FCC Has DTV-Heavy Schedule
Schedule Includes Town-Hall Meeting in DTV-Transition Test Market Wilmington, N.C.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/27/2008 2:42:00 PM
Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin and others at the commission are having a busy week on the digital-TV front.
On Monday, the chairman and commissioner Michael Copps were scheduled to meet with officials of Wilmington, N.C., about the test the FCC is conducting there of the digital switch. Major broadcasters in the market agreed to pull the plug on analog TV early -- Sept. 8 -- to help the government gauge the impact of the nationwide cutoff of full-power analog signals in February 2009.
"There are unknowns that no one anticipates and you find out about only when you throw that switch. That's the category that really keeps me up at night," Copps was planning to tell the town-hall-meeting audience. "That’s why this test is so important."
It was Copps' idea to conduct a test, and he again praised the chairman for helping to make it a reality.
Then Tuesday, the FCC is hosting a town meeting at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, where Martin is also expected to preside, aimed at seniors, one of the groups targeted for special attention and help.
That meeting will also include D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and WUSA anchor J.C. Hayward, a member of the National Association of Broadcasters' speakers bureau on the DTV transition. The NAB estimated that about 50,000 Washington households receive over-the-air TV exclusively. "One in five households [are] at risk of losing their television signals Feb. 17, 2009, if they do not take the necessary steps to prepare for the transition," the NAB said.
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Dude they're not gonna change an entire system so you can get TV. You probably invested in the technology that they didn't choose.
Our DTV works great of course it's not 100%. Even with analog TV you have to aim your antennas and have it just so high. This is why cable came about to give reception to areas that can't receive ANALOG TV.
Eric Post - 5/28/2008 2:05:00 PM EDT -
Tried a DTV box yet, Mssrs. Martin and Copps? Hook up the bedroom set with rabbit ears and join the frustrated ranks of early adopters who wonder why the technology is not more robust. Europe's DTV system is much more stable; the U.S. system is very sensitive to interference. That's good for pay cable, not good for free broadcast TV and legions of antenna-dependent set owners who think they should be able to receive free TV with continued ease, whether analog or digital. The death of analog must be delayed until at least Aug. 2011 -- the Canadian date -- so govt. and industry can correct mistakes already made and attack unaddressed issues (lack of attention to DTV's antenna end, for one).
Adam Smith - 5/27/2008 6:26:00 PM EDT
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