Everyone is backtracking on analog shutoff

[jal41]

Everyone who was ready to shut off analog on the 17th has suddenly changed their minds

WGCL/Atlanta, the only Atlanta station scheduled, changed their minds over the weekend.

Kansas City and Salt Lake City, which was all-2/17, suddenly changed to all-6/12. The GM of one of the Kansas City stations was quoted as everyone needing to please President Obama.

Come the 17th...the number of commercial and PBS stations that shut down will be near zero. Smaller non-comms and religious outfits may go ahead, but I think every station that wanted to shut down has panicked.

 

[imhomerjay]

And the world will go on. People with digital tuners will still be seeing the same channels they do now. Those with satellite or cable will as well. But some folks who are awaiting a coupon will now have more time. So no one ends up being harmed by the change, and some folks are helped. Gee, what a horrible thing to happen.

 

[KML0224]

I had still hoped that it had all happened on the 17th as planned. This sucks!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

And the world will go on. People with digital tuners will still be seeing the same channels they do now. Those with satellite or cable will as well. But some folks who are awaiting a coupon will now have more time. So no one ends up being harmed by the change, and some folks are helped. Gee, what a horrible thing to happen.

Except for the TV stations themselves, which have a lot of scrambling to do. Find $$$ to keep the analog TX running another three months, figure out how to reschedule tower crews, etc etc.

 

[raccoonradio]

There may indeed be some last minute switches but in some cases there already has been an analog shutoff due to various reasons (though in one case, WFXT/25 in Boston, the analog xmtr is on its last legs, as it is, and is on very low power). Scott Fybush sums up the Northeast region's switchoff dates

http://fybush.com/nerw.html (FEB 9 EDITION)--summary below but much more info @ that link
CT: CBS3 and the state's PBS analog transmitters will stick to deadline
NBC-owned WVIT/30 won't switch off though

NY/VT: in Burlington VT/Platts. NY market "the market's stations all plan to hold to the Feb. 17 date"
Fybush has the rundown on NYC, Syracuse, Utica, etc markets...

NH: Manchester's WMUR/9 won't switch on Feb 17 after all--no word yet on a last minute switch on the
PBS stations (there may be a deadline of tonight to alert the FCC as to intentions?)

ME: Many Portland stations will switch off analog though WMTW/8 won't and no word yet from WCSH/6
WVII/7 will stick to deadline up in Bangor

RI: "PBS and CW stations" have already switched and the other Prov market stations are due to
pull the analog plug on 2/17

MA: WGBX/44 may have to switch off their "aging" analog xmtr; see above about WFXT/25

See Fybush for the rest

 

[gr8oldies]

Far as I know Dayton is holding firm to 2/17, the chief engineer of Channel 7 was on the radio this morning talking about the transition. The tower crew is scheduled on March 3 to move the analog antenna off and put the shiny new disgital antenna on top of the tower. 22 and 45 have announced the shutoff at 11:59pm on 2/17. As far as I know the rest of the market is following suit. In WHIO's case, unless corporate from Atlanta dictates differently, the change takes place next week.

 

[dhett]

The GM of one of the Kansas City stations was quoted as everyone needing to please President Obama.

If that's true, and I suspect it is, it's disturbing. We have a president, not a king, although you wouldn't know it from the fawning media. Hey, Chris Mathews, how's that tingling in your leg doing? Whichever KC station this is, viewers can be sure they're not going to get the truth out of these guys. So much for an independent media.

*NEWSFLASH* - 47% of voters didn't vote for Barack Obama.

 

[KyDXIn]

Far as I know Dayton is holding firm to 2/17, the chief engineer of Channel 7 was on the radio this morning talking about the transition. The tower crew is scheduled on March 3 to move the analog antenna off and put the shiny new disgital antenna on top of the tower. 22 and 45 have announced the shutoff at 11:59pm on 2/17. As far as I know the rest of the market is following suit. In WHIO's case, unless corporate from Atlanta dictates differently, the change takes place next week.

2 summers ago I picked up Channel 7 from Dayton here in Corydon Indiana. I was surprised to see the "Price is Right" on the channel when it was quite common to see Fox programming on WTVW from Evansville Indiana. In fact our cable system used to carry the Evansville channel back when it was a community cable system. I will miss analog DXing.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Except for the TV stations themselves, which have a lot of scrambling to do. Find $$$ to keep the analog TX running another three months, figure out how to reschedule tower crews, etc etc.

The public broadcasting stations dependent on donations I can feel for. The commercial broadcasters? They can clear more ShamWow and Snuggie commercials and shut their traps.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It shouldn't ever happen.

Some of us are doing just fine the way things are now.

If I spend hundreds of dollars on an antenna and still don't get anything, I'm going to be mad. Which is why I haven't done it. I called the cable company and I'm going to put up my indoor antenna the day they come for the channels the cable company doesn't have. And I'd bETTER get them. Or else.

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Digital TV was a dumb idea and anyone who wants HD badly enoguh should have paid the FULL cost--the cost of whatever it takes to continue both signals. You buy an HD reciever or digital cable, you pay the FULL cost. THEN let's see if it's a fad.

 

[EricStein]

It shouldn't ever happen.

Some of us are doing just fine the way things are now.

If I spend hundreds of dollars on an antenna and still don't get anything, I'm going to be mad. Which is why I haven't done it. I called the cable company and I'm going to put up my indoor antenna the day they come for the channels the cable company doesn't have. And I'd bETTER get them. Or else.

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Digital TV was a dumb idea and anyone who wants HD badly enoguh should have paid the FULL cost--the cost of whatever it takes to continue both signals. You buy an HD reciever or digital cable, you pay the FULL cost. THEN let's see if it's a fad.

If you're in range of a digital TV signal, the picture quality is much better than analog. No more ghosting or snow. I know I would rather have a few "digital hiccups" ever so often than having to deal with a snowy analog picture.

However, with digital, either you get the signal or you don't, the quality doesn't degrade like analog.

I wonder if we would be having any of this debate now if the FCC had given COFDM a chance...

 

[KyDXIn]

It shouldn't ever happen.
Some of us are doing just fine the way things are now.
If I spend hundreds of dollars on an antenna and still don't get anything, I'm going to be mad. Which is why I haven't done it. I called the cable company and I'm going to put up my indoor antenna the day they come for the channels the cable company doesn't have. And I'd bETTER get them. Or else.
I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Digital TV was a dumb idea and anyone who wants HD badly enoguh should have paid the FULL cost--the cost of whatever it takes to continue both signals. You buy an HD reciever or digital cable, you pay the FULL cost. THEN let's see if it's a fad.

If you're in range of a digital TV signal, the picture quality is much better than analog. No more ghosting or snow. I know I would rather have a few "digital hiccups" ever so often than having to deal with a snowy analog picture.

However, with digital, either you get the signal or you don't, the quality doesn't degrade like analog.

You made the point right there-- its all or nothing, and I'm getting more nothing than anything. At least with a snowy picture you can still hear the audio and have some comprehension of whats being televised. Digital again gives you nothing.

 

[landtuna]

Some of us are doing just fine the way things are now.

DTV wasn't done for you. It was done to free up significant portions of the analog TV spectrum for emergency communications (primarily) and auction off the remainder for cell phone usage (secondarily).

If I spend hundreds of dollars on an antenna and still don't get anything, I'm going to be mad. Which is why I haven't done it. I called the cable company and I'm going to put up my indoor antenna the day they come for the channels the cable company doesn't have. And I'd bETTER get them. Or else.

Hundreds of dollars for an antenna? You can get a very large VHF/UHF outdoor antenna in my town for around $50. Indoor rabbit ears with a UHF loop are about $10.

Or else? Or else....what? :

Digital TV was a dumb idea and anyone who wants HD badly enoguh should have paid the FULL cost--the cost of whatever it takes to continue both signals. You buy an HD reciever or digital cable, you pay the FULL cost. THEN let's see if it's a fad.

The decision to go digital was not made to support HD (see above). DTV is not the same as HD although most DTV stations will broadcast a HD signal (which is downconverted to SD/analog by the converter box). You still get a much clearer picture than with analog.

As far as digital cable/satellite tiers, you would pay an extra fee to receive HD programming as opposed to digital-only.
[/quote]

 

[Madmansam]

Will Congress and the President stick with the JUNE 12TH deadline or can they extend it again? I am wondering if 2 weeks before the June date, and there are still lots of people without DTV Converters, Will Congress extend it 4 more months till October or Beyond?

 

[wrsg915fm]

I'm still wondering about the folks on substandard cable systems such as mine. I went to Radio Shack over the weekend to begin MY conversion process. They have a 190 mile antenna for about $105.00. I'm tempted to do that, but it's probably like EPA ratings for gas mileage. Tell you 40, you get under 30.

 

[Markxxx]

Well no one wants to pull the plug if everyone else isn't.

How's it gonna effect you if, lets say a CBS channel does digital only but the FOX, NBC and ABC don't? CBS will lose viewers. In reality this doesn't matter anyway 'cause they won't be Nielsen families, so they won't get measured, but there will be a perceived loss. So when the CBS channel tries to sell ads, someone is gonna say "Well you signal isn't as good, I shouldn't have to pay as much."

 

[imhomerjay]

Cry me a river for broadcasters. In the big picture, they collectively receive the spectrum space for free. The same spectrum that lets them now have multicast signals, with the potential for added revenue. And if I read the news correctly, many of them are now out there expecting payment from satellite or cable companies to carry those same signals that use the public airwaves for free. Sweet double dipping deal.

The consumers got shafted in this deal, with perfectly good equipment rendered useless or in need of an upgrade. What’s more, they lost affordable access to portable broadcast reception over the public airwaves (just how small and affordable are portable TV receivers…oh right, they aren’t). Oh sure, it's just a box. Unless you can't get a coupon to make it more affordable. Or need an external antenna (no coupon there...let alone the unbalanced impact on the poor and elderly).

So the broadcasters need to pay a power bill for a few months. Now they feel a bit of added pain, like the public getting hosed by the feds. Welcome to the club.

 

[azumanga]

The GM of one of the Kansas City stations was quoted as everyone needing to please President Obama.

If that's true, and I suspect it is, it's disturbing. We have a president, not a king, although you wouldn't know it from the fawning media.

Please Obama? Please. (No pun intended). All this does is please still-unprepared viewers who would otherwise lose their analog signals next Tuesday, as well as please stations who would otherwise be overwhelmed with calls from concerned viewers. Furthermore, stations can still opt to go digital only on 2/17, or anytime before 6/12.

 

[TheRob]

I'm not sure why that GM told the paper they needed to please Obama. It's fear of negative promotion from the competition in the market and the tiny chance that some unprepared soul happens to have a meter or diary.

 

[landtuna]

I'm still wondering about the folks on substandard cable systems such as mine. I went to Radio Shack over the weekend to begin MY conversion process. They have a 190 mile antenna for about $105.00. I'm tempted to do that, but it's probably like EPA ratings for gas mileage. Tell you 40, you get under 30.

Define "substandard".

At 190 miles over flat land you'd be over the horizon and I'm guessing that "190 mile" antenna would be only marginally effective if at all. Unless the transmitting antenna and yours are both way up in the air you are probably too far away for digital reception. If one or both of you are in the mountains the results may be very different (good or bad). Do you use an OTA antenna now? How is your reception?