^^^Interesting article. It is a tiny bit misleading though as while households with broadband and OTA increased by 631,000 to 5.1 million, households with OTA only (no broadband) decreased by about 150,000 (from 11.15 million to 11 million). As a result, the total households with OTA (with our without broadband) increased by about 480,000 (about 3%), which is still significant.

...for millions of viewers ?

I just received an email from Larcan, a canadian TV transmitter manufacturer.

It is about a movement initiated by NTA, the National Translator Association (http://www.tvfmtranslators.com/) to save hundreds of OTA tv stations which could have to close their doors in the next weeks.

Information is found in this letter that supporters can send to their government representative.

The Honorable (full name) [Date] (Room #) (Name) House Office Building United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

Dear (Name of Representative)

In less than 8 weeks, NTIA will end the LPTV grant program. As a result, thousands of rural broadcasters and millions of people in smaller communities will be affected.

Millions of families who rely on local television for news, entertainment and education are at risk of losing access to free over the air television.

I am writing to bring to your attention that a critical government grant program is coming to an end and yet, there is more than enough money left in the program, some $22 million, to provide full access to all Americans.
The answer is straightforward, extend the program 2 years and families will not lose one of their key means of communication.

Initiated and leveraged through the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce, the Low-Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program reimburses the eligible costs to upgrade analog low power television broadcast stations, Class A television stations, television translator stations, and television booster stations in rural communities to digital transmission.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the NTIA, hundreds of eligible broadcasters have been able to secure $20,000 of government funding for low power digital broadcast equipment. This has enabled millions of Americans throughout our country access to Digital TV.

We are urging you to speak on behalf of your constituents and ensure they do not lose a key means of their communication. The broadcast community and viewers everywhere are asking Congress to extend the Low-Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program deadline; please note this is not about allocating more funds.

Low Power Broadcasters across the United States are depending on the Low-Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program to ensure their successful transition to digital television.

Our rural communities and surrounding areas depend on low power television to connect to the world, please ensure you play an active role in making this happen by extending the grant program.

Sincerely,

For more information, please visit:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/low-power-television-and-translator-program

What does that have to do with "the end of OTA in the USA"?

Please, read the entire line.

End of OTA in the USA...for millions of viewers ?

And not that there is an interrogation point. (like this: ?)

After that, please, read the other lines.

Should be titles "end of rural OTA broadcasters in the USA"

Didn't see the millions of viewers on the first read...

Millions of families who rely on local television for news, entertainment and education are at risk of losing access to free over the air television.
Not quite the same but I think this is what he meant by "Millions of viewers". But like the previous posters, this doesn't mean OTA in the US is dead.

From what i read.
Its just the end of a subsidy for upgrading to DTV equipment.

Low-Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program

Read ya l8r,
Al

I'm confused about how the auctioning off of TV spectrum is going to work. If a station on a channel higher than 31 doesn't want to sell its spectrum, it won't be forced to shut down and can keep broadcasting on the same channel, right?

Or will the remaining stations be forced to move to a channel below 31? And then what happens if there isn't enough room for all the stations in a market to fit below channel 31?

The remaining stations will be forced to move below 31, and I believe that they will not be forced to VHF, but will have to be accommodated in 14-31.
If they won't fit, then I believe that less spectrum will be auctioned off, but I'm not positive.

You'd have to share channel spaces, because 14-30 (or even 2-30) is not enough room.

In my area, you have all of the Detroit stations, plus Toledo, Windsor, Lansing, and one from Flint. Throw in the Detroit LPTVs and there is no way you can squeeze all of these in without sharing or dealing with major interference.

The talk has been that if this comes about then there will be a move away from the current digital format (mpeg2?) to mpeg4? which would allow for many more hd streams on any given digital channel. That way, all of the DTV stations in an area could be accomodated by multiplexing.

New tuners would have to be put into tvs and our existing hdtvs would need set-top boxes.

You'd have to share channel spaces, because 14-30 (or even 2-30) is not enough room.

In my area, you have all of the Detroit stations, plus Toledo, Windsor, Lansing, and one from Flint. Throw in the Detroit LPTVs and there is no way you can squeeze all of these in without sharing or dealing with major interference.

The presumption is that some broadcasters would take the money and run. That's the purpose of the reverse auction: to see how much money it would take to buy broadcasters out of the OTA business. If not enough sign up, the repacking might not happen.

Most LPTVs are not protected, and would not have to be accommodated in the new spectrum if there is no room.

^^^To support this, the FCC will need to mandate H.264 (MPEG4) decoders in all new TVs (like they did for ATSC tuners). The reduction of spectrum is forecast to be about 10 years out, so if this requirement is added soon, most people should be ready (unlike CRTs, most modern TVs have a useful life of only about 10 years). However, given that it is a government agency, they will likely wait until the last minute and have to create another coupon box programme.

I am not saying I get all these (those I do get are in bold), but consider those in metro-Detroit/Windsor down by the river.

05 - WLMB (Toledo)
07 - WJBK (Detroit)
08 - WJW (Cleveland)
09 - CBET (McGregor)
10 - WILX (Lansing)
11 - WTOL (Toledo)
12 - WJRT (Flint)
13 - WTVG (Toledo)
14 - WKBD (Detroit)
15 - WDCQ (Flint)/WEWS (Cleveland)
16 - CHWI (Wheatly)/WSMH (Flint)
18 - WDWO (Detroit)
20 - WHNE (Detroit) *** COMING SOON FROM RF 26 IN FLINT
21 - WMYD (Detroit)
22 - CIII (Leamington)/WNEM (Flint)
23 - WUDT (Detroit)
26 - CHWI (Windsor)
28 - WCMZ (Flint)
29 - WGTE (Toledo)
30 - WEYI (Flint)
31 - WPXD (Detroit) *** CHANGING FREQUENCY
32 - CICO (McGregor)
33 - W33BY (Detroit)
34 - WHTV (Lansing)
35 - CBEFT (McGregor) *** GOING DARK JULY 31/12
36 - WLNS (Flint)
38 - WSYM (Lansing)
39 - WADL (Mt. Clemens)
40 - WLPC (Detroit)
41 - WXYZ (Detroit)
42 - CKCO (Sarnia)
43 - WTVS (Detroit)
44 - WWJ (Detroit)
45 - WDIV (Detroit)
46 - WUPW (Toledo)
47 - W47DL (Detroit)
48 - W48AV (Detroit)
49 - WNWO (Toledo)
50 - WPXD (Detroit) *** NEW FREQUENCY
51 - WLAJ (Lansing)

Not a lot of wiggle room in there, although 31 and 35 will be empty soon.

There's also 27 (LPTV in Ann Arbor and WBGU Bowling Green), 34 (CFTV), and W48AV has petitioned to move to 25.

Even if you throw out the LPTV stations, there still isn't the room under the current system.

Why don't they just leave it alone? They already took the bandwidth from 52 - 69. Enough of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

^^^
It's an enormous revenue reward for the federal government. The more they sell, the more revenue they earn.

And the wireless providers are screaming for more spectrum. As it's cheaper for them to deploy networks when they have more spectrum available. When spectrum is constrained, they must segment their networks more...which increases cost significantly.

^^^^^
There isn't any proof that they are even constrained. They are spectrum squatting to kill off any chance of competition. There should be proof, verified by a third party, before their claims of spectrum shortages are valid, yet no one has come forth with that proof.

^^^^^^^^^^^ to all of the above ;)

The wireless providers are once again screaming for more bandwidth spectrum again simply because they can,.. and it worked before,.. and the corps did not have to answer to anyone regarding the BDU's waste of the bandwidth that they already had/have. As far as gov't revenue goes,... that is a bogus excuse,.. because the gov is not going to get any richer from these reassigned bandwidths, [a short term gov't revenue gain that will only benefit the BDUs long term],.. it's just a move toward appeasing the big BDU industry once again.

More and more as time goes by and we keep seeing the BDU corps running the bandwidth usage show, I'd have to agree with the comment posted above, the big corps/gov't are willingly squeezing the 'free services' out or the public spectrum entirely until everyone has to pay for a BDU's re-broadcast service package.

Hopefully the broadcasters will be smart enough to look at the long term future gains of keeping their bandwidths,... and they'll just say no to this $hort term payout $cheme!

I'm confused when you say BDUs waste bandwidth --- BDU is a Canadian-only term for broadcast distribution undertaking, aka cable and satellite TV services. (In the States, they talk about MSOs, for Multi-System Operators. Unlike Canada, I don't believe the cable and satellitte services are related. Here, Shaw owns cable and satellite operators, as does Bell (Bell (satellite and VDSL2) TV, as well as VDN cable TV.)