DTV transition in the United States
Encyclopedia
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog (the traditional method of transmitting television signals) to exclusively digital
broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming. The transition from analog to digital television has been described by David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters
, as representing "the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced." For full-power TV stations, the transition went into effect on Friday June 12, 2009, with stations ending regular programming on their analog signals no later than 11:59 pm local time that day.
Under the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
, full-power broadcasting of analog television in the United States would have ceased after Tuesday February 17, 2009. To help U.S. consumers through the conversion, the Act also established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program
.
The DTV Delay Act changed the mandatory analog cutoff date to June 12, although stations were permitted to cease analog transmissions before the new mandatory cutoff date. The legislation was enacted on February 4, 2009, and on February 11, 2009, President Barack Obama
signed it into law. The purpose of the extension was to help the millions of households who had not been able to get their coupons for converters because demand for coupons exceeded the funding provided for in the initial bill, leaving millions on a waiting list to receive coupons. Funding for extra coupons was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
. By midnight on the original cut-off date of February 17, 2009, 641 stations representing 36 percent of U.S. full-power broadcasters were transmitting exclusively in digital.
Analog broadcasting did not cease entirely following the June 12 deadline: under the provisions of the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
, approximately 120 full-power stations briefly maintained analog "nightlight" service, ending no later than July 12. In a separate category, low power television stations will be permitted to continue analog broadcasts for several more years. In September 2010, the FCC announced a proposal to set a hard deadline of 2012 for low power stations to broadcast in digital. On July 15, 2011, the FCC posted the required transition deadlines for low power television. Stations broadcasting on channels 52 to 69 must vacate those channels by December 31, 2011. Otherwise, the digital transition deadline is December 31, 2015, unless a station files for a one-time, four month extension.
with the original transition date of December 31, 2006. The transition to digital television was set back several more times after that. First to December 31, 2008, then to February 17, 2009, and then finally to June 12, 2009.
US full-power analog TV broadcasts were required by law to end in 2009. Since March 1, 2007, all new television devices that receive signals over-the-air, including pocket-sized portable television
s, personal computer video capture
card tuners, and DVD recorder
s, have been required to include digital ATSC tuner
s. Prior to this, the requirement was phased-in starting with larger screen sizes. Prior to the completion of the transition, most U.S. broadcasters were transmitting their signals in both analog and digital formats, though a few are digital-only. Digital stations transmit on another channel
, which was assigned to each full-power broadcaster in a three-round digital channel election
.
The transition from the analog NTSC
format to the digital ATSC format was originally required to be completed on February 17, 2009, as set by Congress in the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
. Following the analog switch-off, the FCC has reallocated channels 52
through 69
(the 700 MHz band) for other communications traffic, completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s. These channels were auctioned off in early 2008, with the winning bidders to take possession of them in June 2009. Four channels from this portion of the broadcast spectrum (60, 61, 68, and 69) will be held for reallocation to public safety communications (such as police, fire, and emergency rescue). In addition, some of the freed up frequencies will be used for advanced commercial wireless services for consumers, such as Qualcomm
's planned use of former UHF channel 55
for its MediaFLO
service.
For U.S. cable television, the FCC voted 5–0 on September 12, 2007 to require operators to make local broadcasts available to their users in analog. This requirement lasts until 2012, when the FCC will review the case again. This was necessary since many cable companies, including major ones like Comcast
, have been taking analog channels away from customers.
In 2007, a bill in the U.S. Congress called the DTV Border Fix Act
was introduced. It would have allowed all television stations within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the Mexican border, in areas such as San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley
, to keep their analog signals active for another five years. The bill passed the Senate but did not pass the House.
The SAFER Act was passed by Congress in December 2008 and signed by President Bush just before Christmas. The act has been called the "analog nightlight
" act, and allows analog stations on channels that will not conflict with post-transition digital stations the option of leaving their analog transmitters on for an additional 30 days, but only to provide disaster information and information regarding the digital transition.
Because the Commerce Department
no longer had money to fund additional coupons for converter boxes, and on account of other potential problems, the Barack Obama transition
team asked Congress in a January 8, 2009, letter to delay the end of analog TV. The Commerce Department announced January 5, 2009, that the $1.34 billion limit on coupon funding had been reached. Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union
, which wanted a delay, feared older people, those outside cities and the poor needed help. Speaking to a group of area residents as part of a nationwide campaign to persuade people to upgrade, FCC chair Kevin Martin
said in Raleigh, North Carolina
that a delay was "unlikely". He said it would be "unfair" to all those who have made the effort to switch, and to those who bought the reallocated spectrum that was sold with the understanding analog broadcasts would end February 17, 2009. The delay passed Congress despite this prediction (see below).
market ceased transmission of their analog signals on September 8, 2008, making it the first market in the nation to go digital-only. Wilmington was chosen as the test city in part because the area's digital channel positions would remain unchanged after the transition. Wilmington was also appropriate because it had no hills to cause reception problems and all of the stations would have UHF channels.
The low-power CBS
affiliate WILM-LD signed on its new digital signal in time for the transition. The test excluded UNC-TV
/PBS
station WUNJ, which kept their analog signal on, as they are the official conduit of emergency information in the area.
Viewers were notified of the change by months of public service announcements, town hall meetings, and local news coverage. Only 7% of viewers were affected by the loss of analog broadcasts, the remainder subscribing to cable or satellite services, but this produced 1,800 calls to the FCC for assistance. Officials were concerned by the implications of this for larger markets or those where reliance on over the air broadcasts exceeds 30%.
More disturbingly, while many calls from viewers were straightforward questions about installation of antennas and converters, or the need to scan for channels before being able to watch digital television, hundreds more were from viewers who had installed converters and UHF antennas correctly but had still lost existing channels. Most affected were full-power broadcasters which had been on low-VHF
channels. WECT
(NBC
6 Wilmington), a signal which in its analog form reached to the edge of Myrtle Beach
, could no longer be received by many who had watched the station for years– a victim of a move to UHF 44 at a different transmitter site. WECT's coverage area had been substantially reduced; for many who were on the fringes of the analog NBC 6 signal, WECT was no more. However weeks before, new digital-only WMBF-TV
, a new NBC affiliate, came to the air to serve Myrtle Beach with a city-grade signal; like WECT, WMBF is owned by Raycom Media
.
On November 7, 2008 the FCC issued an order allowing distributed transmission system
s to be constructed by stations which otherwise cannot cover their original analog footprint with their new digital channels and facilities. While broadcasters may now apply for DTS facilities, this decision was made far too late to allow the extra transmitter sites to be constructed and operational before the original February 17, 2009 analog shutoff.
Digital TV uses a more efficient transmission technology that allows TV stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, as well as offer more programming options through multiple digital subchannel
s (multicasting). Television stations have been preparing for the transition from analog to DTV since the late 1990s, when they began building digital facilities and airing digital channels alongside regular analog broadcasts. Today, 1609 out of 1745 full-power television stations nationwide offer digital programming; however, most of the smaller, low-power broadcasters, for whom switching to digital would be cost-prohibitive, will still be permitted to transmit in analog for several years to come. Since the majority of US viewership is no longer using over-the-air
antennae to receive signals, but has switched to cable and satellite, the impact was to be much smaller on current NTSC receivers which were to continue to use NTSC content and devices after the cut-off date. Set-top box
es enable existing over-the-air NTSC only receivers to watch over-the-air ATSC
signals.
had received $5 million a year before the original transition date of February 17, 2009, and the FCC had received $2.5 million and was scheduled to receive $20 million more later in the year, for 300 million people. This meant voluntary education campaigns would be needed. It was also noted that low-income, elderly, disabled, inner city
, immigrants, and rural Americans were targeted the most, because these groups mainly watch analog antenna TV more than any other groups.
While broadcasters were forced by Federal Communications Commission
regulations to devote the equivalent of more than a billion dollars worth of airtime to public service announcement
s regarding the digital transition, the amount of information conveyed in these short advertisements was by necessity limited. Both the on-air announcements and government-funded telephone hotlines receiving viewer inquiries directed consumers to Internet sites to seek information, a problematic approach, as many of those most-affected do not use online media as a primary source of information.
Users of analog VCRs, DVRs, or other recording devices which lack a digital tuner have a unique problem of no longer being able to record programs across multiple channels. In order to make them work with DTV the viewer must use an external tuner box and set the device to record the output from that box, typically L-1 for the line input. Some manufacturers such as Zinwell and Dish
sell external converter boxes/tuners that will automatically change channels at preset times. The analog VCR or DVR may record at preset times but will continue recording the L-1 line input, which will be the same channel unless the channel is manually changed.
Alternatively the user may purchase a new TV, DVR, or DVD recorder with a built-in digital tuner. However, these newer technologies have their own drawbacks, such as no way to store programs long-term (DVR) or being limited to only 1–2 hours with high quality XP mode (DVD-R).
has problems receiving signals inside buildings and in urban areas, largely due to multipath reception issues which cause ghosting
and fading
on analog images, but can lead to intermittent signal or no reception at all on ATSC programs. DTV broadcasts exhibit a digital cliff effect, by which viewers will receive either a perfect signal or no signal at all with little or no middle ground. Digital transmissions do contain additional data bits to provide error correction for a finite number of bit error
s; once signal quality degrades beyond that point, recovery of the original digital signal becomes impossible, and the image on the screen freezes, or blinks back and forth to totally blank black.
The maximum power for DTV broadcast classes is also substantially lower; one-fifth of the legal limits for the former full-power analog services. This is because there are only eight different states in which an 8VSB signal can be in at any one moment; thus, like all digital transmissions, very little signal is required at the receiver in order to decode it. Nonetheless, this limit is often too low for many stations to reach many rural areas, which was an alleged benefit in the FCC's choice of ATSC and 8VSB over worldwide-standard DVB-T
and its COFDM modulation
. Additionally, without the hierarchical modulation
of DVB, signal loss is complete, and there is no switch to a lower resolution before this occurs.
A hundred-kW analog station on TV channels 2 to 6
would therefore be faced with the choice of either lowering its power by 80% (to the twenty kilowatt limit of low-VHF DTV) or abandoning a frequency which it occupied since the 1950s in order to transmit more power (up to 1000 kW) on the less-crowded UHF TV band. Such stations can keep the same channel number, however, because of ATSC virtual channel
s. Unfortunately, the higher frequencies are challenged in areas where signals must travel great distances or encounter significant terrestrial obstacles. Most stations in the low-VHF (channels 2–6) did not return to these frequencies after the transition. About 40 stations remained in the low-VHF after the transition, with the majority in smaller markets (with a few notable exceptions). The FCC has long discouraged the digital allocation on low-VHF channels for several reasons: higher ambient noise, interference with FM
radio (channel 6 borders FM at 88 MHz), and larger antenna size required for these channels. After the transition, many viewers using "high-definition" antennas have reported problems receiving stations that broadcast on VHF channels. This is because some of the new antennas marketed as "HDTV antennas" from manufacturers such as Channel Master
were only designed for channels 7–51 and are more compact than their channel 2–69 counterparts. These manufacturers did not anticipate widespread continued use of the long-wavelength
low-VHF channels.
Stations that broadcast in analog on channel 6 have had an additional benefit of having its audio feed broadcast on 87.7 MHz
, which is at the very low end of the FM radio dial. As such, many stations that use channel 6 have taken advantage of this, and directly promote this feature, especially during drive time
newscasts, and as a critical conduit of information in markets where severe weather (such as hurricanes) allowed a station the advantage to broadcast their audio via FM radio without having to contract with another FM operation to do so. WDSU
in New Orleans, Miami's WTVJ
and WECT
in Wilmington, North Carolina
were among the most well-known Channel 6 broadcasters which used this approach to provide emergency information during hurricanes.
Digital television, however, does not have this feature, and after the transition, this additional method of reception is no longer available. WRGB
, channel 6 in Albany, New York
, used a separate transmitter on 87.7 which transmitted a polarized analog audio signal, avoiding interference with the digital TV feed and allowing the station to keep its audio on 87.7 FM after the transition to digital. WRGB ran this transmitter for approximately 6 weeks on an experimental basis, only to find that the vertically polarized 87.7 MHz signal interfered with the digital video, while broadcast of analog signals on 87.9 MHz met with FCC objections. WITI in Milwaukee took a more direct though still experimental approach to restore their TV audio, having it restored in August 2009 to an HD Radio
subchannel of WMIL-FM
via a content agreement with WMIL owner Clear Channel Communications
. A purchase of HD Radio equipment or having a car stereo equipped with an HD Radio receiver is required to listen to this broadcast.
Planning for DTV reception assumed "a properly oriented, high-gain antenna mounted 30 feet in the air outside." The Consumer Electronics Association
set up a website called http://AntennaWeb.org|AntennaWeb to identify means to provide the correct signal reception to over-the-air viewers. Another website, [TVFool.com TVFool.com] provides geographic mapping and signal data to allow viewers to estimate the number of channels which will be gained or lost as a result of digital transition; while it estimated that marginally more stations would be gained than lost by viewers, this varied widely with viewers of low-VHF analog signals in distant-fringe areas among the most adversely affected. An estimated 1.8 million people were expected to lose the ability to access over-the-air TV entirely as a result of the digital transition.
Viewers in rural and mountainous regions were particularly prone to lose all reception after digital transition.
There are 80 media market
s in which more than 100,000 households receive television signals by over-the-air broadcasts.
(55) and public safety (63/64 base
, 68/69 mobile). Most of this mobile spectrum has been sold to existing incumbent providers, with AT&T Mobility and Verizon as the largest bidders (see United States 2008 wireless spectrum auction
).
The elimination of UHF channels, rather than VHF channels as in the rest of the world, precludes the use of band III
(high VHF) for Digital Audio Broadcasting
as is used in a few other countries. It also makes more difficult the reassignment of channels 5 and 6 (76 to 88 MHz) to expand the FM radio broadcast band. There are also no channels set aside for analog broadcasts of the Emergency Alert System
, rendering most portable emergency TV sets useless. While a small number of portable ATSC sets have started to appear, these are costly. A portable converter box (such as Winegard's RCDT09A) would require a bulky external battery and mobile ATSC
is not yet available. Another option to people would be getting a USB
-based TV tuner card
for their laptop computer
, which in addition to its low costs became a popular option after Microsoft
released Windows 7 four months after the DTV transition ended.
A Google
-sponsored program called Free the Airwaves has started with the goal of using the "empty" white space within the remaining TV for unlicensed use, like for Wi-Fi
.
, must be used in order to allow the television to receive digital
broadcasts. The box may also be called a "set-top" converter, "digital TV adapter" (DTA), or "digital set-top box" (DSTB).
To assist consumers through the conversion, the Department of Commerce through its National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) division handled requests from households for up to two $40 coupons for digital-to-analog converter boxes beginning January 1, 2008 via a toll free number or a website. The program is paid-for with a small part of the 20 billion dollars taken-in from the DTV spectrum auction. However, these government coupons were limited to an initial sum of $890 million (22,250,000 coupons) with the option to grow to $1.34 billion (33,500,000 coupons), which is far short of the estimated 112 million households (224 million redeemable coupons) in the United States. Nevertheless, not every household took advantage of the offer, as reports indicate half of all households already had at least one digital TV. In January 2009, the NTIA began placing coupon requests on a waiting list after the program reached its maximum allowed funding. Only after unredeemed coupons expire can new requests be fulfilled.
These coupons may be redeemed toward the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter at brick and mortar
, on-line, and telephone retailers that have completed the NTIA certification process. Retail prices for the boxes range from $40 to $70 (plus tax and/or shipping); after applying the coupons, the price to the consumer should be between $5 and $40 per box. Because it is actually used as a payment
, despite the name "coupon
", consumers must pay state and local sales tax
on the coupon amount, which in effect reduces its value by about three dollars (based on 7½% tax).
There has been possible evidence that the presence of the government coupon program has inflated the prices of converter boxes by between $21 and $34 above what they would be otherwise.
introduced a bill in the Senate titled the DTV Delay Act, because millions of Americans would not be ready for the cutoff on February 17 due to a shortage of converter box coupons, and proposing that the transition date be moved to June 12. Rockefeller, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
, worked together on the bill. Hutchison supported the idea because Rockefeller did not intend to ask for another postponement. On January 22, The Nielsen Company said 6.5 million Americans had not prepared for the switch. Opponents pointed out that TV stations would face extra operating expenses, and those who paid to use the spectrum to be made available would have to wait.
Under later amendments, stations could choose to end analog broadcasts before June 12 even if the bill passed, and any frequencies freed up by such action could be used by fire and police departments and other emergency service
s. Those whose converter box coupons had expired would be allowed to apply for new coupons. The House postponed a similar bill (by House Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman Henry Waxman
), until the Senate's version was complete.
The Senate unanimously voted on January 26, 2009, to delay the digital TV transition to June 12, 2009. However, the House of Representatives voted on and defeated a similar measure on January 28. Rep. Joe Barton
led the movement in the House to defeat the measure, saying that "the DTV transition is neither stuck nor broke", and that any problems with the DTV transition can be fixed. Barton also said, "I guarantee you, no matter when you set the date— February 17, June 12, July the Fourth, Valentine's Day— there are going to be some people that aren't ready."
On January 29, the DTV Delay Act passed in the Senate. On February 4, the House also approved this measure.
The bill was submitted to President Obama on February 4, who did not immediately sign it into law. On February 9, President Obama posted the bill on whitehouse.gov
, giving the public five days to weigh in on it. Under a midnight February 10 deadline imposed by the FCC, broadcasters disclosed whether they would still cease broadcasting analog signals on the original date of February 17, or if they would delay until June 12, should the DTV Delay Act be signed into law. On February 10, the FCC published the list. 491 stations stated they intended to transition on February 17. The FCC reserved final say on which stations would be allowed to transition on February 17 and which ones would be required to continue analog broadcasts, depending on how many viewers in each market have been determined not ready for the transition
Owned & Operated
stations of five major networks (ABC
, CBS
, Fox
, NBC
and Telemundo
, plus the CW
, myNetworkTV
and independent stations owned by CBS
and myNetworkTV stations owned by Fox), as well as the station groups of Gannett
, Hearst-Argyle and Meredith
, committed to keeping all or most of their analog signals active until the new June 12 cutoff date. On February 11, 2009 President Obama signed the bill into law, officially moving the cutoff date to June 12, 2009. In total, 191 stations already had turned off their analog transmitters for good.
On February 20, 2009, the FCC released an order stating that stations that wish to go all digital before the final June 12, 2009 date must inform the FCC of that decision by March 17, 2009.
While 93 large-city network owned and operated stations (controlled by CBS
, ABC
, Fox TV and NBC
) would continue analog broadcasts until June 12, many small-market broadcasters were unable to justify the extra cost, with non-commercial and independent stations very adversely affected. No funding was provided to reimburse broadcasters who incurred additional costs due to the DTV Delay Act.
Public Broadcasting Service
CEO Paula Kerger had estimated a $22 million cost to the nation's PBS member stations to extend simulcasting until June 12; more than a hundred PBS stations ultimately elected to stick to the original deadline. Some individual commercial station groups, most notably Sinclair Broadcast Group
and Gray Television
, shut down the vast majority of their analog signals on the original deadline. Others left the question to their individual local stations. Many local markets, ranging from Burlington, Vermont
and Sioux City, Iowa
to San Diego, lost analog signals from most or all major US stations. Some stations in coastal regions such as Fort Myers, Florida
had chosen not to wait until June 12 so as to ensure transition is complete before hurricane season.
In some cases, the Federal Communications Commission
forced stations to continue full-power analog broadcast of at least a local newscast and information on the digital transition for an additional sixty days – a costly move for individual affected broadcasters. Of 491 stations which had indicated their intention to go digital-only in February 2009, 123 affiliates of four major US commercial networks (ABC
, CBS, Fox
, NBC
) were targeted by Federal Communications Commission
opposition, precluding or applying additional restrictions to the shutdown of their analog signals in markets where the only analog service remaining after the February 17 shutdown would have been an independent or educational broadcaster, an adjacent-market station or a low-power station. Of approximately 1800 US full-service TV stations, an additional 190 were already digital-only before February 2009; these included Hawaii (digital since January 2009) and Wilmington, North Carolina
(the FCC's 2008 digital test market), as well as some new stations and a few broadcasters forced to shut down analog early due to technical problems.
On April 12, Nielsen estimated that 3.6 million households remained unready; key problem markets (according to FCC and NTIA) included Albuquerque
, Baltimore
, Cleveland, Dallas–Fort Worth
, Denver, Fresno
, Houston, Brownsville
, Indianapolis
, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Phoenix
, Portland, Oregon
, Tulsa
, Sacramento
, St. Louis
, the San Francisco Bay Area
, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
On February 13, the FCC said 53 of the applied 106 at risk stations had qualified to go all digital on February 17. The other 43 qualified for nightlight service; 10 others could not comply with the nightlight clause. The total number stations which became digital only on February 17 was 421.
from Texas, who strongly opposed the DTV Delay Act (see above section for further details), introduced a bill that would insert $650 million in DTV transition assistance into The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to be used for making more converter box coupons available and for DTV education, which was strongly supported by the Obama administration
. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed with this revision in the House with a vote of 244–188 on January 28, 2009,
and the Senate passed the bill on February 10 by a vote of 61–37.
Congressional negotiators announced on February 11, 2009, that they had reached agreement on a $789 billion economic stimulus bill. President Obama signed the final $787 billion version into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The final version included the DTV provisions.
While the economic stimulus bill did allow additional funds for coupons, there was also a risk that available retail stock of the converter boxes themselves could prove inadequate. The Consumer Electronics Association
had estimated three to six million boxes remained in-stock at the beginning of February 2009; Nielsen Media Research
reported five million households as "completely unready" for digital transition in this same time period. The average US household uses 3 television screens.
However, the converter box coupon program only allows 2 coupons per household.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also allocated funds for expert installation services for those switching to DTV.
The FCC awarded the contract to several companies to provide expert installation services.
reported that 3.1% of Americans were still completely unprepared for the transition. On June 11, 2009, one day before the analog shutoff, the National Association of Broadcasters
reported that 1.75 million Americans were still not ready.
971 TV stations made the final switch to digital on June 12. It was believed Albuquerque
, Santa Fe
, Austin
and Dallas would be the least prepared markets, but this turned out not to be the case, as most of the difficulties were in the Northeast, primarily with stations that changed their digital frequencies from UHF to VHF.
On June 13, 2009, the FCC said their help line, with about 4000 answering phones, received 317,450 calls on June 12. About one-third of callers still needed converter boxes, and one-fifth had reception problems. Acting FCC chair Michael Copps
said, "Our job is far from over. This transition is not a one-day affair."
In New York City, about 11,000 people called the FCC for assistance, the most of any market. The other areas from which the most calls to the FCC were made: Chicago (6526), Los Angeles (5473), Dallas-Fort Worth
(5473), and Philadelphia (3749). 900,000 calls were received in all.
The National Association of Broadcasters said 278 TV stations received 35,500 calls, but most callers merely needed to rescan.
The Commerce Department said 319,900 requested converter box coupons on June 11, almost four times the average during the previous month.
SmithGeiger LLC said 2.2 million homes were not ready, while Nielsen said the number was 2.8 million. This included homes which had requested coupons. On June 14, Nielsen said the number was 2.5 million, or 2.2 percent of homes. That number was down to 2.1 million, or 1.8 percent, by June 21, and 1.7 million, or 1.5 percent, a week later. One month after the transition, the number was 1.5 million, 1.3 percent, and after nearly 2 months, the number was down to just over one million, or 1.1 percent. As of August 30, 2009, the number was 710,000, as 572,000 had upgraded in August and 1.8 million since June 12.
In some cases where digital frequencies moved, people have been advised not only to re-scan but to "double-scan", in order to clear outdated information from the digital TV or converter box memory.
Calls to the FCC decreased from 43,000 a day in the week ending June 15 to 21,000 the next week. Reception problems, representing nearly a third of calls at first, were down to one-fifth.
On June 15, 2009, U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio
, an Oregon
Democrat
, introduced the House version of The Digital TV Transition Fairness Act, which Senator Bernie Sanders
introduced in December 2008. It would require video service providers
to offer a $10 basic package to anyone who lost at least one channel to the DTV conversion (with broadcasters waiving fees), pay for outdoor antennas (including installation) and extend the converter box program beyond July 31. It did not pass.
frequencies by stations that had used them when they were analog. Over 480 stations were broadcasting digitally on the VHF spectrum after the transition, up from only 216 on the frequencies before. Many antennas marketed for digital TV are designed for UHF, which most digital stations use. VHF analog signals travel further than UHF signals, but watchable VHF digital signals appear to have a more limited range than UHF with the lower power they are assigned, and they don't penetrate buildings as well, especially in larger cities. Mike Doback, vice president of engineering for Scripps Television
, said, "It’s only now that we’ve found out the planning factors were probably wrong in terms of how much power you need to replicate analog service." According to TV consultant Peter Putman, the problem with VHF reception is that VHF antennas must be large to be effective, and indoor antennas do not perform well enough. In addition, channels 2 through 6 are more susceptible to many types of interference. Richard Mertz of Cavell, Mertz & Associates says multipath interference inside the house is also a factor. Some receivers can deal with this problem better than others, but there are no standards. And with amplified antennas or amplifiers, it is possible to overload a converter box. Amplifiers can also cause noise that is interpreted as data. Raycom Media
Chief Technology Officer Dave Folsom said, "There’s nothing inherently wrong with VHF. It’s just easier to have interference, because it goes out further.”
The FCC sent extra personnel to Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City to deal with difficulties in those cities. WLS-TV
had received 1,735 calls just by the end of the day on June 12, and an estimated 5000 calls in total by June 16. WLS-TV is just one station which may solve its problems by increasing its signal strength, but doing this required making sure no other stations are affected. A low-power analog station, not required to shut down after 30 days like other nightlight stations, aired newscasts that could not be seen by a number of people after the transition, while the stations attempted to solve problems.
In Philadelphia, most of the problems were with WPVI-TV
, which had the area's leading news program, and public station WHYY-TV
. Many people having trouble with those stations could pick up stations from Reading
and Atlantic City. Unlike WLS, WPVI had concerns about increasing its signal because of potential interference to other stations and to FM radio
.
In New York City, many called the FCC because they lived in apartment buildings with a single roof antenna which was not suited for the job. The city reported antenna shortages and numerous requests for cable service.
By the end of June, four stations had received permission to increase power. 10 other stations asked for power increases as well, but these were not the big cities with tall buildings. Instead, the markets were in such places as mountainous Montana
and Virginia
, and in Alabama. KNMD-TV
in Santa Fe
tried an alternate VHF channel.
The FCC had two concerns about the requests for more power: some stations just wanted a competitive advantage and were not actually experiencing difficulties. Other stations wanted UHF frequencies instead because UHF worked better with mobile digital TV. However, some stations with legitimate problems have asked to return to their UHF frequencies.
Two months after the transition, "two or three-dozen" stations continued to have problems. No one with the FCC would admit that estimates of required power were incorrect, but the actions taken suggest they are admitting a mistake. Three months after the transition, about 50 stations had applied for a power increase.
"Approximately a half-dozen stations" were still deciding at the end of October about what to do. In some of the cases where stations returned to UHF, interference to nearby stations prevented a power increase.
Ironically, KUAC-TV in Fairbanks, Alaska
moved from channel 24 back to channel 9 in September 2009. The area never had UHF before DTV, so most people had VHF antennas, while few people lived in apartment buildings. The higher power needed for UHF cost too much, and channel 24 had signal problems, so the station asked to move back.
Of 79 stations asking for a new channel, 22 wanted to go from VHF to UHF, and 10 wanted to go from UHF to VHF.
said in a speech that the transition
Still, the FCC planned a report on how well the transition went, and Genachowski admitted more work was needed.
Genachowski's predecessor Michael Copps called the process
On August 13, 2009, the Community Broadcasters Association
(CBA) announced in a statement that it would shut down after 20 years of representing LPTV stations. One reason given was the cost required to fight "restrictive regulations that kept the Class A and LPTV industry from realizing its potential," including the campaign to require analog passthrough
, a converter box
feature that allows both digital and analog television to be viewed on older TVs. Amy Brown, former CBA executive director, said, "some 40% of Class A and LPTV station operators believe they will have to shut down in the next year if they are not helped through the digital transition."
On July 19, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission
issued a final ruling regarding low-powered broadcasting within the United States. Broadcast translator (TX), Low-powered (LP), and Class-A low-powered (-CA) stations will be required to go digital, effective September 1, 2015, but many have still been forced to change channels to those below 52, remaining in analog, possibly deciding to flash-cut
at a later date. This will end the era of all analog television broadcasts within the United States.
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming. The transition from analog to digital television has been described by David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
, as representing "the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced." For full-power TV stations, the transition went into effect on Friday June 12, 2009, with stations ending regular programming on their analog signals no later than 11:59 pm local time that day.
Under the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 is a United States Congress legislation enacted on October 20, 2005. This act deals with the cessation of the broadcasting of analog television and the subsequent implementation of digital television...
, full-power broadcasting of analog television in the United States would have ceased after Tuesday February 17, 2009. To help U.S. consumers through the conversion, the Act also established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program
Coupon-eligible converter box
A coupon-eligible converter box was a digital television adapter that met eligibility specifications for subsidy "coupons" from the United States government...
.
The DTV Delay Act changed the mandatory analog cutoff date to June 12, although stations were permitted to cease analog transmissions before the new mandatory cutoff date. The legislation was enacted on February 4, 2009, and on February 11, 2009, President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
signed it into law. The purpose of the extension was to help the millions of households who had not been able to get their coupons for converters because demand for coupons exceeded the funding provided for in the initial bill, leaving millions on a waiting list to receive coupons. Funding for extra coupons was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. By midnight on the original cut-off date of February 17, 2009, 641 stations representing 36 percent of U.S. full-power broadcasters were transmitting exclusively in digital.
Analog broadcasting did not cease entirely following the June 12 deadline: under the provisions of the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, is a U.S. law to require the Federal Communications Commission to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for 30 more days, for the purpose of broadcasting public service announcements regarding the...
, approximately 120 full-power stations briefly maintained analog "nightlight" service, ending no later than July 12. In a separate category, low power television stations will be permitted to continue analog broadcasts for several more years. In September 2010, the FCC announced a proposal to set a hard deadline of 2012 for low power stations to broadcast in digital. On July 15, 2011, the FCC posted the required transition deadlines for low power television. Stations broadcasting on channels 52 to 69 must vacate those channels by December 31, 2011. Otherwise, the digital transition deadline is December 31, 2015, unless a station files for a one-time, four month extension.
Congressional Mandate
The Congressional deadline to transition to digital broadcasts was pushed back several times. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
with the original transition date of December 31, 2006. The transition to digital television was set back several more times after that. First to December 31, 2008, then to February 17, 2009, and then finally to June 12, 2009.
US full-power analog TV broadcasts were required by law to end in 2009. Since March 1, 2007, all new television devices that receive signals over-the-air, including pocket-sized portable television
Mobile TV
Mobile television usually means television watched on a small handheld device. It may be a pay TV service broadcast on mobile phone networks or received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations from either regular broadcast or a special mobile TV transmission format...
s, personal computer video capture
Video capture
Video capture is the process of converting an analog video signal—such as that produced by a video camera or DVD player—to digital video. The resulting digital data are computer files referred to as a digital video stream, or more often, simply video stream...
card tuners, and DVD recorder
DVD recorder
A DVD recorder , is an optical disc recorder that uses Optical disc recording technologies to digitally record analog signal or digital signals onto blank writable DVD media...
s, have been required to include digital ATSC tuner
ATSC tuner
An ATSC tuner, often called an ATSC receiver or HDTV tuner is a type of television tuner that allows reception of digital television television channels transmitted by television stations in North America, parts of Central America and South Korea that use ATSC standards...
s. Prior to this, the requirement was phased-in starting with larger screen sizes. Prior to the completion of the transition, most U.S. broadcasters were transmitting their signals in both analog and digital formats, though a few are digital-only. Digital stations transmit on another channel
Ibac
Ibac is a fictional Fawcett Comics and DC Comics supervillain, and a foe of Captain Marvel. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck, he first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventurs #8 .-Fictional character biography:...
, which was assigned to each full-power broadcaster in a three-round digital channel election
Digital channel election
A digital channel election was the process by which television stations in the United States chose which physical radio-frequency TV channel they would permanently use after the analog shutdown in 2009. The process was managed and mandated by the Federal Communications Commission for all...
.
The transition from the analog NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
format to the digital ATSC format was originally required to be completed on February 17, 2009, as set by Congress in the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005
The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 is a United States Congress legislation enacted on October 20, 2005. This act deals with the cessation of the broadcasting of analog television and the subsequent implementation of digital television...
. Following the analog switch-off, the FCC has reallocated channels 52
Channel 52
Channel 52 refers to several television stations:...
through 69
Channel 69
Channel 69 refers to several television stations:...
(the 700 MHz band) for other communications traffic, completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s. These channels were auctioned off in early 2008, with the winning bidders to take possession of them in June 2009. Four channels from this portion of the broadcast spectrum (60, 61, 68, and 69) will be held for reallocation to public safety communications (such as police, fire, and emergency rescue). In addition, some of the freed up frequencies will be used for advanced commercial wireless services for consumers, such as Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
's planned use of former UHF channel 55
Channel 55
Channel 55 refers to several television stations. This frequency is also in use by MediaFLO, a US system developed by Qualcomm to send video and media to mobile devices:...
for its MediaFLO
MediaFLO
MediaFLO is a technology developed by Qualcomm for transmitting audio, video and data to portable devices such as mobile phones and personal televisions, used for mobile television...
service.
For U.S. cable television, the FCC voted 5–0 on September 12, 2007 to require operators to make local broadcasts available to their users in analog. This requirement lasts until 2012, when the FCC will review the case again. This was necessary since many cable companies, including major ones like Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
, have been taking analog channels away from customers.
In 2007, a bill in the U.S. Congress called the DTV Border Fix Act
DTV Border Fix Act
The DTV Border Fix Act was a bill introduced to the U.S. Congress in 2007. It would have allowed all television stations within 80 kilometers of the Mexican border, in areas such as San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley, to keep their analog signals active for another five years. The bill passed the...
was introduced. It would have allowed all television stations within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the Mexican border, in areas such as San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley
Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas...
, to keep their analog signals active for another five years. The bill passed the Senate but did not pass the House.
The SAFER Act was passed by Congress in December 2008 and signed by President Bush just before Christmas. The act has been called the "analog nightlight
Nightlight
A nightlight is a small light fixture, often electrical, placed for comfort or convenience in dark areas or areas that become dark at certain times, such as in an emergency...
" act, and allows analog stations on channels that will not conflict with post-transition digital stations the option of leaving their analog transmitters on for an additional 30 days, but only to provide disaster information and information regarding the digital transition.
Because the Commerce Department
United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...
no longer had money to fund additional coupons for converter boxes, and on account of other potential problems, the Barack Obama transition
Presidential transition of Barack Obama
The presidential transition of Barack Obama began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the President-Elect. He was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008...
team asked Congress in a January 8, 2009, letter to delay the end of analog TV. The Commerce Department announced January 5, 2009, that the $1.34 billion limit on coupon funding had been reached. Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union
Consumers Union
Consumers Union is a non-profit organization best known as the publisher of Consumer Reports, based in the United States. Its mission is to "test products, inform the public, and protect consumers."...
, which wanted a delay, feared older people, those outside cities and the poor needed help. Speaking to a group of area residents as part of a nationwide campaign to persuade people to upgrade, FCC chair Kevin Martin
Kevin Martin (FCC)
Kevin Jeffrey Martin was the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He was nominated to be a commissioner by President George W. Bush on April 30, 2001, and was confirmed on May 25, 2001. On March 16, 2005, President Bush designated him as FCC chairman, to replace Michael K. Powell...
said in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
that a delay was "unlikely". He said it would be "unfair" to all those who have made the effort to switch, and to those who bought the reallocated spectrum that was sold with the understanding analog broadcasts would end February 17, 2009. The delay passed Congress despite this prediction (see below).
Wilmington, North Carolina test market
As part of a test by the FCC to iron out transition and reception concerns before the nationwide shutoff, all of the major network stations in the Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
market ceased transmission of their analog signals on September 8, 2008, making it the first market in the nation to go digital-only. Wilmington was chosen as the test city in part because the area's digital channel positions would remain unchanged after the transition. Wilmington was also appropriate because it had no hills to cause reception problems and all of the stations would have UHF channels.
The low-power CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WILM-LD signed on its new digital signal in time for the transition. The test excluded UNC-TV
UNC-TV
University of North Carolina Television, known on-air as UNC-TV, is a public television network in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina, with studios located at the UNC Center for Public Television at Research Triangle Park...
/PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station WUNJ, which kept their analog signal on, as they are the official conduit of emergency information in the area.
Viewers were notified of the change by months of public service announcements, town hall meetings, and local news coverage. Only 7% of viewers were affected by the loss of analog broadcasts, the remainder subscribing to cable or satellite services, but this produced 1,800 calls to the FCC for assistance. Officials were concerned by the implications of this for larger markets or those where reliance on over the air broadcasts exceeds 30%.
More disturbingly, while many calls from viewers were straightforward questions about installation of antennas and converters, or the need to scan for channels before being able to watch digital television, hundreds more were from viewers who had installed converters and UHF antennas correctly but had still lost existing channels. Most affected were full-power broadcasters which had been on low-VHF
Band I
Band I is the name of a radio frequency range within the very high frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum.Band I ranges from 47 to 88 MHz, and it is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting....
channels. WECT
WECT
WECT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Cape Fear and Sandhills areas of North Carolina that is licensed to Wilmington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 44 from a transmitter southwest of Winnabow. The station can also be seen on Time Warner and Charter...
(NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
6 Wilmington), a signal which in its analog form reached to the edge of Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the...
, could no longer be received by many who had watched the station for years– a victim of a move to UHF 44 at a different transmitter site. WECT's coverage area had been substantially reduced; for many who were on the fringes of the analog NBC 6 signal, WECT was no more. However weeks before, new digital-only WMBF-TV
WMBF-TV
WMBF-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee areas of South Carolina that is licensed to Myrtle Beach. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Bucksville. It can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 10 , 120 ,...
, a new NBC affiliate, came to the air to serve Myrtle Beach with a city-grade signal; like WECT, WMBF is owned by Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
.
On November 7, 2008 the FCC issued an order allowing distributed transmission system
Distributed transmission system
In North American digital terrestrial television broadcasting, a distributed transmission system is a form of single-frequency network in which a single broadcast signal is fed via microwave, landline, or communications satellite to multiple synchronised terrestrial radio transmitter sites...
s to be constructed by stations which otherwise cannot cover their original analog footprint with their new digital channels and facilities. While broadcasters may now apply for DTS facilities, this decision was made far too late to allow the extra transmitter sites to be constructed and operational before the original February 17, 2009 analog shutoff.
Impact
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
s (multicasting). Television stations have been preparing for the transition from analog to DTV since the late 1990s, when they began building digital facilities and airing digital channels alongside regular analog broadcasts. Today, 1609 out of 1745 full-power television stations nationwide offer digital programming; however, most of the smaller, low-power broadcasters, for whom switching to digital would be cost-prohibitive, will still be permitted to transmit in analog for several years to come. Since the majority of US viewership is no longer using over-the-air
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
antennae to receive signals, but has switched to cable and satellite, the impact was to be much smaller on current NTSC receivers which were to continue to use NTSC content and devices after the cut-off date. Set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es enable existing over-the-air NTSC only receivers to watch over-the-air ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
signals.
Consumer awareness
Although the United States spent the equivalent of more than a billion dollars educating about 60 million people, the National Telecommunications and Information AdministrationNational Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the President's principal adviser on telecommunications policies pertaining to the United States' economic and technological advancement and to regulation of the...
had received $5 million a year before the original transition date of February 17, 2009, and the FCC had received $2.5 million and was scheduled to receive $20 million more later in the year, for 300 million people. This meant voluntary education campaigns would be needed. It was also noted that low-income, elderly, disabled, inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
, immigrants, and rural Americans were targeted the most, because these groups mainly watch analog antenna TV more than any other groups.
While broadcasters were forced by Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
regulations to devote the equivalent of more than a billion dollars worth of airtime to public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
s regarding the digital transition, the amount of information conveyed in these short advertisements was by necessity limited. Both the on-air announcements and government-funded telephone hotlines receiving viewer inquiries directed consumers to Internet sites to seek information, a problematic approach, as many of those most-affected do not use online media as a primary source of information.
Obsolete equipment
Consumers may discover their old analog televisions, VCRs, DVRs, and other devices which lack a digital tuner no longer receive over-the-air television, though previously recorded content can still be replayed. There are several solutions to alleviate this problem. One solution is to purchase service from a local cable company or national satellite service which will provide analog signals to older devices. A second solution is to buy an external tuner (called a converter box) that receives DTV signals directly and converts them to analog for the television.Users of analog VCRs, DVRs, or other recording devices which lack a digital tuner have a unique problem of no longer being able to record programs across multiple channels. In order to make them work with DTV the viewer must use an external tuner box and set the device to record the output from that box, typically L-1 for the line input. Some manufacturers such as Zinwell and Dish
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
sell external converter boxes/tuners that will automatically change channels at preset times. The analog VCR or DVR may record at preset times but will continue recording the L-1 line input, which will be the same channel unless the channel is manually changed.
Alternatively the user may purchase a new TV, DVR, or DVD recorder with a built-in digital tuner. However, these newer technologies have their own drawbacks, such as no way to store programs long-term (DVR) or being limited to only 1–2 hours with high quality XP mode (DVD-R).
Loss of service
A major concern is that the broadcast technology used for ATSC signals called 8VSB8VSB
8VSB is the modulation method used for broadcast in the ATSC digital television standard. ATSC and 8VSB modulation is used primarily in North America; in contrast, the DVB-T standard uses COFDM....
has problems receiving signals inside buildings and in urban areas, largely due to multipath reception issues which cause ghosting
Ghosting (television)
In television, a ghost is a replica of the transmitted image, offset in position, that is super-imposed on top of the main image on an analogue broadcast.-Common causes:Common causes of ghosts are:...
and fading
Fading
In wireless communications, fading is deviation of the attenuation that a carrier-modulated telecommunication signal experiences over certain propagation media. The fading may vary with time, geographical position and/or radio frequency, and is often modelled as a random process. A fading channel...
on analog images, but can lead to intermittent signal or no reception at all on ATSC programs. DTV broadcasts exhibit a digital cliff effect, by which viewers will receive either a perfect signal or no signal at all with little or no middle ground. Digital transmissions do contain additional data bits to provide error correction for a finite number of bit error
Data corruption
Data corruption refers to errors in computer data that occur during writing, reading, storage, transmission, or processing, which introduce unintended changes to the original data...
s; once signal quality degrades beyond that point, recovery of the original digital signal becomes impossible, and the image on the screen freezes, or blinks back and forth to totally blank black.
The maximum power for DTV broadcast classes is also substantially lower; one-fifth of the legal limits for the former full-power analog services. This is because there are only eight different states in which an 8VSB signal can be in at any one moment; thus, like all digital transmissions, very little signal is required at the receiver in order to decode it. Nonetheless, this limit is often too low for many stations to reach many rural areas, which was an alleged benefit in the FCC's choice of ATSC and 8VSB over worldwide-standard DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
and its COFDM modulation
Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted...
. Additionally, without the hierarchical modulation
Hierarchical modulation
Hierarchical modulation, also called layered modulation, is one of the signal processing techniques for multiplexing and modulating multiple data streams into one single symbol stream, where base-layer symbols and enhancement-layer symbols are synchronously overplayed before...
of DVB, signal loss is complete, and there is no switch to a lower resolution before this occurs.
A hundred-kW analog station on TV channels 2 to 6
North American broadcast television frequencies
The North American broadcast television frequencies are on designated television channels numbered 2 through 69, approximately between 54 and 806 MHz. Traditionally, the frequencies are divided into two sections, the very high frequency band and the ultra high frequency band. The VHF band is...
would therefore be faced with the choice of either lowering its power by 80% (to the twenty kilowatt limit of low-VHF DTV) or abandoning a frequency which it occupied since the 1950s in order to transmit more power (up to 1000 kW) on the less-crowded UHF TV band. Such stations can keep the same channel number, however, because of ATSC virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
s. Unfortunately, the higher frequencies are challenged in areas where signals must travel great distances or encounter significant terrestrial obstacles. Most stations in the low-VHF (channels 2–6) did not return to these frequencies after the transition. About 40 stations remained in the low-VHF after the transition, with the majority in smaller markets (with a few notable exceptions). The FCC has long discouraged the digital allocation on low-VHF channels for several reasons: higher ambient noise, interference with FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
radio (channel 6 borders FM at 88 MHz), and larger antenna size required for these channels. After the transition, many viewers using "high-definition" antennas have reported problems receiving stations that broadcast on VHF channels. This is because some of the new antennas marketed as "HDTV antennas" from manufacturers such as Channel Master
Channel Master
Channel Master Established in 1949, Channel Master was originally a terrestrial antenna manufacturer and now is in the business of manufacturing set-top boxes, home networking accessories and digital media devices .-Notable products:...
were only designed for channels 7–51 and are more compact than their channel 2–69 counterparts. These manufacturers did not anticipate widespread continued use of the long-wavelength
Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
low-VHF channels.
Stations that broadcast in analog on channel 6 have had an additional benefit of having its audio feed broadcast on 87.7 MHz
87.7 FM
-In North America:*87.75 MHz, a frequency-modulated audio subcarrier used by all NTSC-M analog channel 6 television stations**For a listing of channel 6 television stations that promote their audio feeds as their primary signal, advertising as being on 87.7 FM, see :Category:Channel 6 radio...
, which is at the very low end of the FM radio dial. As such, many stations that use channel 6 have taken advantage of this, and directly promote this feature, especially during drive time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
newscasts, and as a critical conduit of information in markets where severe weather (such as hurricanes) allowed a station the advantage to broadcast their audio via FM radio without having to contract with another FM operation to do so. WDSU
WDSU
WDSU, virtual channel 6, is the NBC-affiliated television station for the New Orleans, Louisiana television market. It is owned by Hearst Television, which in turn is wholly owned by the Hearst Corporation. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 43...
in New Orleans, Miami's WTVJ
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...
and WECT
WECT
WECT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Cape Fear and Sandhills areas of North Carolina that is licensed to Wilmington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 44 from a transmitter southwest of Winnabow. The station can also be seen on Time Warner and Charter...
in Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
were among the most well-known Channel 6 broadcasters which used this approach to provide emergency information during hurricanes.
Digital television, however, does not have this feature, and after the transition, this additional method of reception is no longer available. WRGB
WRGB
WRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
, channel 6 in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, used a separate transmitter on 87.7 which transmitted a polarized analog audio signal, avoiding interference with the digital TV feed and allowing the station to keep its audio on 87.7 FM after the transition to digital. WRGB ran this transmitter for approximately 6 weeks on an experimental basis, only to find that the vertically polarized 87.7 MHz signal interfered with the digital video, while broadcast of analog signals on 87.9 MHz met with FCC objections. WITI in Milwaukee took a more direct though still experimental approach to restore their TV audio, having it restored in August 2009 to an HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
subchannel of WMIL-FM
WMIL-FM
WMIL-FM is a country music-formatted radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin. They are known on-air simply as "FM 106.1". WMIL is owned by Clear Channel Communications....
via a content agreement with WMIL owner Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. A purchase of HD Radio equipment or having a car stereo equipped with an HD Radio receiver is required to listen to this broadcast.
Planning for DTV reception assumed "a properly oriented, high-gain antenna mounted 30 feet in the air outside." The Consumer Electronics Association
Consumer Electronics Association
The Consumer Electronics Association is a standards and trade organization for the consumer electronics industry in the United States. The Consumer Electronics Association is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $173 billion U.S...
set up a website called http://AntennaWeb.org|AntennaWeb to identify means to provide the correct signal reception to over-the-air viewers. Another website, [TVFool.com TVFool.com] provides geographic mapping and signal data to allow viewers to estimate the number of channels which will be gained or lost as a result of digital transition; while it estimated that marginally more stations would be gained than lost by viewers, this varied widely with viewers of low-VHF analog signals in distant-fringe areas among the most adversely affected. An estimated 1.8 million people were expected to lose the ability to access over-the-air TV entirely as a result of the digital transition.
Viewers in rural and mountainous regions were particularly prone to lose all reception after digital transition.
Problems
US markets which have presented unique problems for digital transition include:- New York City-NewarkNewark, New JerseyNewark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
was one of the early U.S. terrestrial digital televisionDigital televisionDigital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
pioneers with state-of-the-art ATSCATSCATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
facilities installed atop the World Trade CenterWorld Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
as early as 1998, but those facilities were destroyed in the September 11 attacks, and for a number of years, New York lacked one single point of sufficient height from which to cover the entire region without severe multipath interferenceMultipath interferenceMultipath interference is a phenomenon in the physics of waves whereby a wave from a source travels to a detector via two or more paths and, under the right condition, the two components of the wave interfere...
issues in downtown ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The 1776-foot 1 World Trade Center, proposed to replace the former World Trade Center, will not be completed until some time in 2013, so several scenarios were considered to enhance service. One such system, called distributed transmission, was being funded by a $30,000,000 federal grantGrant (money)Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
to assure that no viewers are left without service. The DTS would have used low power transmitters to fill gaps in coverage from the Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. The Metropolitan Television AllianceMetropolitan Television AllianceThe Metropolitan Television Alliance, LLC was organized in the wake of the loss of the transmission facilities atop the World Trade Center in 2001. Its mission is to identify, design and build a facility suitable for the long term requirements of its member stations to meet their over-the-air...
, a group of eleven New York and New Jersey broadcasters organized soon after the destruction of the facilities at the World Trade Center, has been leading the development of the DTS system. In 2004, a partial solution was implemented: the top of the Condé Nast BuildingCondé Nast BuildingThe Condé Nast Building, officially 4 Times Square, is a modern skyscraper in Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. Located on Broadway between 42nd Street and 43rd, the structure was finished in January 2000 as part of a larger project to redevelop 42nd Street...
at 4 Times SquareTimes SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
was reinforced and installed with a massive multiplexedDiplexerA diplexer is a passive device that implements frequency domain multiplexing. Two ports are multiplexed onto a third port . The signals on ports L and H occupy disjoint frequency bands...
UHF antenna. This relieves overcrowding at Empire State by using the site of a local Clear ChannelClear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
radio facility to replace master antenna installations destroyed at WTC. - New Orleans and portions of MississippiMississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
were operating some digital transmitters from temporary locations or from towers belonging to other stations due to damage done during Hurricane KatrinaHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and Hurricane RitaHurricane RitaHurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
in 2005. While stations are now back on-air, the coverage area often does not match that specified on the station licenses due to the change in antenna locations. - Denver faces unique multipath interferenceMultipath interferenceMultipath interference is a phenomenon in the physics of waves whereby a wave from a source travels to a detector via two or more paths and, under the right condition, the two components of the wave interfere...
problems largely due to its mountainous location; its antennas on Lookout MountainLookout Mountain (Colorado)Lookout Mountain is one of the larger foothills which overlooks Golden, Colorado. The Denver metropolitan area can be seen clearly from the mountain. It is known for its natural scenery and has played a major role in area recreation, transportation, water supply and telecommunications...
will need to increase in height to overcome obstacles to digital reception, but attempts to get local zoning approval have met with strong oppositionNIMBYNIMBY or Nimby is an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard". The term is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies...
. Federal legislation was ultimately used to require that Denver stations be allowed to construct their post-transition digital facilities but sharp nulls and gaps in coverage remain. - Sparsely populated mountainous regions such as MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
currently rely heavily on broadcast translators to rebroadcast network stations into underserved communities; while these low-power retransmitters are not themselves required to broadcast digitally, many will need costly upgrades to receive a digital signal from the originating station—if the signal can be received at all. 23% of the 4000 licensed translators have received a federal subsidy to make the conversion, but many others will simply go darkDark (broadcasting)In the broadcasting industry, dark is a term used to describe a radio station or television station that has gone off-the-air for an indefinite period of time, or as defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission , a "silent" station...
. In sparsely populated markets such as Glendive, MontanaGlendive, MontanaGlendive is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Montana, United States. The population was 4,935 at the 2010 census.The town of Glendive is located in South Eastern Montana and is considered by many as an agricultural hub of Eastern Montana...
, translators are needed to reach a widely scattered audience but the readiness of many small municipally owned translators remains largely unknown. - Many other stations in the Rocky MountainsRocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
had chosen to end analog broadcasts early because of poor winter conditions at transmission sites in February; stations needed to be sure they can make the on-site adjustments. For these broadcasters, the DTV Delay Act and its extended deadline of June 12, 2009 comes too late to be of use, as the digital transition has already been completed. - VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, a market in which all major stations are as of February 2009 digital-only, is problematic as both a rural state and a mountainous region. WCAX CBS 3 BurlingtonBurlington, VermontBurlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
and WPTZWPTZWPTZ, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Plattsburgh, New York, USA. WPTZ is owned by Hearst Television, and has its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter located on Mount Mansfield in Vermont....
NBC 5 North PoleNorth Pole, New YorkNorth Pole is a small hamlet located in the town of Wilmington, Essex County, New York in the Adirondack Mountains.- Geography :This tiny hamlet is situated in Adirondack Park at the northern edge of Essex County near Whiteface Mountain, 12 miles from Lake Placid, New York and approximately 30...
are now both UHF broadcasts from Mount MansfieldMount MansfieldMount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at above sea level. The summit is in Underhill; the ridgeline, including some secondary peaks, extends into the town of Stowe, and the mountain's flanks also reach into the town of Cambridge.When viewed from the east or...
, causing many viewers to lose the stations. - Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, a city whose stations mostly broadcast from among the Boston HillsBoston, New YorkBoston is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 7,897 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Boston, Massachusetts....
and cover a fairly rugged terrain along the Appalachian PlateauAppalachian PlateauThe Appalachian Plateau is the western part of the Appalachian mountains, stretching from New York and Alabama. The plateau is a second level United States physiographic region....
, is one of several markets in which the primary stations are VHF stations that operate on 2, 4, and 7. All three stations were assigned DTV channels in the UHF spectrum; all will lose significant broadcast coverage in the transition, and viewers in the western Twin TiersTwin TiersThe Twin Tiers is a geographical term that refers to the collective counties that lie on the New York-Pennsylvania border adjacent to the 42nd parallel north....
region will lose all of their broadcast stations. In May 2009, both WIVB (channel 4) and WGRZ (channel 2) warned its viewers that were not in Erie or Niagara Counties that they would likely lose the broadcast signal, reducing the station's coverage area from approximately 12 counties to just two, along with several parts of southern OntarioSouthern OntarioSouthern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
, a critical viewing audience for all Buffalo stations. - Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse, New YorkSyracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
had since 1948 employed low-VHFBand IBand I is the name of a radio frequency range within the very high frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum.Band I ranges from 47 to 88 MHz, and it is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting....
channels to feed networks to adjacent markets (notably CBS to UticaUtica, New YorkUtica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
, NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
to Watertown). These markets are 60 to 75 miles (100 to 125 km) distant. Utica will lose CBS service because its affiliate, based in Syracuse, broadcasts on channel 5WTVHWTVH is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central New York State licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter in LaFayette. The station can also be seen on Time Warner and Verizon FiOS channel 5. There is a high definition feed...
analog (with a signal strong enough to reach Utica), but its channel 47 digital signal does not reach anywhere near Utica. Channel 5 has historically refused to cede its Utica territory to another potential affiliate. Similarly, Watertown, New York and Kingston, OntarioKingston, OntarioKingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
(which lack NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
locally) will lose a Syracuse NBC 3WSTM-TVWSTM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central New York State licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter on Sentinel Heights Road in LaFayette. The station can also be seen on Verizon FiOS channel 3 and Time Warner channel 4...
affiliate once the DTV transition renders Syracuse a UHF island. - On January 15, 2009, Hawaii became the first state in the United States to have its television stations switch from analog to digital early. Existing analog facilities at Mount Haleakala on MauiMauiThe island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
are to be removed due to ongoing radio interference with astronomy equipmentAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
operated under the watchful eye of the United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and the University of HawaiiUniversity of Hawaii at ManoaThe University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
. The digital stations are being deployed using new facilities at Ulupalakua and the old towers will be removed before bird nestNestA nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
ing season begins in March. By making the switch early, the broadcast towers atop Haleakala near the birds' nesting grounds can be dismantled without interfering with the Hawaiian petrelHawaiian PetrelThe Hawaiian Petrel or Uau is a large, dark grey-brown and white petrel that is endemic to Hawaii.-Distribution:...
s' nesting season. - Between June 12 and July 1, 2009, programs on the Fox network were unavailable to viewers throughout the state of MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
(except viewers in the BillingsBillings, MontanaBillings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...
area) who do not have cable or satellite service. The stations in ButteButte, MontanaButte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
, Great FallsGreat Falls, MontanaGreat Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
and MissoulaMissoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
were among many full-powered stations owned by Equity BroadcastingEquity BroadcastingEquity Media Holdings was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, which is now used for its broadcast station subisdary...
. Equity filed for Chapter 11Chapter 11, Title 11, United States CodeChapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
bankruptcyBankruptcy in the United StatesBankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
in 2008, and the stations went silent on June 12 due to inability to fund construction of digital facilities. Unlike most established broadcasters, Equity had expanded rapidly using outlying UHF stations as satellite-fed repeaters. Many but not all were low-power TV stations, typically carrying UnivisiónUnivisionUnivision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
or smaller networks such as WB/UPNUPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
(later The CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
) and MyTV. The majority of Equity's full-power operations came to the air after 1997, by which time the digital transition was already in progress. The stations were therefore not allocated a second, digital companion channel and were not required to simulcast digitally until their required flash-cutFlash-cutA flash-cut, also called flash-cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.Some telephone area codes were split immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dialing period. An example is telephone area code 213, which was split into 213 and 714 all at...
to digital signals at the end of transition. Although Equity conducted a successful auction for the stations in April 2009, the required federal government approval came too late for the new owner, Max MediaMax MediaMax Media is a company that owns radio and television stations throughout the United States. It is based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.-History:Max Media was founded in 2001...
, to do the flash cuts. Eventually, Max Media chose to move the affiliation to digital subchannels of their respective new sister stations, all ABC affiliates. Other stations formerly owned by Equity, such as KUOKKUOKKUOK also known as "Univisión 36" or "Univisión Oklahoma" is a network of television stations airing programming from Spanish-language television network Univisión based in Oklahoma City...
in Oklahoma CityOklahoma cityOklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, were able to make flash-cuts under new ownership and are still on the air. Many stations were sold at auction to Daystar Television NetworkDaystar Television NetworkThe Daystar Television Network is an American evangelical Christian television religious broadcasting network headquartered near Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Bedford, Texas...
, which will construct the digital facilities and air religious programming on the acquired stations; in some cases these went silent, returning to operation after slightly less than a year off-air in order to avoid losing the full-service licenses. At least one affected station, WNGS Buffalo, had been subsequently resold while silent. (In all, the FCC signed on 136 full-power stations after the original allocation of digital signals. Except for the full-service Equity stations, almost all were able to flash-cut by the deadline. Notable exceptions were Pappas-owned KCWKKCWKKCWK was a television station which broadcast on analog channel 9 in Walla Walla, Washington and low-powered analog channel 27 in Yakima, Washington. It was affiliated with The CW, and was owned by Pappas Telecasting. The station went off the air on May 25, 2008.-History:The station signed on for...
(which went silent several months before digital transition was originally to be completed and never returned; KCWK's license was cancelled by the FCC on June 2, 2009) and WWAZ-TVWWAZ-TVWWAZ-TV is a television station in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, broadcasting locally on channel 68 as an affiliate of FamilyNet. Founded October 2, 1989, the station is owned by Pappas Telecasting, and shares transmitter facilities with WWRS which are located north of Iron Ridge in Dodge County...
(which has been silent since the end of digital transition).
There are 80 media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
s in which more than 100,000 households receive television signals by over-the-air broadcasts.
Frequency reallocation
The reclaimed channels will be used for a variety of service, including mobile phones, MediaFLOMediaFLO
MediaFLO is a technology developed by Qualcomm for transmitting audio, video and data to portable devices such as mobile phones and personal televisions, used for mobile television...
(55) and public safety (63/64 base
Base station
The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...
, 68/69 mobile). Most of this mobile spectrum has been sold to existing incumbent providers, with AT&T Mobility and Verizon as the largest bidders (see United States 2008 wireless spectrum auction
United States 2008 wireless spectrum auction
The United States 700 MHz FCC wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 73, was started by the Federal Communications Commission on January 24, 2008 for the rights to operate the 700 MHz frequency band in the United States...
).
The elimination of UHF channels, rather than VHF channels as in the rest of the world, precludes the use of band III
Band III
Band III is the name of a radio frequency range within the very high frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum.Band III ranges from 174 to 230 MHz, and it is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting...
(high VHF) for Digital Audio Broadcasting
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
as is used in a few other countries. It also makes more difficult the reassignment of channels 5 and 6 (76 to 88 MHz) to expand the FM radio broadcast band. There are also no channels set aside for analog broadcasts of the Emergency Alert System
Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast System , which itself had superseded the CONELRAD System...
, rendering most portable emergency TV sets useless. While a small number of portable ATSC sets have started to appear, these are costly. A portable converter box (such as Winegard's RCDT09A) would require a bulky external battery and mobile ATSC
ATSC-M/H
ATSC-M/H is a standard in the USA for mobile digital TV, that allows TV broadcasts to be received by mobile devices.....
is not yet available. Another option to people would be getting a USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
-based TV tuner card
TV tuner card
A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for...
for their laptop computer
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
, which in addition to its low costs became a popular option after Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
released Windows 7 four months after the DTV transition ended.
A Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
-sponsored program called Free the Airwaves has started with the goal of using the "empty" white space within the remaining TV for unlicensed use, like for Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
.
Digital-to-analog converters
Now that the switch from analog to digital broadcasts is complete, analog TVs are incapable of receiving over-the-air broadcasts without the addition of a set-top converter box. Consequently, a digital-to-analog converter, an electronic device that connects to an analog televisionAnalog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
, must be used in order to allow the television to receive digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
broadcasts. The box may also be called a "set-top" converter, "digital TV adapter" (DTA), or "digital set-top box" (DSTB).
Coupon program
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the President's principal adviser on telecommunications policies pertaining to the United States' economic and technological advancement and to regulation of the...
(NTIA) division handled requests from households for up to two $40 coupons for digital-to-analog converter boxes beginning January 1, 2008 via a toll free number or a website. The program is paid-for with a small part of the 20 billion dollars taken-in from the DTV spectrum auction. However, these government coupons were limited to an initial sum of $890 million (22,250,000 coupons) with the option to grow to $1.34 billion (33,500,000 coupons), which is far short of the estimated 112 million households (224 million redeemable coupons) in the United States. Nevertheless, not every household took advantage of the offer, as reports indicate half of all households already had at least one digital TV. In January 2009, the NTIA began placing coupon requests on a waiting list after the program reached its maximum allowed funding. Only after unredeemed coupons expire can new requests be fulfilled.
These coupons may be redeemed toward the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter at brick and mortar
Brick and mortar
Brick and mortar in its most simplest usage is used to describe the physical presence of a building or other structure...
, on-line, and telephone retailers that have completed the NTIA certification process. Retail prices for the boxes range from $40 to $70 (plus tax and/or shipping); after applying the coupons, the price to the consumer should be between $5 and $40 per box. Because it is actually used as a payment
Payment
A payment is the transfer of wealth from one party to another. A payment is usually made in exchange for the provision of goods, services or both, or to fulfill a legal obligation....
, despite the name "coupon
Coupon
In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions...
", consumers must pay state and local sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
on the coupon amount, which in effect reduces its value by about three dollars (based on 7½% tax).
There has been possible evidence that the presence of the government coupon program has inflated the prices of converter boxes by between $21 and $34 above what they would be otherwise.
DTV Delay Act
On January 21, 2009, Senator Jay RockefellerJay Rockefeller
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985...
introduced a bill in the Senate titled the DTV Delay Act, because millions of Americans would not be ready for the cutoff on February 17 due to a shortage of converter box coupons, and proposing that the transition date be moved to June 12. Rockefeller, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate in charge of all senate matters related to the following subjects:* Coast Guard* Coastal zone management* Communications...
, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
, worked together on the bill. Hutchison supported the idea because Rockefeller did not intend to ask for another postponement. On January 22, The Nielsen Company said 6.5 million Americans had not prepared for the switch. Opponents pointed out that TV stations would face extra operating expenses, and those who paid to use the spectrum to be made available would have to wait.
Under later amendments, stations could choose to end analog broadcasts before June 12 even if the bill passed, and any frequencies freed up by such action could be used by fire and police departments and other emergency service
Emergency service
Emergency services are organizations which ensure public safety and health by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities...
s. Those whose converter box coupons had expired would be allowed to apply for new coupons. The House postponed a similar bill (by House Energy and Commerce Committee
United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than 200 years...
Chairman Henry Waxman
Henry Waxman
Henry Arnold Waxman is the U.S. Representative for , serving in Congress since 1975. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is considered to be one of the most influential liberal members of Congress...
), until the Senate's version was complete.
The Senate unanimously voted on January 26, 2009, to delay the digital TV transition to June 12, 2009. However, the House of Representatives voted on and defeated a similar measure on January 28. Rep. Joe Barton
Joe Barton
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
led the movement in the House to defeat the measure, saying that "the DTV transition is neither stuck nor broke", and that any problems with the DTV transition can be fixed. Barton also said, "I guarantee you, no matter when you set the date— February 17, June 12, July the Fourth, Valentine's Day— there are going to be some people that aren't ready."
On January 29, the DTV Delay Act passed in the Senate. On February 4, the House also approved this measure.
The bill was submitted to President Obama on February 4, who did not immediately sign it into law. On February 9, President Obama posted the bill on whitehouse.gov
Whitehouse.gov
Whitehouse.gov is the official website of the White House and is owned by the United States government. Launched in October 1994, it contains general American history information, as well as current news pertaining to the President, press briefings, proclamations, executive orders, and any speeches...
, giving the public five days to weigh in on it. Under a midnight February 10 deadline imposed by the FCC, broadcasters disclosed whether they would still cease broadcasting analog signals on the original date of February 17, or if they would delay until June 12, should the DTV Delay Act be signed into law. On February 10, the FCC published the list. 491 stations stated they intended to transition on February 17. The FCC reserved final say on which stations would be allowed to transition on February 17 and which ones would be required to continue analog broadcasts, depending on how many viewers in each market have been determined not ready for the transition
Owned & Operated
Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States
In the United States, owned-and-operated television stations constitute only a portion of their parent television networks, due to an ownership limit imposed by the Federal Communications Commission...
stations of five major networks (ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
, plus the CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, myNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
and independent stations owned by CBS
CBS Television Stations
The CBS Television Stations are a group of television stations owned by CBS Corporation. As of 2009, CBS Corporation owns 28 stations, broken down as follows: 14 are the key stations of the CBS Television Network ; nine are aligned with the CW Television Network, which is co-owned by CBS with Time...
and myNetworkTV stations owned by Fox), as well as the station groups of Gannett
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
, Hearst-Argyle and Meredith
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
, committed to keeping all or most of their analog signals active until the new June 12 cutoff date. On February 11, 2009 President Obama signed the bill into law, officially moving the cutoff date to June 12, 2009. In total, 191 stations already had turned off their analog transmitters for good.
On February 20, 2009, the FCC released an order stating that stations that wish to go all digital before the final June 12, 2009 date must inform the FCC of that decision by March 17, 2009.
While 93 large-city network owned and operated stations (controlled by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, Fox TV and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
) would continue analog broadcasts until June 12, many small-market broadcasters were unable to justify the extra cost, with non-commercial and independent stations very adversely affected. No funding was provided to reimburse broadcasters who incurred additional costs due to the DTV Delay Act.
Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
CEO Paula Kerger had estimated a $22 million cost to the nation's PBS member stations to extend simulcasting until June 12; more than a hundred PBS stations ultimately elected to stick to the original deadline. Some individual commercial station groups, most notably Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
and Gray Television
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with administrative offices in Albany, Georgia.Established in 1946 by James H...
, shut down the vast majority of their analog signals on the original deadline. Others left the question to their individual local stations. Many local markets, ranging from Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
and Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
to San Diego, lost analog signals from most or all major US stations. Some stations in coastal regions such as Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
had chosen not to wait until June 12 so as to ensure transition is complete before hurricane season.
In some cases, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
forced stations to continue full-power analog broadcast of at least a local newscast and information on the digital transition for an additional sixty days – a costly move for individual affected broadcasters. Of 491 stations which had indicated their intention to go digital-only in February 2009, 123 affiliates of four major US commercial networks (ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
) were targeted by Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
opposition, precluding or applying additional restrictions to the shutdown of their analog signals in markets where the only analog service remaining after the February 17 shutdown would have been an independent or educational broadcaster, an adjacent-market station or a low-power station. Of approximately 1800 US full-service TV stations, an additional 190 were already digital-only before February 2009; these included Hawaii (digital since January 2009) and Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
(the FCC's 2008 digital test market), as well as some new stations and a few broadcasters forced to shut down analog early due to technical problems.
On April 12, Nielsen estimated that 3.6 million households remained unready; key problem markets (according to FCC and NTIA) included Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Cleveland, Dallas–Fort Worth
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
, Denver, Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, Houston, Brownsville
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Nightlighting
On February 11, 2009, the FCC announced it would allow 368 of the 491 applied stations to go all-digital on the original February 17 date, 100 of which will be allowed to use their analog signal to inform unprepared viewers of the new transition date, or for emergency situations such as severe weather (called "nightlighting"). The FCC concluded that the other 123 stations who applied present a "significant risk of substantial public harm," if they go all digital on February 17. The FCC stated "We considered the presence of major networks and their affiliates critical to ensuring that viewers have access to local news and public affairs available over the air because the major network affiliates are the primary source of local broadcast news and public affairs programming". The FCC would not permit the 123 stations in "at-risk" markets to proceed unless they certify with the agency by 6 pm ET on February 13 that they comply with eight additional requirements, including ensuring that at least one station that is currently providing analog service to an area within the DMA provides DTV transition and emergency information, as well as local news and public affairs programming ("enhanced nightlight" service) for at least 60 days following February 17.On February 13, the FCC said 53 of the applied 106 at risk stations had qualified to go all digital on February 17. The other 43 qualified for nightlight service; 10 others could not comply with the nightlight clause. The total number stations which became digital only on February 17 was 421.
Provisions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
House Republican Joe BartonJoe Barton
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
from Texas, who strongly opposed the DTV Delay Act (see above section for further details), introduced a bill that would insert $650 million in DTV transition assistance into The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to be used for making more converter box coupons available and for DTV education, which was strongly supported by the Obama administration
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed with this revision in the House with a vote of 244–188 on January 28, 2009,
and the Senate passed the bill on February 10 by a vote of 61–37.
Congressional negotiators announced on February 11, 2009, that they had reached agreement on a $789 billion economic stimulus bill. President Obama signed the final $787 billion version into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The final version included the DTV provisions.
While the economic stimulus bill did allow additional funds for coupons, there was also a risk that available retail stock of the converter boxes themselves could prove inadequate. The Consumer Electronics Association
Consumer Electronics Association
The Consumer Electronics Association is a standards and trade organization for the consumer electronics industry in the United States. The Consumer Electronics Association is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $173 billion U.S...
had estimated three to six million boxes remained in-stock at the beginning of February 2009; Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
reported five million households as "completely unready" for digital transition in this same time period. The average US household uses 3 television screens.
However, the converter box coupon program only allows 2 coupons per household.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also allocated funds for expert installation services for those switching to DTV.
The FCC awarded the contract to several companies to provide expert installation services.
Initial problems
On May 1, 2009, Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
reported that 3.1% of Americans were still completely unprepared for the transition. On June 11, 2009, one day before the analog shutoff, the National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
reported that 1.75 million Americans were still not ready.
971 TV stations made the final switch to digital on June 12. It was believed Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Dallas would be the least prepared markets, but this turned out not to be the case, as most of the difficulties were in the Northeast, primarily with stations that changed their digital frequencies from UHF to VHF.
On June 13, 2009, the FCC said their help line, with about 4000 answering phones, received 317,450 calls on June 12. About one-third of callers still needed converter boxes, and one-fifth had reception problems. Acting FCC chair Michael Copps
Michael Copps
Michael Joseph Copps is a Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission , an independent agency of the United States government. He has served as one of the commissioners of the FCC since May 31, 2001, and took on the additional role of acting chairman on January 20, 2009...
said, "Our job is far from over. This transition is not a one-day affair."
In New York City, about 11,000 people called the FCC for assistance, the most of any market. The other areas from which the most calls to the FCC were made: Chicago (6526), Los Angeles (5473), Dallas-Fort Worth
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
(5473), and Philadelphia (3749). 900,000 calls were received in all.
The National Association of Broadcasters said 278 TV stations received 35,500 calls, but most callers merely needed to rescan.
The Commerce Department said 319,900 requested converter box coupons on June 11, almost four times the average during the previous month.
SmithGeiger LLC said 2.2 million homes were not ready, while Nielsen said the number was 2.8 million. This included homes which had requested coupons. On June 14, Nielsen said the number was 2.5 million, or 2.2 percent of homes. That number was down to 2.1 million, or 1.8 percent, by June 21, and 1.7 million, or 1.5 percent, a week later. One month after the transition, the number was 1.5 million, 1.3 percent, and after nearly 2 months, the number was down to just over one million, or 1.1 percent. As of August 30, 2009, the number was 710,000, as 572,000 had upgraded in August and 1.8 million since June 12.
In some cases where digital frequencies moved, people have been advised not only to re-scan but to "double-scan", in order to clear outdated information from the digital TV or converter box memory.
Calls to the FCC decreased from 43,000 a day in the week ending June 15 to 21,000 the next week. Reception problems, representing nearly a third of calls at first, were down to one-fifth.
On June 15, 2009, U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio
Peter DeFazio
Peter Anthony DeFazio is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Eugene, Springfield, Roseburg and part of Corvallis. As Oregon's most senior member of Congress, he is the dean of Oregon's House of Representatives delegation...
, an Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, introduced the House version of The Digital TV Transition Fairness Act, which Senator Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives...
introduced in December 2008. It would require video service providers
Multichannel Video Programming Distributor
A multichannel video programming distributor is a service provider delivering video programming services, usually for a subscription fee...
to offer a $10 basic package to anyone who lost at least one channel to the DTV conversion (with broadcasters waiving fees), pay for outdoor antennas (including installation) and extend the converter box program beyond July 31. It did not pass.
VHF frequencies and digital television
One of the most common problems was the return to VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
frequencies by stations that had used them when they were analog. Over 480 stations were broadcasting digitally on the VHF spectrum after the transition, up from only 216 on the frequencies before. Many antennas marketed for digital TV are designed for UHF, which most digital stations use. VHF analog signals travel further than UHF signals, but watchable VHF digital signals appear to have a more limited range than UHF with the lower power they are assigned, and they don't penetrate buildings as well, especially in larger cities. Mike Doback, vice president of engineering for Scripps Television
E. W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps on November 2, 1878. The company is headquartered inside the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its corporate motto is "Give light and the people will find their own way."On October 16, 2007, the company...
, said, "It’s only now that we’ve found out the planning factors were probably wrong in terms of how much power you need to replicate analog service." According to TV consultant Peter Putman, the problem with VHF reception is that VHF antennas must be large to be effective, and indoor antennas do not perform well enough. In addition, channels 2 through 6 are more susceptible to many types of interference. Richard Mertz of Cavell, Mertz & Associates says multipath interference inside the house is also a factor. Some receivers can deal with this problem better than others, but there are no standards. And with amplified antennas or amplifiers, it is possible to overload a converter box. Amplifiers can also cause noise that is interpreted as data. Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
Chief Technology Officer Dave Folsom said, "There’s nothing inherently wrong with VHF. It’s just easier to have interference, because it goes out further.”
The FCC sent extra personnel to Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City to deal with difficulties in those cities. WLS-TV
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
had received 1,735 calls just by the end of the day on June 12, and an estimated 5000 calls in total by June 16. WLS-TV is just one station which may solve its problems by increasing its signal strength, but doing this required making sure no other stations are affected. A low-power analog station, not required to shut down after 30 days like other nightlight stations, aired newscasts that could not be seen by a number of people after the transition, while the stations attempted to solve problems.
In Philadelphia, most of the problems were with WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
, which had the area's leading news program, and public station WHYY-TV
WHYY-TV
For the former channel 12 in Wilmington, see WVUE .WHYY-TV, channel 12, is a non-commercial educational television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, USA...
. Many people having trouble with those stations could pick up stations from Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
and Atlantic City. Unlike WLS, WPVI had concerns about increasing its signal because of potential interference to other stations and to FM radio
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
.
In New York City, many called the FCC because they lived in apartment buildings with a single roof antenna which was not suited for the job. The city reported antenna shortages and numerous requests for cable service.
By the end of June, four stations had received permission to increase power. 10 other stations asked for power increases as well, but these were not the big cities with tall buildings. Instead, the markets were in such places as mountainous Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and in Alabama. KNMD-TV
KNMD-TV
KNMD-TV is a digital-only PBS member station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, licensed to Santa Fe. It is the sister station of KNME-TV.KNMD broadcasts on digital channel 8 and displays as channel 9, its original channel position.-History:...
in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
tried an alternate VHF channel.
The FCC had two concerns about the requests for more power: some stations just wanted a competitive advantage and were not actually experiencing difficulties. Other stations wanted UHF frequencies instead because UHF worked better with mobile digital TV. However, some stations with legitimate problems have asked to return to their UHF frequencies.
Two months after the transition, "two or three-dozen" stations continued to have problems. No one with the FCC would admit that estimates of required power were incorrect, but the actions taken suggest they are admitting a mistake. Three months after the transition, about 50 stations had applied for a power increase.
"Approximately a half-dozen stations" were still deciding at the end of October about what to do. In some of the cases where stations returned to UHF, interference to nearby stations prevented a power increase.
Ironically, KUAC-TV in Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
moved from channel 24 back to channel 9 in September 2009. The area never had UHF before DTV, so most people had VHF antennas, while few people lived in apartment buildings. The higher power needed for UHF cost too much, and channel 24 had signal problems, so the station asked to move back.
Of 79 stations asking for a new channel, 22 wanted to go from VHF to UHF, and 10 wanted to go from UHF to VHF.
Evaluating the transition
On June 30, his first day as FCC Chairman, Julius GenachowskiJulius Genachowski
Julius Genachowski is an American lawyer and businessman. He became Federal Communications Commission Chairman on June 29, 2009.-Education:Genachowski grew up in Great Neck, New York. He attended yeshiva and studied in Israel...
said in a speech that the transition
Still, the FCC planned a report on how well the transition went, and Genachowski admitted more work was needed.
Genachowski's predecessor Michael Copps called the process
A huge transition with significant impact on consumers that was not until the last moment adequately planned for or coordinated. [It was] a transition that led to problems that were largely predictable and one that we moved measurably forward from January to June to the benefit of many, many consumers. But it's not a closed book. It is ongoing. There are still problems out there, lessons to be learned and a document to write.
Low-power stations
In September 2010, the FCC announced a proposal to set a hard deadline of 2012 for low power stations to broadcast in digital, though as noted above, the transition dates have since changed. Stations may file for a four month extension to transition to digital past December 31, 2015, but there are no exceptions for vacating channels 52 to 69 by December 31, 2011. For those stations required to vacate their channels by the end of 2011, they have until August 31, 2011, to submit digital applications, if they have not already done so. Stations on channels 52 to 69 may remain in analog another channel until the noted deadline at the end 2015. As part of the rules that were imposed, low power VHF stations on channels 2 to 6 can transmit with a maximum ERP 3 kW instead of the previously allowed maximum of 0.3 kW.On August 13, 2009, the Community Broadcasters Association
Community Broadcasters Association
The Community Broadcasters Association was a trade organization representing low-power broadcasting interests, including LPTV and Class A television stations, in the United States of America...
(CBA) announced in a statement that it would shut down after 20 years of representing LPTV stations. One reason given was the cost required to fight "restrictive regulations that kept the Class A and LPTV industry from realizing its potential," including the campaign to require analog passthrough
Analog passthrough
Analog passthrough is a feature found on some digital-to-analog television converter boxes. Boxes without analog passthrough only allow digital TV to be viewed on older, analog-only TVs...
, a converter box
Digital television adapter
A digital television adapter , or digital-to-analog converter [set-top box], or commonly known as a converter box, it is a television tuner that receives a digital television transmission, and converts the digital signal into an analog signal that can be received and displayed on an analog...
feature that allows both digital and analog television to be viewed on older TVs. Amy Brown, former CBA executive director, said, "some 40% of Class A and LPTV station operators believe they will have to shut down in the next year if they are not helped through the digital transition."
On July 19, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
issued a final ruling regarding low-powered broadcasting within the United States. Broadcast translator (TX), Low-powered (LP), and Class-A low-powered (-CA) stations will be required to go digital, effective September 1, 2015, but many have still been forced to change channels to those below 52, remaining in analog, possibly deciding to flash-cut
Flash-cut
A flash-cut, also called flash-cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.Some telephone area codes were split immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dialing period. An example is telephone area code 213, which was split into 213 and 714 all at...
at a later date. This will end the era of all analog television broadcasts within the United States.
External links
- PBS Special on DTV (approximately 20 minute video)
- DTVAnswers.com: What you need to know about the June 12, 2009 switch to DTV.
- National Association of Broadcasters
- DTVRedAlert.org
- DTV Transition
- Consumer oriented FCC site
- FCC regulatory information on the DTV transition
- Federal Coupon Program
- Full Text of the DTV Delay Act from WhiteHouse.gov