 due to the new standards. Say you have an older fixture with an F34T12/CW tube for example. If it burns out, you'll have three options. One is to install a new ballast that is compatible with a high efficiency T8 tube. This will result in savings but requires the purchase of a new ballast and disposal of the old one, which has an environmental impact as well. Two, purchase a replacement tube compatible with the existing ballast which produces more lumens per watt but costs more and still uses the same amount of energy (such as an F34T12/841 triphosphor tube). Although more efficient, the additional output will probably not be enough to shut off any tubes without changing the layout of your fixtures. A third option is to buy a bulb that is exempt, such as F34T12/CWX because it meets the color rendition standards even though it is actually less efficient. This may be the cheapest option, but in order to account for the lower output, you'll probably need to use the 40W version, which would circumvent the efforts in the 1990s to reduce the wattage of the most common 4' T12 tubes from 40W to 34W.

Comcast notified you that you will need the converter boxes because your municipal offices receive expanded basic service. However, if there are certain televisions that are only ever tuned to basic channels, including your ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox affiliates or public access/educational/government channels, then you probably do not need converters for these TVS. Basic channels will continue to be available in analog NTSC format for the foreseeable future in all but a very few areas. You'll want to confirm that you are not in one of those regions. Expanded channels, such as ESPN and CNN, are moving to digital exclusively in all Comcast markets.

Just when Internet TV and HD OTA are gaining popularity the cable companies are making it more difficult to get cable content on your PC. Currently I have an NTSC/clear QAM tuner which receives about 70 digital and analog channels (the same channels are simulcast). Soon however, Comcast will be dropping the analog channels besides the local broadcast and PEG stations (if they haven't already in your area). Also, I've heard they will begin encrypting all digital besides the locals, since the FCC approved their proposed encryption scheme for their DTAs. So now you either need use CableCard (few tuners available and only works with Windows Media Center) or you need to use a cable box and an IR blaster (not as high quality as the digital signal must be decoded and encoded again plus the additional rental fee for an extra receiver).