From what I've seen over the past year, you'd have to be living under a rock to have missed the DTV promos. If anyone isn't ready now, they never will be, or OTA tv is just not that important to them. With all the other bad stuff that's going on, it's absurd to be worrying about TV! Come on..it's only (info)tainment..get a life! Let's keep things in perspective.

The coupon program was obviously poorly implemented. They should have limited the coupon program to people in lowest income bracket, or social assistance, not yer 2-car households that can afford to toss away $80 on all manner of frivolous purchases. Besides, it's just a one-time outlay..not $50/month for cable or satellite.

They should have stuck to the Feb. 17 deadline. An exemption to various stations is likely to be even more confusing, with a hodgepodge of analog cutoffs, perhaps in the same market. Hoo-boy...

They should have stuck to the Feb. 17 deadline. An exemption to various stations is likely to be even more confusing, with a hodgepodge of analog cutoffs, perhaps in the same market. Hoo-boy...

I totally agree with you on this one! Delaying the mandatory shutdown is going to create more confusion as many people will be surprised and unprepared when the stations that are planning on sticking to their original schedule shut down.

What they should have done is pump some emergency cash into the coupon program instead of delaying the shutdown.

Vt. TV stations opt for early digital switch

By Joel Banner Baird
Free Press Staff Writer

The five major television stations in northern Vermont will stick with the Feb. 17 deadline for conversion to digital over-the-air broadcasts.

Ted Teffner, who manages the stations’ broadcasting facility on Mt. Mansfield, said today that extending analog service to the new June 12 shut-off date allowed by Congress would result in cost overruns and scheduling nightmares.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090205/NEWS02/90205029

What a joke people will think nothing happened feb 17 so they will now ignore all future messages about june 12.Get on with very real economic problems.I think there will be alot of analog transmitter failures if they don't get to turn them off feb 17.

a simple Google search about the switch and it seems not many channels will keep analog going, a lot of news about channel's shutting down on February 17 anyway. not sure what good that new bill will be if almost all shut down anyway lol


Stations need to let the FCC know by Feb. 9 and have to air at least 120 PSA's before the switch
Stations that still want to pull the plug on analog by Feb. 17 have to let the FCC know ASAP, though the FCC reserves the right to deny the request depending on the degree to which it would affect viewers. interesting, seems they can be denied if the fcc thinks too many people will be effected...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/173682-FCC_Releases_Rules_For_Implementing_DTV_Date_Switch.php

What a mess!!! Looking at the link provided by kool_105, I thought the following were interesting:

for example, we find that all or most of the stations in a market will terminate their analog service on February 17, and that the market is one in which many viewers are unprepared for the transition or at risk if the transition proceeds. In such case, we may require affected stations to submit additional information to explain and justify how their early termination advances the public interest.

The commission also told stations that if they terminate analog before June 12, they must continue to broadcast on their temporary DTV channel rather than their final channel. If they want instead to move to their final channel allotment, they must file a request for special temporary authority.

The FCC is going to be extremely busy in the next little while dealing with all these applications and petitions.

The six TV stations in the Burlington VT-Plattsbugh NY market
( WCAX (Channel 3), WFFF (Channel 44), WPTZ (Channel 5), WVNY(Channel 22), Mountain Lake PBS (Channel 57) and Vermont Public Television (Channels 33, 20, 28 and 41) will stick with the Feb. 17 deadline for conversion to digital over-the-air broadcast dispite of the the bill that pass in congress to posepone the change over untill June 12 .

From (http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/) dated 02/05/09

In a release on Thursday, Jim Condon, executive director of the Vermont Association of Broadcasters, noted “a high level of readiness” among local networks and viewers.

“Here in Vermont, after more than a year of helping local viewers prepare for the end of analog broadcasting, we know that most of our local viewers are ready,” he wrote.

I believe channel 3 said that they will wait to March 1 for the change over

I believe channel 3 said that they will wait to March 1 for the change over

Not according to the article (for the Montreal, VT, NY area):
Stations that will no longer broadcast analog signals after Feb. 17 are: WCAX (Channel 3), WFFF (Channel 44),...

Here's a couple of articles from Home Theater magazine, which sums up the situation and a short history of how it got to this point:

http://www.hometheatermag.com/news/020409dtvdelay/

http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/your_digital_tv_to-do_list/

Hope I am posting this in right thread.

Senate and House has passed the delay and sent it to Obama's desk for signing. Before he signs, he is asking the public's opinion about the delay. Here is a link to give your opinion:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/dtv_delay_act/

I already went and gave my 2 cents worth.

I think the delay should have been determined state-by-state. It seems that urban areas such as the ones Buffalo's broadcasting serves will be mostly prepared and should abide by the original Feb.17 date.

I believe it's the more secluded areas of inner-southern states that may have more problems with the analog cutoff.

I was hoping for NBC to go fully digital but so far, I'm getting a good signal so I'll count my blessings and hope it holds until the new cutoff date.

Some stations in the New Orleans market have already cut to digital and turned off the analog signal. More are still set to go on Feb 17.

Here is the list of Stations shutting down their analog transmitters on or before Feb 17/09


http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.xls

Thanks thenewdc, I converted that FCC spreadsheet and posted it here:

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/US_DTV_Transitions_Feb2009.html

Anyone know,... what is Nite Lite on that spreadsheet?

I posted some of the info on that spreadsheet for the Buffalo NY stations here:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=876759#post876759

cheers

Looks like a few stations changed their mind at the last moment or didn't refile to indicate they were shutting down on the initial deadline. Were there not more Buffalo stations indicating they flipping to digital only on the 17th.

what is Nite Lite on that spreadsheet?That's the nickname for stations that will keep a basic information signal active on analogue for a month during the transition.

from:
FCC Announces Procedures Regarding Termination of Analog Television Service on or After February 17, 2009.
We encourage stations that terminate their analog signal on February 17, 2009, to continue to broadcast on their analog signal information regarding their transition and, if necessary, emergency information. Stations in Wilmington, NC and Hawaii that transitioned early on a market-wide basis voluntarily broadcast a “slate” describing the transition and providing sources for information about actions viewers should take to retain television service. Similarly, the Commission recently implemented “analog nightlight” service in anticipation of the planned February 17, 2009 DTV transition deadline in compliance with the Analog Nightlight Act. We find this DTV transition information particularly important to limit viewer confusion in light of the change in DTV transition deadline and the station’s termination of normal analog programming. We urge stations to air this analogous nightlight programming for a minimum of two weeks following their termination of normal analog programming. Stations that intend to provide this limited programming should so indicate in their analog termination notification to the Commission. We note that, because the overall transition is not taking place on February 17, stations may provide this nightlight-type service after their analog termination on February 17, even if they are not included in the list of stations eligible to participate in the analog nightlight program.

I thought some of you might be interested in this article if you haven't already seen it.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlGcM0ZxYV5dDtZR_9xfCPZnkFaAD96AAU7O0

I thought some of you might be interested in this article if you haven't already seen it.


The details of this are in FCC-09-7 (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-7A1.pdf) and the list of stations affected are in its appendix (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-7A2.pdf).