NATCHEZ — When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve Miss-Lou couch potatoes won’t have quite so many channels to flip through.

Jan. 1 marks the first day newly negotiated agreements between television stations and cable providers, like CableOne, go into effect.

And it’s those new contracts that will translate to fewer stations for Miss-Lou’s residents.

But CableOne’s General Manager Bobby McCool said this situation is in no way unique to Natchez, or the Miss-Lou.

“Cable companies all over the United States are going through this,” he said. “This wasn’t a surprise to us.”

The situation McCool’s referring to is the transition of analog television signals to digital signals.

While that transition won’t happen until Feb. 17, the ramifications of the switch are going to be felt earlier than that.

McCool said the only stations that will be eliminated are some of those that are currently received in duplicate.

Some of those duplicate stations are coming from Louisiana, and once they go digital — they’ll go dark.

McCool said the digital signal cannot be broadcast as far as the analog signal.

And once the switch is made, it’s all or nothing.

And digital stations, unlike analog stations, cannot be broadcast over great distances.

So once stations that are currently analog, and a little snowy, switch to digital they’ll just be black.

“We just can’t get those stations anymore,” he said.

McCool was quick to point out that CableOne’s customers will not be shorted by the arrangement.

“Customers are not going to lose any network programming,” he said.

Once all the transitions are completed, customers should benefit from the change.

McCool said since only the strongest digital signals will get to Natchez, no channels should be snowy or have lines in the picture.

And once the digital conversion is completed, the picture on cable should be sharper.

Those customers who do not have cable television and still use an antenna will need to get a converter box to get a digital signal come Feb. 17.

But McCool said he’s not aware of many in the Natchez area that still use antenna.

“For most people it won’t be a problem,” McCool said of the upcoming changes in cable.

In Natchez WBRZ, KLAX, KALB and KNOE will no longer be broadcast.

In Vidalia, residents will no longer be able to watch WBRZ, KARD and KALB.