How do I get another city's local channels?

Two TVs get different amount of channels from the same cable? Why?

• I have two tvs. One is about 7 years old, the other is about 10-12. From the exact same cable source, these two tis get different amounts of channels. I am talking about a coaxial cable, not a cable box. The newer tv gets around 70 channels. The older TV gets some of the first channels (2,3,4,5) and then the rest just have the black and white buzz. This is coming from the exact same source, so there must be something wrong with the older TV right? Also I tried hooking the cable up to a VCR and I still only get the first few channels. My theory about this is that a lot of channels are "digital" which the older TV/VCR is not compatible with. Am I correct? Would I need to buy one of those converter boxes to be able to get all the channels on my older tv? Thanks for your help.

• Answer:

  Your theory is probably correct. Newer TVs can have digital tuners that allow them to pick up digital TV signals. Over the last several years, cable operators have been converting their cable lineups to mostly or all digital channels, because they can squeeze 6 digital channels into the same bandwidth as a single analog channel. So, they can offer more channels over the same bandwidth. But, they usually keep a handful of analog channels on (mostly local broadcast channels, common channels like TBS or ESPN, public access, etc.) in case someone only has an analog TV and doesn't want to use a converter box.