Loss of analog TV stations on February 17th? Not necessarily.
National News: The FCC with the new DTV delay law (just a Presidential signature away) has decided to make it tougher for TV stations to shut off their analog TV stations before the new June 12th deadline.They are now requiring stations to let the FCC know if it's in the public interest to shut down their analog signal before June 12th. Some stations have already converted or are nearly converted.
Every station that has filed to terminate it's analog early will have to do so before next Monday evening according to Ohio Media Watch. They had reported that a station there had filed for early analog termination but with the new change, they are saying on air that they will now shut off it's analog on June 12th instead.
Two Youngstown area stations (WKBN and WYTV) had also planned on shutting down early but will now have to refile if they intend to do so with just cause. Meanwhile WSEE is stating that they are going ahead with their analog shut off on February 17th while WICU would have to wait until a tower crew was available.
Their plans to convert WICU to DT 12 may have to wait until June unless they state that they have to shut off their analog signal first in order to convert.
Same goes with WJET, though they could temporarily piggyback on WFXP's signal on 66-2 if they decide to back off of their plans to convert to DT 24 on February 17th. No word on their plans as of yet. To say that this delay is a complete joke is putting it mildly. (However, I like to keep my articles clean so that the entire family can enjoy them without all those "bleeps.")
Most people are ready but a few procrastinators decided to complain and make the whole transition messier than it needed to be.
I'd expect a few more delays along with lost jobs all thanks to a new administration and Congress that wants to "create jobs." With stations now most likely having to keep both signals on until June, expect more layoffs to compensate for running two signals that were not in a station's budget beyond this month. Not to mention lawsuits from those waiting for the spectrum to open up this month.
Can anyone see a trainwreck coming? Read the FCC notice at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs public/attachmatch/fcc-09-6a1.pdf.
Readers’ Forum
I completely agree with you on this.
Stephen - February 06, 2009 at 08:59 am
I also concur; delaying the DTV transition has only made the switch “messier”. I would like to thank our wonderful government for creating this “disaster” after so many months of preparation for February 17th.
Doug - February 06, 2009 at 4:02 pm
For what it’s worth, John Kiesewetter, TV/radio reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, reports none of our local stations except one (Sinclair-owned WSTR-64) will shut off analog signals on Feb. 17.
No further word on Dayton, where as late as yesterday all stations except one said they WOULD switch off analog on Feb. 17.
The old saying, “Hurry up and wait…” seems strangely appropriate right now.
Richard Emery - February 06, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Just an FYI — the link to the FCC notice included at the end of this item appears to be broken. I’ve tried it several times, and received an error message each time.
Richard Emery - February 06, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Southwest Ohio is likely to be a great case study comparing one market going all-digital this month versus a neighboring market keeping the good old analog signals beaming until June. John Kiesewetter of the Cinci Enquirer reports all Dayton stations will definitely dump analog on Feb. 17, except for WHIO’s Nightlight participation; all Cincinnati stations will maintain analog broadcasts except for Sinclair’s WSTR-64.
Let the games begin — it could get interesting!
Richard Emery - February 06, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Does this mean the April 15th tax deadline won’t be mandatory either?
Frank - February 06, 2009 at 11:39 pm
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