The digital transition officially only applies to broadcast over the air stations like ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. Some cable companies are using it as an excuse to migrate other channels to digital, marketing ploy, whatever, etc. Mostly the government wanted to free up bandwidth to auction off and make some money. Consumers are not informed and are being scared into buying things they don't need like HD TV's and Boxes. If a sub calls up and says I need a box so I don't lose my service, most CSRs aren't going to try to talk them out of it.
This is CABL.com posting #224133. Tiny Link: cabl.co/m6td