TV chiefs: LV ready for digital switch
A delay in the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting could puzzle consumers and cost TV stations thousands of dollars, local station executives said Monday.
The House was set to vote as early as Tuesday night on a Senate-approved measure that would move the scheduled digital changeover from Feb. 17 to June 12. And for Southern Nevada, at least, it's a postponement that might not be altogether necessary, industry observers said.
Emily Neilson, general manager at KLAS-TV Channel 8, said numbers show the vast majority of Las Vegans are ready for the digital transition.
Week-old statistics from Nielsen Media Research reveal that just 5.2 percent of Southern Nevada's 728,410 households are completely unready for the change, without a single television capable of receiving a digital signal. That's better than a national average of 5.7 percent, and it beats out regional cities including Los Angeles, where 7.7 percent of households remain unprepared, and Salt Lake City, where 8.3 percent of households aren't ready. In Phoenix, the share of unprepared households is 7.3 percent, while it's 5.9 percent in San Diego and 9.1 percent in Portland, Ore.
Because Las Vegans mostly seem ready for the change, local general managers say they're concerned about muddling the transition date for viewers.
"My No. 1 concern is the confusion for the customers," said Lisa Howfield, general manager of KVBC-TV Channel 3. "We've done such a good job in Southern Nevada getting the message about the transition out, and now we have to change it on them in the ninth hour. Everyone got to the point where they understood that date, and now we're throwing a new date at them."
The Senate version of the delay measure allows stations to transition to digital before June 12, but the Federal Communications Commission would have to approve an early switch.
Neilson said local broadcasters would consider going ahead with the transition "if it's an option that's less confusing for the market and better for the consumer."
Proceeding with the switch on or close to Feb. 17 would also help stations' bottom lines.
Neilson said stations have spent "tens of millions" of dollars getting ready for the change. KLAS, for example, launched its digital signal in 2000, so it's been running analog and digital versions of its broadcasts side by side for nearly 10 years. And when affiliates run both analog and digital signals, it's as if they're running two stations. The additional power can cost some stations as much as $5,000 a month, Howfield said.
Stations have also spared big chunks of their key commodity -- the air time they sell to advertisers -- to notify the public of the digital changeover. The government mandated that stations run a certain number of free public service announcements, countdown spots and 30-minute specials pumping the change. Stations have filed routine reports to prove to federal officials that they've complied with the requirements. Neilson said KLAS, which, like many stations, aired more spots than the law demanded, has by itself run more than $1 million worth of on-air announcements.
"We're not resistant to notification of the public, but it takes money to serve a community," Howfield said. "The (Federal Communications Commission) will begin a new countdown at some point, and we'll have to give up some of our air-time inventory to educate. We've followed the law to a tee, and now we have to start over."
And none of that is to mention the effect the delay might have on public agencies nationwide waiting to benefit from the changeover. Freeing up bandwidth for emergency agencies and first responders was one reason the federal government sought the digital transition.
For now, the delay's impact on local responders will be nil.
Dennis Cobb, the Nevada interoperable communications coordinator reporting to the state's Homeland Security Department, said just one agency -- the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department -- has obtained a license to operate radios in soon-to-be-freed frequencies. Metro's system isn't scheduled to go live until the end of 2009, so a delay through June won't hinder its launch.
No other agencies in Nevada have said yet that they'll shift to new bandwidth, partly because the move can cost money. Buying systems for new frequencies can run $2,500 to $5,000 per radio if existing radios aren't reprogrammable, Cobb said. Metro licensed its new frequency only because the old one wouldn't accommodate the communications system's growth.
This wouldn't be the first time the digital transition has been put off.
Some members of Congress sought in 2005 to mandate the change by the end of 2006, but industry observers said consumers wouldn't be ready for digital TV by then. So, in December 2005, Congress set a "hard transition date" of Feb. 17.
But federal officials fret that consumers still aren't prepared for the switch. The government program that's doling out $40 coupons to consumers to purchase digital-to-analog converter boxes ran out of money, and too many Americans haven't bought a converter yet, they say.
Local station executives say they understand the public safety issues involved if big numbers of consumers suddenly have no medium for obtaining emergency information or news.
But no number of delays is likely to prepare everybody for the transition, Howfield said. Some people don't care if their TV signal disappears. Others might want to wait until the actual transition to look for an alternative to their over-the-air analog signal.
Instead of having the entire nation go digital on the same day, Howfield suggested, Congress should allow a rolling transition, with relatively prepared markets such as Las Vegas changing over first.
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
WHAT IF MY CONVERTER BOX DOESN’T WORK? If you bought and set up your converter box, it should operate normally, and you should get local signals on your TV screen. If that’s not happening, one of several issues is likely. First, try scanning or auto-tuning for channels on your converter box. Not all converters perform the scanning function without prompting, so you might need to select the option from your menu manually. Lisa Howfield, general manager of KVBC-TV Channel 3 suggested that TV viewers scan for new channels occasionally even after the transition, because that’s what allows viewers to pick up new signals. Also complicating matters: Lower-power stations don’t have to move over to digital signals. If you want to continue to receive their pictures, your converter box will need an analog pass-through mechanism, said Emily Neilson, general manager of KLAS-TV Channel 8. If you’ve scanned for new channels and your converter box still won’t pick up local signals of major stations, your home could be the obstacle. Stucco and chicken wire can impede digital signals from penetrating walls and reaching tuners inside, Howfield said. For a quick fix, punch a hole in your wall. (Just kidding!) Or, more practically, consider buying an outdoor antenna and linking it to your TV inside. If reception remains a problem, the Federal Communications Commission also suggests moving your antenna around a bit to see if it performs better when it’s far away from other objects and structures. Remember that outdoor antennae can degrade over time due to weather exposure, so check periodically for corroded wiring, orientation and broken components, the agency said. Also, if you live near a station’s broadcast tower, signal overload can hamper reception. Consider devices that weaken signals, or remove any technology that strengthens them. If you bought a digital TV and it’s not working, it could be because the set defaults to an analog view. Find the menu and look for an option that lets you choose to watch digital signals. For additional details on choosing an antenna, or determining whether you need one, local station managers recommend visiting www.antennaweb.org on the Internet.
