Are Television Broadcast Stations Ready for DTV?
Less than 57 percent of all full-power television broadcat stations are currently ready for the digital transition, says a recently released FCC report. This is a scary figure considering that the analog broadcast signal cut off date of February 17th, 2009 is less than six months away.
The report also mentions that about 41 percent of broadcast stations are still getting ready for DTV, and should be able to meet the Febuary deadline.
Is this suprising to anyone else? A quick reference to the government’s website, says:
Consumers can begin enjoying the benefits of digital television today. Because most full-power stations are currently broadcasting both in digital and analog, viewers can plug in their converter boxes and generally receive a clearer picture and more channels, where they are available.
The FCC report also makes specific mention about the remaining 2-3 percent of the television stations that will not be ready for the digital transition. These stations have secured a waiver to broadcast DTV to atleast 85 percent of their viewers, while finishing upgrades to their broadcast transmitters.
One station which was labled as a “satellite of another station,” will go dark for a few days after the February 17th transition date, while upgrades are made. Broadcasting should resume immediately afterward. The station’s identification is KBRR of Thief River Falls, Minnesota which is a satellite of KVRR of Fargo, North Dakota.
Comments
One Response to “Are Television Broadcast Stations Ready for DTV?”
Leave a Reply
p.s. i have a brand new vizio tv, and i picked up the converter box, and now instead of seeing snow during the packer game i get to look at pixel squares and a stalled screen. not broke don`t fix it! thanks gov