Everyone is backtracking on analog shutoff

[Morgan Wick]

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.

Probably sarcasm, because he's not particularly fond of Obama telling him what to do, which makes it hilarious that dhett interpreted it as a sign of a goldanged Demmycrud-fawnin' librul media.

 

[Madmansam]

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."

Instead of setting a set date for the digital change, Why can't Congress pass a law saying that when 99.9% of Americans are ready for the Digital Switch then the TV Stations can drop their Analog Signals, whether it be JUNE 12, 2009 or JUNE 12, 2021?

 

[dhett]

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.

Probably sarcasm, because he's not particularly fond of Obama telling him what to do, which makes it hilarious that dhett interpreted it as a sign of a goldanged Demmycrud-fawnin' librul media.

Just because you can't see the "librul fawnin'" doesn't mean it isn't there. The DTV delay has been pushed by our lord and savior Obama.

OTA-only households are barely 10% of the overall TV viewing audience. Unprepared households are a very small percentage of the aforementioned OTA-only households. That's not enough to make a difference, so the only real reason for delaying is Congressional (D) and Presidential (D) pressure and their puppets in the FCC who have told stations that they reserve the right to veto their plans, in spite of the fact that the law says that they could switch on February 17, and the DTV Delay Act doesn't supersede any existing laws.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Are any of the Detroit stations switching next week?

 

[stationi]

Are any of the Detroit stations switching next week?

WPXD and WMYD in the Detroit area are turn off early.

 

[EricStein]

Phoenix-market Belo stations KTVK and KASW still have the "scarlet A" at the top right hand corner of the screen on their analog signals, as indicators for viewers. They still had them up today, so I'm suspecting that they're still planning on shutting down the analog next week (unless corporate in Dallas tells them to hold off). I just can't see them keep the annoying bugs on the screen if they plan on holding out until June.

 

[only1moore]

Well, for those who is wondering if any of the stations in the US territories will go digital, we can tell you that at approximately 1:59 PM Chamorro Standard Time on February 18, 2009 in Guam (11:59 PM North American Eastern Standard Time on February 17, 2009) KUAM (NBC), KGTF (PBS) and KTGM (ABC) will say bye-bye to analog. All three stations have been running scrollers on their stations saying that will go ahead and switch to digital. As for KUAM's LP sister (CBS) and KTGM's LP Fox sibling KEQI, they plan to make them available on their DT signals as well.

 

[philosofy]

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stor...0-4-local-tv-stations-set-go-digit/?uniontrib

Our local Fox, CBS, ABC and CW stations still plan on switching 2/17. Independent KUSI and the O&O NBC are switching in June, our PBS station is staying analog until after a pledge drive in March.

 

[DToTheJ]

I thought XETV in the San Diego market would get away with maintaining its analog signal, since its transmitter is actually licensed to Tijuana (hence the call letters starting with X).

 

[TheRover]

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.

Soooo.......the increase to FULL POWER of the Digital Signal that I assumed was going to occur on Feb. 17th, and the "help" that would bring to Digital Reception.... is now delayed from happening 120 days ? ? ?

That doesn't seem to help me....

BTY.... the FCC has not even begun to adaquately give help to consumers on how to accurately judge what kind of antenna to buy, and to not buy, and how to adjust said antenna, especially if it's an amplifed antenna.....

READ: GENERAL PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND CONFUSION

 

[philosofy]

I thought XETV in the San Diego market would get away with maintaining its analog signal, since its transmitter is actually licensed to Tijuana (hence the call letters starting with X).

So did I, but apparently Televisa (who owns XETV) decided otherwise and went with the decision to shutdown like everyone on this side of the border.

 

[LKellerIII]

I'm one o' them Demmycrud-fawnin' libruls, but other than the Obama bashing, I agree with dhett on this one. Digital transmission and HDTV are clearly superior in most ways.

From what I understand, the vast majority of Americans will receive a superior product even before they they purchase a hi-def TV...and they will increasingly buy HDTVs over the next few years as their old analog TVs die, and prices continue to come down.

I purchased a 42" 1080p TV last summer for $950, but this past Christmas I saw the same and equivalent units on sale for about $699.

When I first plugged it in, I could clearly see the difference in picture quality, but I wasn't blown away or anything. But now when I watch my old upstairs analog TV (27" - 280 lines of resolution), the difference is striking. Now analog TV seems like watching TV through horizontal venetian blinds.

People had plenty of warning about this impending change, and the converters are inexpensive since they're so heavily subsidized.

 

[TheRob]

In today's story, the FCC says 491 full-powered stations intend to cease analog broadcasting on Feb. 17, but they reserve the right to deny any of them.

 

[jal41]

The final list (stations marked in red):
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.pdf

The biggest culperits are statewide PBS networks, including Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky. Several standalone PBS stations are going as well. So much for public broadcasting serving the public interest.

Several markets, including Bakersfield, CA, will have all of their stations switching next week. Some will have one holdout.

Sinclair seems to be the only group going as a whole.

 

[tripinva]

Not all the Sinclair stations are going. Some are keeping their analogs. (WTWC and WDKY, for example)

- Trip

 

[only1moore]

I noticed that a few companies like Hearst-Argyle (excluding KITV/Honolulu) have stations listed in red still going digital even after saying that they will wait until June 12 (2009). So much for holding out.

 

[fybush]

The biggest culperits are statewide PBS networks, including Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky. Several standalone PBS stations are going as well. So much for public broadcasting serving the public interest.

That's an easy crack to make, but I'd contend that there's a greater public interest to be served, in at least some markets, by sticking to the original schedule.

For a statewide network with multiple transmitter sites, the cost of keeping analog alive - not just power bills but deferred maintenance - can easily soar into the six figures for each month of extended analog operation. And nowhere in the well-intended legislation to extend the deadline was there anything about providing funding to cover that extended operation, which certainly wasn't in anyone's operating budget for 2009.

At a time when many public broadcasters are facing severe budget cuts, I'd contend that the public interest might not be well served, either, by the cuts in programming and staffing that might have to be made to close the budget gaps that would result from extended analog operation to serve a small handful of holdout viewers.

There certainly doesn't seem to have been much of an outcry in places like Nebraska and Maine where statewide networks have already gone digital-only.

(And for the record, the PBS station where I work has decided - not my call! - to keep analog running until June, complete with the hourly "DTV Minute" segments that I host...

 

[kenrayc]

Most stations in Fresno that were going to switch on Feb.17 have changed there minds today and are waiting til June 12. Exception KVPT 18 PBS is turning off analog next week because of the power bill.

 

[wrsg915fm]

Cable companies serving 200 or fewer subscribers should have been forced to tell customers that such systems will probably not be ready, and to make suitable arrangements. I'm losing cable service next week, based on stations in my area. Area Radio Shacks and independent dealers are being inundated with customers, as 300 families are losing service in my area. I'm not looking forward to buying the antenna, tower, coax, converter box and so on, and putting everything up in a West Virginia winter.

I know that my situation is somewhat rare, but will be replicated to the point that perhaps hundreds of thousands countrywide will be left in the digital darkness. I've complained to everyone from our county commissioners to local TV station general managers. I'm so desperate, I even e-mailed Oprah. ;D You'll never see a news story explaining the transition's BIG LIE-that cable customers will be safe. I'm hoping that after I put everything together that perhaps I'll get a TV station from thirty miles away-again, consider West Virginia's terrain. It ain't Kansas, and Dorothy ain't coming.

 

[landtuna]

Cable companies serving 200 or fewer subscribers should have been forced to tell customers that such systems will probably not be ready, and to make suitable arrangements. I'm losing cable service next week, based on stations in my area. Area Radio Shacks and independent dealers are being inundated with customers, as 300 families are losing service in my area. I'm not looking forward to buying the antenna, tower, coax, converter box and so on, and putting everything up in a West Virginia winter.

I know that my situation is somewhat rare, but will be replicated to the point that perhaps hundreds of thousands countrywide will be left in the digital darkness. I've complained to everyone from our county commissioners to local TV station general managers. I'm so desperate, I even e-mailed Oprah. ;D You'll never see a news story explaining the transition's BIG LIE-that cable customers will be safe. I'm hoping that after I put everything together that perhaps I'll get a TV station from thirty miles away-again, consider West Virginia's terrain. It ain't Kansas, and Dorothy ain't coming.

Let's see.....

You live in a rural, hilly area where TV reception is iffy so you were on a cable system.....one that told you you'd be untouched by the DTV conversion but now they are dumping you and you are pissed at the Feds because they told you you'd be untouched too. Did I get that right?

OK, you probably have a good argument to pummel the GM of your local cable provider if they made the decision to plow their coax under very recently. They should have known what their plans were given the DTV conversion is about 10 years in planning at this time.

But you don't have a complaint with the Feds. Every single piece of documentation I've seen from the Feds says, in effect, contact your local cable provider to find out exactly how service will be provided. Did you contact them? Did they say they were going out of biz or perhaps tell you you're on your own?

And whose choice was it to locate in WVA where anything but satellite TV reception is questionable? Surely not the Feds.

I don't know what kind of reception you'll get or whether the OTA stations "30 miles away" are worth watching anyway but you do have another alternative. Go mini-dish. Either DISH or DirecTV can provide satellite service and (a) they will install the antenna, and (b) it will probably cost way less than putting up a tower/antenna/etc.

BTW, did you get a response from Oprah? Just askin'. ;D