That’s right. Our long regional nightmare is over.

It went live in my house in central Tempe yesterday on test channel 666. This morning, it was up and running on channel 1 (though the “On Demand” button on the remote still doesn’t work). From reports, it’s now throughout Tempe and Chandler, and given that it’s already been rolling out in Scottsdale and Mesa, it seems that most of the East Valley has it, now - though let me know if you still don’t have it.

It’s actually better than I thought it’d be. Given reports like this, my expectations were low for Cox’s version of On Demand, but the “Free Zone” (specifically the “Cable Showcase” area) actually has some solid, but not great, choices. In “Free Zone” HD, for instance, you can currently watch all episodes so far of “Mad Men” in high def, which we wouldn’t have gotten a chance to otherwise, since Cox doesn’t carry AMC’s HD channel currently. Similarly, “The Hills” is on the MTV HD slot, another channel we don’t get in HD (plus, is there really a better way to expersions Spencer Pratt’s douchbaggery other than high definition? I think not). The HD offerings are slim, but there’s some worthwhile stuff there.

Under the “Election ‘08″ area, you can watch full versions of convention speeches from C-SPAN, in case you missed one or are having trouble sleeping. If you’re a subscriber, HBO On Demand has lots of stuff, and there’s the On Demand pay services like WWE 24/7 and Howard TV, which are obviously niche markets but something that’s still not available in much of the country (WWE 24/7, my friend reports, isn’t available on Time Warner cable in New York City) , so it’s cool that it’s here.

It still seems very much to be in the testing phase - it wasn’t really working at all on my parents’ non-HD cable box, and somewhat intermittent on mine, and the menus are slow to load and navigate. Plus, the main screen has constant commercials for movies available On Demand that are totally annoying and slow things down even further (and a commercial for “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns” is annoying enough already).

Anyone else poke around with it?

Another scintillating chapter in the ongoing saga of Cox OnDemand in the East Valley!

As I was leaving my central Tempe home for work this morning, my doorknob (and all the rest in the neighborhood) had a tag that proclaimed ON DEMAND NOW AVAILABLE IN MY AREA. I risked being late to work to go back inside and check it on two different TVs. It was not. Maybe they figure people will see it when they come home from work (I start work later than most people, it’s true) and it’ll be working then. I think most of Mesa has it now, but I’ve heard it’s not up in Chandler yet.

EDIT: Sure enough, the door hanger was hung in error. “Mid-September,” says Cox man.

After being delayed from July 9 to July 21, two of the three new Cox HD channels - CNBC HD and USA HD - have showed up somewhat mysteriously on channels 995 and 996, respectively. I’m watching an HD “In Plain Sight” right now! I found this while randomly flipping through channels - yes, I do that somewhat regularly; no, I don’t have a life. The Cox on-screen guide has Lifetime HD on 997, but nothing’s showing up for that yet.

The timing works out nicely, with new seasons “Monk” and “Psych” starting up tomorrow. And, if you happen to read this in the next 12 minutes, you’ll be able to check out the second season two episode of “Burn Notice.”

And there might be something cool in HD on CNBC, I guess, maybe.

What a shocker!

In an email sent out today, Cox Communications Arizona announced that they’re delaying the launch of USA HD, Lifetime HD and CNBC HD from the originally announced date of today to Monday, July 21. So all of you that woke up extra early this morning to check out the new channels only to be bitterly disappointed, that’s what happened. OK, it was probably only me that did that. Still. Also, those of you hoping to catch tomorrow’s second season premiere of “Burn Notice” in HD are also out of luck. As the email clearly states, though, they’re still getting them up in plenty of time for the Olympics, starting on August 8 (USA and CNBC will both be carrying Olympic coverage).

I’m just a little angry at Cox right now - I haven’t been getting TBS HD for days, and after finally being annoyed by it enough to call, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with both their automated support (that, after like 15 minutes, told me to plug and unplug my cable box - I would have never thought of that!!!!!) and a real live person, only to have nothing resolved. Bleh. I want to watch “Office” reruns in HD!

Here’s the text of the email:

Dear Valued Cox Customer,

While Cox Communications Arizona strives to bring you the best in high-definition programming, we have postponed the launches of USA HD, CNBC HD+ and Lifetime HD until July 21.

USA HD and CNBC HD+ will join the Cox HD line-up in time to provide more than 275 hours of combined coverage during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, which begin Aug. 8.

High-definition Olympics coverage will also be found on KPNX -HD channel 712 in Phoenix and KOVA-HD channel 704 in Tucson, and Universal HD (channel 725 in Phoenix and channel 724 in Tucson).

Overall, there will be more than 750 hours of Olympics coverage in HD available on Cox Digital Cable. More than 725 hours of standard definition coverage will be provided on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Telemundo and Oxygen.

We appreciate your business and hope you enjoy the Summer Games on Cox Digital Cable!

Sincerely,
Cox Communications

Cox Arizona is adding three HD channels on Wednesday, July 9 - USA HD, CNBC HD and Lifetime HD. The main reason for this is the upcoming summer Olympics, as plenty of it will be broadcast on USA and CNBC (shades of the Olympic Triplecast!). Lifetime, I guess, is a bonus, for those who want to watch “Army Wives” or weepy TV movies featuring ’80s and ’90s TV stars. CNBC HD isn’t very exciting by itself, especially since we still don’t have CNN or MSNBC in HD, but I guess it’s great news for Mad Money fans.

Other than the Olympics, USA HD gives us their original programming - like the awesome “Burn Notice,” which starts on July 10. Also, wrestling fans should be chuffed to be able to watch “WWE Raw” in high definition.

Still no word on On Demand for the East Valley, other than “end of summer.”

There’s some lineup changes, too, courtesy of Cox:

TLC will move to channel 42
The History Channel will move to channel 61
CNBC will move to channel 62
MSNBC will move to channel 63
Universal HD will move from channel 724 to 725
Lifetime HD will be added to channel 724
USA HD will be added to channel 728
History HD will move from channel 762 to 761
CNBC HD will be added to channel 762

The Valley has lagged behind for a while on a national level when it comes to On Demand programming, and now we’re behind much of the state. And it looks like it’ll stay that way for a while longer.

I contacted Andrea Katsenes, director of media relations for Cox in Phoenix, asking when we in the EV - I’m in Tempe, where On Demand is still “coming soon” - can expect the feature. She told me “At this time I do not have a specific target date for the East Valley,” but pointed to a press release that said Cox’s goal is “all digital customers hooked up by the end of this summer.”

On Demand started on Cox Cable in Tucson early last month, though it’s still nowhere to be seen in the East Valley (though I’ve heard reports that it is available in scattered parts of Scottsdale, where it was scheduled to debut in January). Though we may not be missing out on much, according to this article by my former colleague Gerald Gay at the Arizona Daily Star, who was critical about On Demand’s offerings. Tucson actually isn’t totally new to the concept; unlike the Phoenix area, where Cox is the only cable provider game in town, Comcast is available in parts of Tucson (though no parts I ever lived in), and has been offering video on demand programming in that area for years.

On Demand is a free service to digital cable customers that allows you to call up a variety (hopefully) of programming, that you can then pause, fast forward, rewind - just like a DVR, but you don’t have to set anything to record it. If you’re an HBO subscriber, once On Demand starts with Cox here, you’ll have HBO On Demand, where you’ll be able to watch the last 10 “Real Time with Bill Maher” episodes, etc. We’ll also have access to On Demand channels like HowardTV (Howard Stern) and WWE 24/7, which are available for a monthly fee. Additionally, you can order PPV movies (and, presumably, porno) that start whenever you want them to, instead of the arbitrary top of the hour slots they currently occupy on the PPV channels. Other markets have had access to such programming for years (since the early to mid 2000s), but this was just announced by Cox Arizona in December of last year.

Like I said earlier, I believe some parts of Scottsdale currently have On Demand, so if you getting it - it should be on channel 1 - let me know.