Further chatter on DTV

While the digital TV switchover/analog turn-off/transition/changeover hubbub continues in the media, I'm feeling the urge to share more of my thoughts and (non)experiences.

First, to those who are hopeful President-Elect Obama delays the analog shut-off date, don't hold your breath. Why? Several reasons. Notwithstanding those that have already made the change (Hawaii, Wilmington, NC, the stations I referred to a couple of entries ago, and others that I just don't know about), all of the remaining full-power stations have already started or are preparing to begin a power-down. It seems this is necessary for the engineering folks to climb the towers and switch out the analog and digital antennas for some stations. Even though these stations have operated the two signals simultaneously, for several years in some cases, now that the deadline is near the focus is on getting the digital antennae to their maximum height and power, essentially replacing for good the older signals. These tasks are not spurious nor are they inexpensive. No doubt station managers and chief engineers have spent months if not years planning the timetable for such drastic changes. Even if the government moves back the mandatory analog switch-off date, the majority of stations will not revise their transition plans.

Second reason: money. Bean counters don't like paying a higher-than-normal electric bill to power both analog and digital signals. When you consider a full-power VHF can have around 100,000 watts effective radiated power, and a UHF could potentially go as high as five million watts, you're talking big bucks to the local electric provider. This cannot continue indefinitely.

Third, what good will delaying the switchover do? Some may cite the lack of (current) funding to continue the $40 coupon program, but this can be remedied without changing the February 17 date. (Shoot, the government seems to want to bail out everyone from Wall Street to Joe's Plumbing Supplies, let them cough up a little more dough for a converter box.)

Last but not least, the change needs to come. Why delay? Just makes it worse for everyone involved. If you cannot pick up digital signals now, you still won't be able to receive them in May. Or October. Or 2013.

Enough of my ranting. It is true that this is the most significant change for television viewing since the invention of the idiot box and I won't argue that point. Yet there was a significant event that brought changes to many TV viewers around the country.

Happened in 1994-95.

Remember?


If not, you probably weren't living in one of the markets affected. What happened is this: New World Communications acquired many televisions stations in various markets. (How this occurred and the related timeline is beyond the scope of this blog post. There are several web sites which can explain this in detail. Use a search engine.) The fallout meant many UHF stations which had been affiliates of the Fox network since its inception in 1986 were switched to VHF channels, with the Big Three now finding one of their stations now on the UHF dial. You can think Fox's acquisition of the NFL for being the driving force behind all these transactions.

I didn't live in an affected market at the time (I was in Tucson if you're curious.) But our larger neighbor to the north, Phoenix, saw its ABC station wind up on channel 15, Fox going to channel 10, CBS moving to channel 5, and channel 3, the previous ABC outlet in the Valley of the Sun becoming first a WB station, then an independent operation. Other markets had equally dramatic changes: Denver, Atlanta, and Birmingham stand as good examples.

Just a reminder that you can fool around with people's TV habits and they will adjust accordingly. In other words, make the adjustment and move on!

Coming up: Saying goodbye to an old friend.