In a short while most CATV systems will be eliminating the analog channels simply because they are bandwidth hogs.
They probably won't be doing that in anything close to a short while, and the reason is that they still have a significant number of customers without converters. Until the CATV systems have a low-cost set top box option (something that costs them $50 to buy instead of $250), they aren't going to eliminate the analog channels. Comcast has been battling the FCC over their requirement that new set top boxes support CableCard, which significantly increases the cost.
