500 TV Stations Still Plan To Make Digital Switch Next Week

With millions of U.S. viewers still apparently unprepared for the nation's switch to digital TV, nearly 500 full-power television stations across the nation are preparing to move ahead with the transition anyway and drop traditional over-the-air broadcasts next Tuesday.

The loss of signals in those markets means that some viewers will no longer get television reception unless they have installed a digital converter box and, in some cases, purchased a new antenna.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[BarackstarObama]

They are defying President Obama, and depriving 6.5 million people from having a tv signal, so that is just wrong.

[xstevejx]

Unless the govt. (taxpayers) are going to PAY THEM to keep their analog signals going, there's no incentive for them for them to keep going for 4 more months. The bill to extend the switch didn't offer to do that, so bye-bye analog from many broadcasters, and rightfully so.

They ARE NOT "defying President Obama"...they are just not bending over backwards at their own expense (up to MILLIONS of dollars per station) to change plans that were already well in place.

Not WRONG...just TOO BAD!

[SunnyT]

Well, that's a few million people who won't be seeing the advertising these stations broadcast, so the losses may come in through the back door.

[nfogoddess]

Just rip the band-aid off all at once! Looking at this mess it is easy to see how the US will never switch to the metric system or switch to a dollar coin (without the paper dollar) or get rid of the penny.

I read some statistics that there are nearly 6 million people reported as NOT ready but that number is misleading. Some included in that number have the box but just haven't hooked it up yet, some have hooked up the box to their main tv or have changed to digital for their main tv but haven't hooked up boxes for there secondary tvs, some have coupons but haven't redeemed them. Even with the 6 million number it is reported that there are 10 million active but unredeemed coupons out there.

We're as ready as we will ever be so just DO IT already!

BTW - I have had my box hooked up for 6 months and the picture I get is 100 times better than I was getting before.

[denlong]

It is NOT a "switchover" digital signals are being broadcast NOW! And as long as the weather is clear and you are not too far from the transmitters, the pictures look great

[Big0725]

Yes it is a switchover.

At the stated time there will be stations that will be SWITCHING channels to free up spectrum for public safety radio systems. We've been ready for six months to move and now we have to wait another 4 months.

[electricflag]

Just pull the plug already. If they don';t know by now, they will never know.

[Meggie]

That's the truth.
In Fla recently there was a local TV station that was offering two 2-minute periods where they would run the digital-only signal a few weeks ago as a service for people in the area to tell easily if they were going to need a converter box or not. There is no excuse.

[SunnyT]

People being laid off and trying to feed families on unemployment compensation, losing healthcare coverage, losing their homes, rising food prices --- no, no excuse at all.

[mildewproduction]

The delay in the change over shows the thought process Obama has. As businesses these stations budgeted to turn off their analogue signals. The electricity to power them can run up to $6,000 a month. That's a $20,000 bill in power that wasn't accounted for in a rough economy if they choose not to turn it off.

So the though process goes if we delay this it's going to cost every station $20,000+, if we delay it a handful of citizens will switch over in time (most of the people that aren't ready now are not going to be ready when the change happens it's called procrastination). Ok we are the government, just make them push the date back.

[Big0725]

Uh.........the power consumption by the transmitter will not go down. The type of signal coming from the transmitter will change.

[swlewis57]

Two different transmitters, two different electric bills. Especially since some stations have two different locations for the transmitters.

[GraceNotes]

Well, I for one will be happy when the whole thing gets sorted out and they can stop running the crawl of information about the switch on every channel. Television has been using the same broadcast technology since the days of Milton Berle!!!

I will also be extremely happy when my local NBC affiliate in Savannah Georgia upgrades, because their sound quality is so poor with their old equipment that I am hardly able to watch the news, as Brian Williams sounds like he is talking through a tunnel! I have complained to the local affiliate, but have gotten no response, so I will assume they are not repairing the old equipment, but merely waiting for the new equipment to kick in.

[CountryBumpkin49]

I find this funny,except that it isn't. This not about getting digital tv to the Masses but about getting the public on either cable or satellite. As my handle states I am a rural citizen and many in my area are about to lose all free TV. Ya, there is Free TV and with the digital switch many Americans are about to lose it. And the stations that are switching now is for economic reasons, they don't want to cover the costs of two transmitters. Those of us in rural areas also have huge areas were there is not cable and satellite is the only option and then they have to pay for the local stations. Once again the American public takes it up the butt and Corporate American gets the prize.

[AnalyzeIT]

Fight back - let them have it their way. Go internet - or give TV up for 6 months too a year. Catch up on reading, etc. ETC>ETC> ETC>

[ConservativeTim]

I am sure I live as far in "the country" as you do. In my area, we were told about a year ago that this would happen in Feb. of this year. I cannot get cable, and I use a good old fashioned outside antennae for three local stations. I have, however, had a full year to prepare.

[poster1122]

You realize that you can get a digital converter for your TV, right? There's a voucher program that even covers the cost for you.

So, you shouldn't be losing anything with the switchover to digital. And you won't need to get satellite if you don't care to pay for it.

[quiviran]

Didn't read the article, huh.

[poster1122]

Huffpost swallowed my earlier post, so here it is again:

You can get a digital converter to keep your local, over the air stations without having to upgrade your TV or move over to cable or satellite. There's a voucher program that covers the cost. Here's the URL to get that coupon:

https://www.dtv2009.gov/

[quiviran]

Didn't read the article, huh.

[Meggie]

I can understand your frustration, but the reason this is necessary is to free up some bandwidths for all our new technology.
The conversion boxes have been available for quite some time, and even lots of republican senators decided it was a good idea to send you TWO coupons to help with your conversion box purchase. If you did not use that government program to your advantage, that's your problem.

Now they should put the broadband expansion into rural areas back into this jobs bill. It is IMPERATIVE for US kids to have all technology available to them if they're going to be competitive in this world. They can use those wonderful electric and telephone lines they have to look up how controversial it was not too long ago when the wasteful idea of forcing electricity and telephones on them was proposed in the not so distant past.

[AnalyzeIT]

Great maybe some of those 'wingnuts' who listen to FOX News will have their viewing capabilites shut off.

Regardless, not much on the 'telly tubes' anyway.

[mildewproduction]

You are pretty clueless. Fox News is on cable. The digital transfer has to do with over the air.

[JZ735]

This story is not completely honest...sign up for basic cable, and if you live in rural areas, satellite...only rarely, and in urban areas, will having a converter box be a logical option...

And the media need to stop making it sound like this means switching to HD...it isn't.

[Solex]

'This just illustrates that far too many Americans are too lazy or too stupid to act on a very clear warnings of a pending event. This is why, even though it has been well known since the 1970s that Peak oil will happen, Americans have done ZERO to convert from an oil based economy to a solar based economy - they are waiting for the crisis to be really bad.'

Well, we had NUCLEAR REACTORS that could have helped us through peak oil, but certain people in certain movements (despite being told NOT TO) bitched and moaned about them anyway, and instead of the newer, SAFER ones being built that could have helped us through the coming peril (nukes can be used to charge electric cars, and may even help with hydrogen cells), we only have the older ones that will be off-line soon because of age, with no new ones being built because of the above-mentioned movement's scare-mongering paranoia. Remember, you can't run before you learn how to walk, and nuclear power would have helped us.

As for the TV thing...those that didn't act better check around to see if there any cheap $300.00 HD sets on sale at Best Buy in the next coming weeks.

[JZ735]

I do not understand the drama over this...you are right...there are very cheap HD TVs out there now.

[quiviran]

One man's cheap is another man's impossible dream.

[Big0725]

The folks that these boxes are aimed at aren't the "run out and drop a few hundred on a new TV" type of people. I figure that most are either the working poor or pensioners without means for new televisions.

[Meggie]

Old plants will not be offline anytime soon. Just about all have already exceeded their projected lives by decades. Being "upgraded" with digital controls and all. No way we can afford to let those babies go yet. Unfortunately, the hysteria also prevented any further study into recycling waste or doing anything else constructive with the power source to make it safer. Places like NYC still don't get it, even in the middle of summertime rolling brownouts. Remove them from the nuclear teat for one summer and they will not survive.
Would have been MUCH safer with new, but this TV thing, along with the failed conversion to metrics in the '70's prove that Americans as a whole aren't all that interested in improving their lives or educating themselves on anything.

[spyguy68]

Duh - This has been heavily publicized for over a year and the stations have spent MILLIONS on the conversion. There is absolutely NO REASON that anyone isn't prepared for this. This has not been done in secret. The only major hitch is the set-top box makers were slow to ramp up production so many that got the coupons early couldn't find a converter to buy, but once the converters were available, they should have purchased one, even though they had to pay full price. After all, $50 one-time is a whole lot cheaper than a new TV or the on-going cost of cable or satellite.

If consumer advocates think this is so bad, then they should be going door to door with free converter boxes and hooking people up.

This just illustrates that far too many Americans are too lazy or too stupid to act on a very clear warnings of a pending event. This is why, even though it has been well known since the 1970s that Peak oil will happen, Americans have done ZERO to convert from an oil based economy to a solar based economy - they are waiting for the crisis to be really bad.

I have ZERO sympathy for people that can't plan ahead.

[JZ735]

True...if TV matters to you, then you should have thought about this ages ago..if it doesn't, then don't worry...

[SunnyT]

ZERO sympathy - you must be a Republican.