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Analog TV says goodnight

by Steven Kim posted Jul 14th 2009 at 5:05PM

Digital TV switchDid you catch the sound of a falling tree in an empty woods this past weekend? In case you didn't hear it, analog "nightlight" transmissions went dark Sunday -- which amounted to 121 stations in 87 markets signing off for the last time. Absent the nightlight info screens, rock-dwellers will now have to emerge from their hermitages to figure out what happened to their TVs, but as we say in the 21st century, "them's the breaks." Aside from areas being served by analog translator and/or low power service, this marks the end of the analog broadcast TV era. Way to go, America -- we haven't heard any reports of riots or mass hysteria, and we'd dare say the citizenry handled this tech transition better than the millenium bug.

US Senate intros bill to keep people from falling off the "digital cliff"

by Steven Kim posted May 10th 2009 at 9:57PM

2009 DTV switch dateWith less than 5-percent of US homes failing to make it under the analog shutoff limbo stick (and still a month to go), there's no reason that come June 12th a whole lot of stations won't be conducting their own shutoff festivities. Just to make sure that there won't be a pack of digital lemmings headed for a step function-like cliff, the US Senate has introduced the DTV Cliff Effect Assistance Act, which allocates $125 million through 2012 to help pay for digital repeaters and translators to fill in those areas that will go uncovered after the switch occurs. This is government money, so you know there's a few strings attached -- in this case, the new bits of infrastructure will also have to serve up wireless communications and broadband traffic where possible. Let's see -- more people with DTV and broadband wireless coverage? Add a tick in the "yes" column for us, please!

DTV preparedness now more than 95-percent

by Steven Kim posted May 1st 2009 at 10:16PM

June 12 2009 DTV switchover Here we are, a little more than a month away from the February 17 June 12 analog shutoff date, and sure enough, more people have grabbed hold of a digital tuner in one device or another. According to Nielsen, the number of unprepared homes is now at 3.1-percent (3.5-million homes). To put that in perspective, recall that at the start of February, we were sitting at 5.1-percent. We're pretty impressed that the number has moved below the 5-percent mark, and certainly a lot of credit goes to stations that went ahead with the switch ahead of the June 12 deadline. Zeno and his paradox aside, we've got high hopes that the June 12th date is going to stick, folks!

FCC proposes Analog Nightlight Act to keep old spectrum on 30 day life support

by Ross Miller posted Dec 31st 2008 at 2:39AM

As most of you know by now, February 17 is the cutoff date for analog television in the US... or is it? The FCC has proposed the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act (SAFER -- get it?), a.k.a. the Analog Nightlight Act, which lets full-power TV stations keep broadcasting on the antiquated spectrum for 30 days after the DTV transition. The idea came from a similar program used with Wilmington, North Carolina's early shutoff back in September. Of course, the proposed programming is a bit dry -- public safety messages and information on the transition -- but we hear the finale will rival The Sopranos' sendoff. Hit up the read link and see if any of your local stations are on the list of proposed nightlights.

[Via Ars Technica]

Iowa senators want DTV transition coupons reissued for severe weather victims

by Darren Murph posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 11:24PM

Personally, we think the whole three-month expiration on these government-issued DTV vouchers is pretty pointless, but Iowa senators Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin are pleading with the National Telecommunications Information Administration for a different reason. The duo asserts that Iowa citizens badly affected by the recent severe weather shouldn't have to flip through whatever is left of their belongings in order to scrounge up pieces of a $40 coupon; they suggest that simply reissuing them would be a much better alternative. Can't say that we disagree there, but senators, if you two manage to get this by the NTIA, how's about wringing their arm to get those expiration dates removed as well?

Las Vegas station performs analog shutoff drill, sky does not fall

by Steven Kim posted May 6th 2008 at 10:35AM

Las Vegas station performs analog shutoff drill, sky does not fallThe idea of testing and/or "rolling" the digital transition across select US markets makes sense -- such a large change is sure to come with its share of hiccups. One Las Vegas station actually simulated the analog shutoff last week, though, and it came off pretty smoothly. During its newscasts, NBC affiliate KVBC put up a simulated "static snow" image with a graphic overlay instructing confused viewers to call the DTV transition phone number for info. How many calls did the KVBC front desk receive? One. Kudos to KVBC for pulling this little test -- as we all know, the real implications of the analog cutoff won't dawn on many people until they actually lose reception. This is a "news you can use" feature we'd like to see catch on around the rest of the country!

The digital TV switchover begins... in Britain

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2007 at 6:04PM

We're still quite a few days months away from our official analog-to-digital cutover, but the lads (and dames) in Britain aren't wasting any time. Reportedly, the nation is already preparing to begin the switchover, starting in the northwest English resort of Whitehaven with BBC2. This initial move will affect around 25,000 households, and it was noted that the "other analog channels" would be switched off on November 14th. 'Course, Britain as a whole isn't scheduled to go 100-percent digital until 2012, but that didn't stop kiddos at a local primary school from "burying an analog time capsule to recall how television was before the change." Kids these days... they've got it good.

[Image courtesy of BBC]

Lawmakers worried over digital TV transition

by Darren Murph posted Jul 27th 2007 at 9:46PM

It's one thing to fret over the estimated $1.5 billion Congress has to set aside to pay for the "coupon program" to aid Americans in the analog-to-digital transition of 2009, but now lawmakers are "worried that too few of us know that the analog TVs we have been using for years could become big cathode-ray paperweights after February 18, 2009." Essentially, those in power feel that "too little is being done to get the message across," and that quite a few disgruntled individuals could be smacked with a reality check of gigantic proportions if no one tells them beforehand. According to a poll released by the Association for Public Television Stations earlier this year, some 61-percent of those surveyed had "no idea" the shutoff would even take place, so we'd expect a commercial blitz to give your fast-forward finger a workout in the coming months.




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