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If watching this you are too close er, too analog - WFSB

DJKraze

DJKraze

I take it this ios one of those new measures that I've heard some stations might take the closer we get to the transition date to make viewers who haven't yet switched to do so now by doing things to make continuing to watch analog less palatable. WFSB analog now has a crawl on the bottom of the screen that though I'm not sure how long it's been there doesn't seem to be going away until the signal does. What's different about this than what everyone else has been doing? The other stations mention the dtv transition occasionally in a crawl, this is the picture squished down for all programming on the analog signal only with the following message (and yes the text was all-caps, so don't yell at me for yelling):

THE PICTURE YOU ARE WATCHING IS FROM WFSB CHANNEL 3'S ANALOG TRANSMITTER. THE FEDERAL GOVENMENT HAS MANDATED THAT WE STOP THIS TRANSMISSION BY FEBRUARY 18TH. YOU MUST UPGRADE TO A DIGITAL TV RECEIVER OR ADD A SET-TOP CONVERTER BOX OR YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO VIEW WFSB CHANNEL 3. CURRENTLY WFSB BROADCASTS IT'S DIGITAL SIGNAL AT FULL POWER ON UHF CHANNEL 33 FROM OUR TRANSMITTER FACILITY IN AVON, CONNECTICUT. PLEASE GO TO GO TO WWW.WFSB.COM , WWW.DTVANSWERS. COM OR CALL 888-DTV-2009 TO GET ANSWERS TO ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

Dish Network seems to be passing this test right now as the crawl is not there, though I heard they failed in the past (nothing wrong with being ready but not switching till it's needed to is there?)

I wonder how many others will switch to this or similar tactics?
 
The day before WAKA in Montgomery, AL killed their analog signal (December 1 or something), they had the crawl going through the middle of the screen on analog, with no crawl on the digital. People called requesting the station please move it.

- Trip
 
DJKraze said:
I take it this ios one of those new measures that I've heard some stations might take the closer we get to the transition date to make viewers who haven't yet switched to do so now by doing things to make continuing to watch analog less palatable. WFSB analog now has a crawl on the bottom of the screen that though I'm not sure how long it's been there doesn't seem to be going away until the signal does. What's different about this than what everyone else has been doing? The other stations mention the dtv transition occasionally in a crawl, this is the picture squished down for all programming on the analog signal only with the following message (and yes the text was all-caps, so don't yell at me for yelling):

THE PICTURE YOU ARE WATCHING IS FROM WFSB CHANNEL 3'S ANALOG TRANSMITTER. THE FEDERAL GOVENMENT HAS MANDATED THAT WE STOP THIS TRANSMISSION BY FEBRUARY 18TH. YOU MUST UPGRADE TO A DIGITAL TV RECEIVER OR ADD A SET-TOP CONVERTER BOX OR YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO VIEW WFSB CHANNEL 3. CURRENTLY WFSB BROADCASTS IT'S DIGITAL SIGNAL AT FULL POWER ON UHF CHANNEL 33 FROM OUR TRANSMITTER FACILITY IN AVON, CONNECTICUT. PLEASE GO TO GO TO WWW.WFSB.COM , WWW.DTVANSWERS. COM OR CALL 888-DTV-2009 TO GET ANSWERS TO ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

Dish Network seems to be passing this test right now as the crawl is not there, though I heard they failed in the past (nothing wrong with being ready but not switching till it's needed to is there?)

I wonder how many others will switch to this or similar tactics?
Click to expand...

The crawl is mandated by the FCC. See http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cdbs/cdbs_docs/388_101.cfm?form=388_101.cfm&acct=0&appn=101286682&fac_num=53115&formid=388, which is WFSB's most recent Form 388. It explains they ran 368 DTV crawls during the months of October, November, and December. All stations are required to file a Form 388 - I don't know how many crawls are required but the number is significant.

I wonder how long the "squish" was on? Last night, our station (in Nashville) ran a "DTV test" during our 6-7pm newscast; at 6:30 we cut off the signal altogether to the analog transmitter and replaced it with a graphic explaining the transition. (or as much of it as you can explain in a single page of legible analog TV graphics!) It was up for about two minutes with no audio. I don't know of any FCC *requirement* to do these tests, but reportedly it has been informally strongly recommended. (and really, it's a good idea)

Anyway, what WFSB is doing is not unusual and is at least to large degree mandated by the FCC. Analog viewers will be far less annoyed by "squish" graphics than they will be by a screenful of snow, which is what they're going to see if they don't upgrade in the next 30 days!

_________________________________________________

Trip's comments about Montgomery are interesting. I can't say we've had that experience in Nashville.
 
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