What is going on with the sun at this time of year that my cable TV company answers the telephone with an announcement that changes in the sun may be adversely affecting my TV reception?

I am not sure. Perhaps that we're closer to it?

Why not call customer service and ask?

(If you do, please post what they say, I'm very curious!)

I believe they're called sunspots or sunoutages, here's a little info on it:

Sunspots

Mommy: I posted the question, because I thought (correctly) that its answer would be of interest and significance to a few of us here. Besides, my cable company does the loop de loop thing so that I often end up hanging up without getting a human being, who would probably yell at me that he/she is not a physicist or stammer about just how much does it bother you, lady!

Solar flares (caused by sunspots), and coronal mass ejections are both possibilities, though I haven't heard of any unusually large activity going on right now.