Analogs May Stay On Another 30 Days

[John L]

Stations like WTMJ-TV, ch. 4 and WITI-TV, ch 6, but NOT WISN-TV, ch. 12 may be able to keep their analog transmitters on until March 17th. Between February 17 until March 17th they could stay on and broadcast only DTV Information and any possible Emergencies should such a emergency arise.

Congress just passed a law allowing some TV stations to do that. Those who cannot, like ch. 12 is because WBBM-DT is taking over ch. 12's frequency on Feb 17th.

-John L.

[WPXE ION]

Here is a link with the report. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-281A1.pdf

On the FCC main page scroll down to 12/24/08 FCC Takes Steps to Implement "Analog Nightlight" Act. I only see WVCY listed in appendix A, but that is just an initial list.

A quote from the report:
"The Analog Nightlight Act is designed to ensure that those consumers who are not able to receive digital signals after the DTV transition on February 17, 2009, will not be left without access to emergency information.   The Act is also intended to help consumers understand the steps they need to take in order to restore their television signals.   The analog nightlight was first used by the broadcasters in Wilmington, North Carolina, who volunteered to transition their market on September 8, 2008.  They ceased analog broadcasting on that date but continued to broadcast their analog signals for roughly a month, displaying a "slate" describing the transition and where people could obtain information about it."

[UncleMeat]

So the converter box coupons have been going out for almost a year at a cost of about $1.4 billion.  We've put countless public dollars into advertising the program and the switch.  There have been numerous soft tests of the transition.  Yet, people still are not prepared.  Is it a surprise?  No, of course not.  However, I say instead of having this extension (and possibly more after), just let the stragglers suffer.  Have analog PBS put out a signal on the 18th saying "Did your TV stop working?  Here's why..." and leave it at that.  If you haven't figured out what to do about your TV by now, you don't deserve to be babied any longer.  :rtfm

[LoadStar]

So the converter box coupons have been going out for almost a year at a cost of about $1.4 billion.  We've put countless public dollars into advertising the program and the switch.  There have been numerous soft tests of the transition.  Yet, people still are not prepared.  Is it a surprise?  No, of course not.  However, I say instead of having this extension (and possibly more after), just let the stragglers suffer.  Have analog PBS put out a signal on the 18th saying "Did your TV stop working?  Here's why..." and leave it at that.  If you haven't figured out what to do about your TV by now, you don't deserve to be babied any longer.  :rtfm

In principle, I agree with you. Given everything that's been done thus far, there should be absolutely no surprise some February 18.

That said: I see absolutely no downside to this idea. In fact, it's something that should have been included in the digital transition plans from day one. It's one of those ideas that I'm sure there are many people at the FCC and in government going "wait a minute. Why didn't we think of this until now?"

It makes the digital transition a little more consumer friendly; instead of waking up to every channel being fuzz on February 18, consumers are now presented with a nice message that reads something like "This station and all other analog stations are now off the air permanently. To continue receiving television programming, please purchase a digital converter box." In a perfect world, such a message would not be required, but this ain't a perfect world. And like I said, there are no downsides - there's no reason NOT to do this.

[troyriley]

It will be kind of frustrating to many people if any full-power analog stations stay on after February 17. Right now, the TV broadcast spectrum is so full that there are stations interfering with one another (co-channel interference). I can't receive any Madison digital stations because the dirty city to our south has analog channels on the same frequency. The FCC would be penalizing those of us who ARE ready for the digital transition by allowing analog stations to get in the way of our digital stations.

For those people who haven't yet figured out what they need to do by February 17 and need emergency information, there would be no better motivation to get a converter than to see snow on TV in February. For those who still aren't motivated by that, they can turn to their trusty old analog radio for emergency information.

[WITI6fan]

The FCC would be penalizing those of us who ARE ready for the digital transition by allowing analog stations to get in the way of our digital stations.

The stations that have been picked to continue broadcasting are able to do so because they won't cause interference.

Plus, any other channels who want to stay on need to have engineers submit documentation as to how they won't interfere with anything.

[wysiwyg]

If they wanted to do this in a way that made any sense, they would have forced analog stations to go to half power on January 17th and have a constant crawl on the bottom of the screen for the next month telling people they will see NOTHING on Feb 17th instead of a snowy picture and constant crawl. That annoyance would get people to act, but in the meantime they would still get something on the analog stations.