If someone were to take a poll of the most disliked industries, the broadcast cable market would be fighting tooth-and-nail with the airline industry and lawyers for the top spot.

To some it may be uncharacteristic, but the large cable service provider Comcast is offering subscribers a free upgrade to its newly introduced 3D channel. Quietly back in February the cable company introduced this service to a limited number of markets, and for the moment the company says its 3D programming primarily consists of ESPN 3D content and various other broadcasts events.

What is surprising about the upgrade is that the company isn't publicizing its free 3D service offer. Comcasts does have a web page set up to help answer consumer questions about the service and it advises consumers interested in the service to call the company at 1-800-COMCAST (266-2278) to upgrade into the service or to learn more about the technology and its requirements. 

Consumers that do upgrade will be charged with a one-time $1.99 service fee and it will take several minutes for the company's customer service representatives to upgrade your service during the phone call.

Here are the markets and channels that Comcast is offering its 3D serivce:

• Eastern U.S. (Washington D.C., Pa., N.J., and Va.): channel 980
• Northern U.S. (Mass., Maine, Ill., Mich., Conn., and N.H.): channel 334
• Northern U.S. (Ind., except Kokomo [334]): channel 1603
• Southern U.S. (Ga,. Fla., Texas and Ala.):  channel 790
• Western U.S. (Calif., Wash., Ore., Colo., N.M., and Ariz.):  channel 898

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