Hi,
today Cablecom stopped the "test abo" they gave me for free for their "classic" product. I am now back to the simplest one with the Digicard.

I am not 100% sure, but it seems that other than having less than half the channels, the quality is worse. Is it possible that Cablecom differentiate the quality between products, ie SF1 looks better with the more expensive product?

Maybe I'm just too tired today

You're too tired.

The way abos work on a cable network is like this:

Each channel is broadcast once and has a unique ID (the Service ID)
The abo tells the settop box what SIDs are included in an abo or not

Abo A might include SIDs 1,2 & 3
Abo B might include SIDs 1,2,3,4 & 5

There is no difference to the program in each case, it is simply locked or unlocked on the settop box.

And multiple broadcasts of the same programme would be a massive waster of space! Imagine if you had 10 abos, and broadcasted a number of programs 10 times.... would be really daft to do that....

that can't be - they can't afford to broadcast everything twice (once in good quality for their high-paying customers and once in bad quality for the entry-level subscribers), they wouldn't have the bandwidth to do so

You would be dead wrong. I cannot speak 100% for Cablecom but that's exactly what occurs in the US. There are SD versions of channels and HD versions of the same channels. Most of the HD channels are really HD while some are just upscaled versions of the SD ones. Those tend to look like garbage. If you have a very basic service you just get the SD ones and not even all of them (e.g. not premiums like HBO). Additionally there are WAY more channels in the US then what I see on the Cablecom menu. Verizon FIOS has over 130 HD channels and over 530 digital. I'm not sure if the 530 includes the 130 HD or not. Since Cablecom appears to run fiber up to the premises and then use the existing coax in the building they should have the same or similar capacity. FIOS works the same way. They run fiber into the residence/building and then use MOCA to distribute the signal to the set top boxes over coax. I'd also point out that you can get 100 Mbps Cablecom internet so there's obviously plenty of bandwidth there.

Thanks m5...., but what you say is that they sell you different products, say BBC1 SD and BBC1 HD. It's clearly stated on their contract.
What I was saying is that it seemed to me that the same channel BBC1 SD looked better on the "premium" offer. Which is not the case, I hope.
Technically speaking it's possible though. They have the bandwidth.
The reason that makes it less possible is that they should make a neat trick, since the Channel did not change its position on the TV listing.