Quarter of TV Stations Make Digital Switch Early (Actually it was on time)

E Commerce Times ^ | 02/18/09 9:34 AM PT | Peter Svensson

[Paleo Conservative]

For more information follow this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMeaX8Kz2TM

[DonaldC]

All of them should have.

[Kenny500c]

This is just great.

The government that can’t even print a bunch of coupons is going to save our economy.

Ugh.

[B.R. Burton]

I saw this coming...

[Paladin2]

I haven’t even checked to see who made the switch (or drop).

[BobbyT]

(Actually it was 4 or 5 years late, at the minimum, since they’ve been planning it for longer than that)

[Red_Devil 232]

Planning has been going on for 12 - 15 years. Two stations in my area went digital as planned.

[theymakemesick]

Houston has a “no we can’t” attitude, we need more time for gooberment to tell us how and help us convert so our analog transmitters are still operating. I’ve been OTA digital and ready for this for about half a decade now.

[katagious]

Once the switch was made I really didn’t expect to receive any channels out in the wilderness I call home. How lucky am I to be so surprised as to get TWO count them 1+1=2 channels showing PBS!!! I don’t get anything else ... I’m fine with getting none at all..... BUT am I to assume that I get 2 PBS channels and nothing else because they had more money available to give a stronger signal? Imagine that.

[unixfox]

These are the same people that complain about a 25 cent increase on ATM fees but don't complain about a 25% increase in their taxes!

Nothing but a bunch of idiots!

[Paleo Conservative]

Houston has a “no we can’t” attitude, we need more time for gooberment to tell us how and help us convert so our analog transmitters are still operating. I’ve been OTA digital and ready for this for about half a decade now.

Well they need to get some Aggies to help them out, because all the TV stations in The College Station-Waco-Killen market have already switched.

Here's a list of Texas stations that have switched excerpted from a USA Today article published on February 11.

Texas

Amarillo, Texas: KACV-TV
Austin, Texas: KEYE-TV (CBS)
Dallas-Ft. Worth: KTAQ
Harlingen: KMBH (PBS)
Lubbock: KAMC (ABC), KJTV-TV (Fox), KLBK-TV (CBS), KTXT-TV (PBS), KLCW-TV (CW)
Odessa: KPBT-TV
San Angelo: KLST (CBS), KSAN-TV (NBC)
San Antonio: KMYS (MyN), KABB (Fox)
Sherman: KXII (CBS)
Nacogdoches: KYTX (CBS)
Victoria: KAVU-TV (ABC), KVCT (Fox)
Waco: KYLE (Fox), KCEN-TV (NBC), KWBU-TV, KWKT (Fox), KWTX-TV (CBS), KXXV (ABC)
Wichita Falls: KFDX-TV (NBC), KJTL (Fox)

[theymakemesick]

Good for those on that incredibly short list, EVERY station should have turned off their analog transmitters and let the IDIOTS look at the pretty snow. I’m just disgusted that 0bama, the “yes we can” candidate, doesn’t think the American people have the ability to buy a $40 dollar device, plug it into the wall and connect five wires to it that are color coded. If Americans are really so stupid as to not be able to convert to digital after years of preparation and media attention, we’re at the end of our constitutional republic.

[DoingTheFrenchMistake]

Should have never happened in the first place.

[eyedigress]

People (On rabbit ears) don't understand the only thing Obama did was delay the Mandatory switch. The stations were ready to go and didn't wan't to pay for two transmission methods.

[Paleo Conservative]

Should have never happened in the first place.

I disagree. It's long overdue. Continuing to use the old NTSC broadcast system would be about like continuing to operate 19th century coal burning locomotives on the railroads. The new system is much more efficient.

[RLM]

What a contrast. Over the past several years the TV stations did the engineering, the purchase, installation and testing of thousands of new digital TV transmitters. The government, on the other hand, had even more time to do nothing more than print coupons, and they couldn’t get that right. And this is the government that’s going to see to our every need. I’m not impressed.

[Paleo Conservative]

Few report hitches as digital TV switch begins

Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:02pm EST

By James Hibberd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The digital transition has begun in earnest, and early reports suggest a relatively modest level of disruption for television viewers.

The National Association of Broadcasters said stations are averaging 50 to 200 calls from viewers with questions about the switchover from analog transmission, while the Federal Communications Commission has received 28,000 phone calls from viewers.

That's with one-third of TV stations having switched to digital signals. The NAB said 421 stations flipped the switch Tuesday, joining 220 local affiliates that had already made the change in advance of the June 12 deadline for compliance. Most of the calls, the NAB said, were questions about converter boxes and rescanning issues.

"These findings from local stations, coupled with the FCC data, paint the picture that, by and large, TV households affected in those markets were ready," said Jonathan Collegio, NAB vice president for the transition. "Given the large number of broadcast-only households affected during (Tuesday's) transition, a relatively small percentage of viewers so far have needed assistance."

The NAB said call centers in Virginia received about 150 calls. Stations in Rockford, Ill., received 200 calls, and stations in Topeka, Kan., received 300.

"In each case, stations were able to resolve most viewer concerns over the phone," the NAB said.

Nielsen released an update saying that 5 million U.S. households -- or 4.4 percent of all homes -- remain unprepared. This is an improvement of more than 800,000 homes since Nielsen reported readiness status at the beginning of February. The Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M., market continues to be the least prepared.

Some stations switched during the daytime, but an NAB representative said the "vast majority" that switched Tuesday did so after airing their primetime programing. So Tuesday's ratings are not a valid measure of whether the transition has an impact on viewership.

[Las Vegas Dave]

Pinging the HDTV list..
(Thanks Paleo Conservative for pinging me..!)

HDTV pings!

[6SJ7]

It’s pretty amazing NTSC lasted as long as it did; about 60 years. Color, closed-captioning, second-audio-source, and stereo sound were all add-ons to the original NTSC format.

[bert]

ON the night before the switch, the local Fox station was transmitting the HD audio but no HD video. ..... no HD 24!!

They did broadcast their regular analog signal however.

Me thinks that during the tinkering some one screwed up