The DTV transition, how much is it costing the average station?

[Poledo]

For the sake of this question lets just assume you've got a full power analog VHF TV station, either 100kw or 316kw at 2000 feet. This station is going to flash cut to it's new UHF DTV channel and not spend any time running simulations analog and digital feeds, thus cutting out all of those costs. They have to build new facilities and buy new equipment to set up their new full power UHF facilities with 5000kw (is that the max power for UHF DTV?) at 2000 feet, attempting to cover the same footprint as the analog signal. They will be mounting their new DTV antenna on the same tower their analog antenna was on.

How much will it cost a TV station to buy and install the equipment?
How much more will the power bill be each month for a 5000kw UHF compared to a 100kw low VHF?
How much will the engineering and other expenses cost?
How much extra will each digital sub channel add to the operating cost (not including cost of programming, just assume the sub channel shows the weather radar all day.)
How long will it take the average station to recoup these costs in a top 10 market, in Glendive, Montana, or in whatever market you're familiar with?
Assuming the station had average equipment in average condition for their analog VHF operation, will they be able to sell any of it? If so how much would they be able to sell it for to offset the cost of the digital upgrade?

How many stations turned in their analog licenses rather than spending this cash to upgrade to DTV? If it's a short list, could someone list the stations?

 

[tripinva]

Max power is 1000 kW.

Stations that turned in their licenses or will do so on 02/17/09:

KLEP in Newark AR
KBGH in Filer ID (in fairness, it was used solely for telecourses which can now be done online; station aired dead air when not doing telecourses I'm told)
WDCP in University Center MI, which built a taller tower that allows its simulcast parter to cover the entire area it used to take both analogs to cover, so little coverage lost

WFUP in Vanderbilt was slated to turn in their license since their new signal on WFQX makes it redundant, but the new owners have a different idea.

As far as I know, that's the list. That's one station forced out by financial reasons, one that is moving to the Internet and would have very likely killed the analog anyawy, and one that became redundant with a new, bigger digital signal by its simulcast partner.

- Trip

 

[stationi]

It's going to cost $45,000 to build a 5kW ERP digital signal for our low-power. This includes a brand new digital transmitter and encoder equipment capable of broadcasting four subchannels.

For a full-power the cost is exponentially greater.

 

[w9wi]

How much will it cost a TV station to buy and install the equipment?
How much more will the power bill be each month for a 5000kw UHF compared to a 100kw low VHF?

The limit for digital is 1000kw. However, the way power is measured is different for digital (you could say one digital watt is worth 2 or 3 analog watts) so it's somewhat more expensive than the 1000kw figure would suggest.

How much extra will each digital sub channel add to the operating cost (not including cost of programming, just assume the sub channel shows the weather radar all day.)

There is no strictly technical operating cost for subchannels. Beyond maintenance for the MPEG and Dolby encoders and EAS gear, which is essentially negligible. The cost is almost fully for programming, and the fees that are due the government if you make any revenue from subchannels.

Assuming the station had average equipment in average condition for their analog VHF operation, will they be able to sell any of it?

The low-band analog VHF transmission gear is pretty much worthless. The antenna might have scrap value (though likely not enough to cover the cost of removing it) and the feedline might be resellable for FM service.

 

[dhett]

Max power is 1000 kW.

Stations that turned in their licenses or will do so on 02/17/09:

KLEP in Newark AR
KBGH in Filer ID (in fairness, it was used solely for telecourses which can now be done online; station aired dead air when not doing telecourses I'm told)
WDCP in University Center MI, which built a taller tower that allows its simulcast parter to cover the entire area it used to take both analogs to cover, so little coverage lost

WFUP in Vanderbilt was slated to turn in their license since their new signal on WFQX makes it redundant, but the new owners have a different idea.

As far as I know, that's the list. That's one station forced out by financial reasons, one that is moving to the Internet and would have very likely killed the analog anyawy, and one that became redundant with a new, bigger digital signal by its simulcast partner.

- Trip

Add KTFL in Flagstaff AZ and KOFT in Farmington NM, which, like KLEP, were assigned DTV channels, but were forced off the air due to financial issues. I think KCWK in Walla Walla WA may be another casualty.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Max power is 1000 kW.

Stations that turned in their licenses or will do so on 02/17/09:

KLEP in Newark AR
KBGH in Filer ID (in fairness, it was used solely for telecourses which can now be done online; station aired dead air when not doing telecourses I'm told)
WDCP in University Center MI, which built a taller tower that allows its simulcast parter to cover the entire area it used to take both analogs to cover, so little coverage lost

WFUP in Vanderbilt was slated to turn in their license since their new signal on WFQX makes it redundant, but the new owners have a different idea.

As far as I know, that's the list. That's one station forced out by financial reasons, one that is moving to the Internet and would have very likely killed the analog anyawy, and one that became redundant with a new, bigger digital signal by its simulcast partner.

- Trip

Add KTFL in Flagstaff AZ and KOFT in Farmington NM, which, like KLEP, were assigned DTV channels, but were forced off the air due to financial issues. I think KCWK in Walla Walla WA may be another casualty.

Wasn't there also a station in Albion, NE (which was a satellite of KLKN-8 Lincoln, NE) that was the first station to go dark rather than spend money on the DTV transition? (back in either late 2002 or early '03).

 

[tripinva]

Did KOFT's analog ever make it to the air? I know the digital was on the air given the STA they had, so I'm not sure it is a victim of the digital transition as much as it's a victim of satellite TV.

KTFL is one I hadn't thought of. I don't know a lot about this station.

KCWK hasn't lost their license yet (nor has WWAZ, co-owned and also silent), though again, I don't know that it's fair to call these stations victims of the digital transition as much as victims of mismanagement. If it were the digital transition killing them, the analogs wouldn't be silent now I wouldn't think.

A true victim of the digital transition in my opinion is KOCT in Carlsbad. Not that it's going silent, but they are doing 100 kW on channel 6, but want just 15 kW on channel 19 for digital because of the associated cost increase of UHF combined with satellite TV (like KOFT).

As for KLKE in Albion, I think it was just a convenient excuse. If it was the cost of digital that was killing them, the station would still be on the air now and turning in their license on 02/17/09 (satellite stations that repeated others like KLKE did were not required to build out separate digital facilities and could have remained analog only for the duration of the transition). KLKE was probably a money pit that couldn't pay for itself, and since the FCC had required it to be there in order to move the channel 8 signal into Lincoln, using the cost of digital as a justification is probably one of the few ways they could have gotten away with eliminating it.

- Trip

 

[w9wi]

Did KOFT's analog ever make it to the air? I know the digital was on the air given the STA they had, so I'm not sure it is a victim of the digital transition as much as it's a victim of satellite TV.

It was never reported by DXers. Doesn't necessarily mean it didn't exist but a channel 3 in New Mexico would have been VERY likely to "skip out" to somewhere populated.

KCWK hasn't lost their license yet (nor has WWAZ, co-owned and also silent), though again, I don't know that it's fair to call these stations victims of the digital transition as much as victims of mismanagement. If it were the digital transition killing them, the analogs wouldn't be silent now I wouldn't think.

WWAZ has filed to change their DTV assignment to channel 5 and move to the WMVS-10 tower in Milwaukee - so I'd say they're not dead yet. But I wouldn't be investing my 401(k) money there.

As for KLKE in Albion, I think it was just a convenient excuse.

Agreed fully.

 

[arnoldevns]

I would say it depends on the station and what they run. Keep in mind: HD is not mandated, only DTV is mandated.

If all you do is run syndicated programs that are in SD and you never plan to run HD, all you really need to do is upgrade your transmitter for DTV.

If you run nothing but SD and want to run some digital subchannels, you'll have to add some equipment to run separate programs to those channels.

If you plan to run some HD stuff, you'll have to upgrade your playback, master control, STL, etc in addition to your transmitter.

If you do news and want to do that in HD, you'll have to spend several million dollars to buy pretty much all new equipment. It is a major undertaking.

 

[Poledo]

When I posted the question, I had the cost of a real "Big 4" affiliate in mind. I had an idea that building a new HD news set would cost a couple of million, so I didn't include that in my original question. So, does anyone have a ballpark price for converting a VHF "Big 4" affiliate to a 1000kw UHF HD-DTV station? I guess the question about power cost is unnecessary, a low VHF would run 10x as much on UHF and a high VHF would spend 3x as much on juice.

Also, would any of the now outdated analog equipment be worth enough to sell it to ship overseas? And how much of the old analog VHF TV equipment could be used by an FM radio station?

 

[w9wi]

I guess the question about power cost is unnecessary, a low VHF would run 10x as much on UHF and a high VHF would spend 3x as much on juice.

It's not quite that simple.

A maximum-power low-VHF analog runs 100 kilowatts peak effective radiated power. An antenna gain of four is typical, so the transmitter must provide 25 kilowatts peak RF output. But we're talking peak. Average power (which is what you're going to pay the utility for) is going to be on the order of 10 kilowatts.

A maximum-power UHF digital runs 1000 kilowatts average effective radiated power. UHF antennas have higher gains -- 20 might be typical -- so you only need about 50 kilowatts RF output from the transmitter.

On the other hand, the UHF transmitter is less efficient - it's going to take more watts of 60Hz AC from the utility per watt of UHF RF than per watt of VHF RF.

(so your 10x figure is probably a bit pessimistic but not too horribly much so)

And how much of the old analog VHF TV equipment could be used by an FM radio station?

I would suggest the transmission line is the only part that could be reused for FM radio. Maybe the wattmeter slugs.

 

[dhett]

Did KOFT's analog ever make it to the air? I know the digital was on the air given the STA they had, so I'm not sure it is a victim of the digital transition as much as it's a victim of satellite TV.

It was never reported by DXers. Doesn't necessarily mean it didn't exist but a channel 3 in New Mexico would have been VERY likely to "skip out" to somewhere populated.

No, the analog signal never did make it to air, nor do I think that they intended to air one, once they got the DTV STA up and running. So they would not have incurred the cost of running both analog and digital.

As for KTFL, I'm not sure whether the cost of the digital conversion was the reason for shutdown, but it was for financial reasons, following the death of owner Frank Spain. Their DTV facilities were never built, and given their finances, I don't believe that they ever would have, either. I draw a parallel between them and KLEP, whose shutdown was for financial reasons, but I don't know if it was ever stated that it was specifically due to the cost of running companion digital stations.

 

[w9wi]

As for KTFL, I'm not sure whether the cost of the digital conversion was the reason for shutdown, but it was for financial reasons, following the death of owner Frank Spain. Their DTV facilities were never built, and given their finances, I don't believe that they ever would have, either. I draw a parallel between them and KLEP, whose shutdown was for financial reasons, but I don't know if it was ever stated that it was specifically due to the cost of running companion digital stations.

As I understand it, "KLEP" is still operating but only on cable -- they purportedly had a commitment from the local cable system to continue to carry their station after the transmitter was shut off.

Of course, lacking an OTA signal that arrangement is now up to the whim of the cable system...