FCC: Some DTV transition hiccups still anticipated
The FCC on Tuesday held a public hearing where representatives from different FCC bureaus and leaders from various groups involved in educating and preparing the public for the switch to digital TV broadcast updated commissioners on their progress. The FCC and Commerce Department have partnered with community organizations, churches, public safety departments, civil rights groups, consumer groups and broadcasters around the country to get people ready for the transition. These education and outreach programs were thrown into high gear after Congress voted to postpone the transition from February 17 to June 12.
FCC staff members as well as other experts agreed that the nation is much better prepared now for the DTV transition than it was in February. But they testified there will be some individuals and groups of people who will still experience problems when all full-powered TV stations in the country flip the switch to digital transmission.
One major issue cited by Eloise Gore, associate bureau chief of the FCC's media bureau, is that some 35 TV stations around the country are expected to go dark after the switch. Eighteen of these stations are having financial problems, she said. The other 17 stations are experiencing technical issues that are preventing them from switching to digital, Gore said during her testimony. These TV stations may be able to get their signals back online by the end of the year, she said.
Some of the TV stations that are expected to stop transmitting signals are affiliates of a major TV network, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox. But Gore added that viewers who lose these channels can scan for that network on a subchannel of another TV station and may be able to access that network.
Another potential problem cited by Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology for the FCC, is that even people who have gotten their new digital converter boxes or who have digital-ready TVs are having difficulty with their antennas. He said consumers need to make sure that they have antennas that can receive UHF and VHF signals. He also said some viewers may have to adjust their antennas to get the digital TV signals. And he noted that viewers who have already been using converter boxes and antennas to get over the-air-digital TV should still rescan their boxes to find the new digital signals, since some signals may have shifted after the cut-over to all-digital transmission.
Knapp also noted that his office has been updating information on its Web site about antennas and these other issues to help provide more information to consumers. The office has also been working with retailers so that they can provide better advice to consumers about which antenna will work best for them.
Already switched
Even though disruptions are expected after the June 12 deadline, the reality is that about half of the 1,800 full-power TV stations required to transition to digital transmission have already done so. Many of these stations have been transmitting in digital since the original February 17 deadline.
Education and outreach programs appear to be working. The most recent polling data from Nielsen suggests that only about 3 million households that rely on over-the-air TV are unprepared for the transition. This figure is down from about 6 million households that were unprepared leading up to the February 17 deadline. The people who are still left out appear to be procrastinators and some in at-risk groups, such as elderly, low-income, or rural viewers, said Cathy Seidel, chief of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. And the agency is continuing to target those groups.
The Commerce Department has been offering $40 coupons to help offset the cost of digital converter boxes to allow older TVs to receive digital signals. And government officials say there is enough money and vouchers available to continue the program until its deadline of July 31. But officials did warn that people applying for coupons now may not get them in time for the June 12 deadline.
Despite that good news, some of the commissioners still have concerns. Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, who President Obama renominated for his current post, said he was concerned about what would happen after the transition was completed. Specifically, he wanted to know how the FCC would pay for the 4,000 telephone operators it planned to have in place to answer calls from consumers having problems. The FCC needs about $10 million to pay for these operators.
Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, associate administrator at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said these funds could be allocated from the Commerce Department, which received $650 million from the economic stimulus package to help fund the DTV coupon program. The agency has the authority to distribute about $90 million of that money to the FCC for digital TV education efforts. The FCC has already received about $65 million of the funding, but the Commerce Department has been holding about $25 million in case more is needed for the coupon program.
McGuire-Rivera said she didn't see any major problems in getting the $10 million transferred from the Commerce Department to the FCC. But the transfer must still be approved by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, which she anticipates will happen.
Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein expressed his concern that roughly 31 percent of TV households in various markets will not have access to "analog nightlight" services. The "nightlight" program is a voluntary program in which TV stations agree to keep an analog signal turned on in addition to their digital signals to provide information about the DTV transition and to notify unprepared TV viewers of emergencies, such as hurricanes.
Only about 100 stations plan to maintain "analog nightlight" notifications after the switch. More than half of those nightlights will remain on air for 30 days. And the rest will be on for at least two weeks. In total, these stations will reach 69 percent of TV households.
Representatives from the FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters said they are still trying to recruit more TV stations to provide nightlight broadcasts, and they expect to add more to the list.
Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie. 
The tv has so many commercials that it is no fun to watch anymore anyway. We will see how it goes.
The point of switching to digital is because for every 1 analog channel that is removed, 13 digital channels can take it's place. Not to mention that it uses far less energy.
If you are still using an antennea and you live 40 miles from a broadcaster, you should be out milking the cows, not watching TV. Leave the comments to people who are actually affected by the issue.
You are complaining about **** that may or may not even happen?
******* die
May or may not happen? I'm pretty sure it is going to happen.
What if all that money wasted on this DTV ignorance had been applied to something actually useful, like food for poor people or healthcare for the same?
My mother gave up and i gave up trying to get a digital set top box working due to all the garbage Comcast put us through just to get it the box to our house. then there was a to activate your box Jump to though this. Since comcast took over for insight in New castle IN there is no point of presence for some one deaf to go and have then set up their box.
THe box sits unplugged and unused! I WANT PLANET GREEN WITH OUT HAVING TO GET SOME SET TOP BOX SUCKING UP POWER ON MY LIGHT BILL AS WELL AS JACKING UP MY CABLE BILL 46 MORE DOLLARS.
D~W
Digital TV converters have nothing to do with Comcast. Comcast is a cable TV provider.
Digital TV converters are for receiving the FREE channels over the air on an old TV set.
A Comcast digital cable box has nothing to do with the conversion to DTV. I have 2 TVs that don't even have cable boxes on them and after the conversion they still work fine. This conversion is for local digital channles for people who have TVs that are more than 5-7 years old that do not have digital tuners built in.
You thinking that this is the same thing as being required to own a digital cable box is your own fault because you were too stupid to listen to the 100000000 days worth of information that every media agency and the govenrment provided for the eternally retarded citizens of this country.
20 years ago if a change was made, a change was made and people figured it out.
Now we cater so badly to the freaking retarded that millions of dollars are being wasted of our tax money to educate people that are too stupid to plug in a box to their television.
It is a simple concept people. Go buy a ******* box with government money and plug it into your TV. there are 2 connections, in and out. If you are too stupid to figure out what that means after 2 tries....kill yourself so the remaining resources on this planet can go to the people who actually give a **** about being more evolved than a brain damaged monkey.
There is no excuse for not knowing anything these days. Google it retards. They even have pictures for those of you who have trouble with words...such as "in" or "out".
If you have COMCAST, why are you fooling around with a converter box anyway? Comcast ins't over the air signals to you TV. You don't NEED a converter box.
The cliff effect makes digital worse than analog.
Now, who doesn't think this is all a conspiracy to get people to sign up for cable and satellite? Naive people - that's who.
You're right... that is the problem I've seen so far with DTV. It is quite a bit more picky. Weak signals (snow) and signal bounce (ghosting) were watchable on analog, but in digital, you're outta luck. I'm guessing there are a good number of people who watched less than perfect analog who will now get nothing.... EVEN IF they ordered the boxes and hooked them up correctly. The problem is a bit worse than just getting people to order coupons and buy boxes.
Oh... that is also an excellent observation about the image at the top of the article. If they were both using the same antenna... the one of the left would be fuzzy like it is, but the one on the right would be blank. I was going to post that, but noticed you beat me to it. :)
I can totally see your logical thought process.
Why don't you see people buying Apple IIe computers anymore? Oh, because the don't make them.
Why don't you see people washing cloths with a washboard in the river? I think you can figure out the answer.
Why arn't wheels made of wood anymore? Same answer.
Why don't we ride horses to work anymore? You guessed it.
Why are we communicating via lit pixels on a interestingly flat television looking thing? I bet you can figure this one out too!
I don't think it is going to be .08% of people that could watch analog but now can't get a strong enough signal for digital. We'll see when all the stations are at full power... but I've seen a number of situations where people could get analog (imperfectly, but watch it) where the digital signal can't be tuned in. It isn't nearly as simple as just getting a new TV or converter box. The signal is quite a bit more finicky.
I am SO SICK of cable television monopolies. FCC SUCKS.
I had comcast service for years and I never had the problems you are referring to.
They only verify the last 4 digits of the account holders SS# to make sure it is not a random person calling for whatever stupid reason people feel the need to **** with people.
This may be a sign that you need to spend less time watching TV and being stupid and more time learning about the world around you.
- by bsaucer June 18, 2009 10:52 AM PDT
- To clear up some confusion...
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(34 Comments)Analog TV is broadcast in NTSC format. DTV (over the air) broadcasts in ATSC format. After the transition, local stations broadcast in ATSC, but not NTSC. Store-bought convertor boxes convert ATSC signals into NTSC.
Cable companies broadcast in both NTSC (analog) and QAM (digital). the store-bought DTV convertor boxes will not work with cable TV unless they are equipped with a QAM tuner. And even then it would only pick up 3 or 4 "free and clear" QAM channels. And the channel numbers of these won't be properly mapped.
Even after the DTV transition, I still watch NTSC cable channels as before without a cable box. I have a TV card in my PC that can also pick up a few QAM channels.
As far as TV reception, Analog TV (NTSC) can get fuzzy reception. Digital TV is "all or none". You either get the signal or you don't.