House Votes Against Delaying Switch to Digital TV
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I read somewhere that this is part of a compromise with the republicans. The bill that failed would not have allowed stations to switch before June 12th. I hope my locals make the switch soon, because I should be able to pick up more stations than I do now. This is not the case for everybody though, looking at the coverage maps there are some VHF low (channels 2-6) stations that will cover much less area than they do with analog.
Congress signed the bill 
Congress Postpones DTV Transition To June - Digital TV Transition News Story - KGTV San Diego
Congress Postpones DTV Transition To June - Digital TV Transition News Story - KGTV San Diego
Nope. The original, failed, bill was posted on this site- a link anyway. Really short, something like 8 pages, and it did not mandate waiting. Compromise was elsewhere.
The bill that just passed still allows stations to make the switch if they want. They are not required to continue their analog signal. They just need to notify the FCC. 276 stations have already notified the FCC they will make the change on or before 02/17.
Sent three e-mails to three local stations. I received two responses. One local station's plan;
"If the original Feb 17 date holds (and we should know later today) , we will cease analog broadcasting on that date and move our DTV to channel XX. If the transition is delayed, we will delay this change as well."
Another response;
"The DTV delay bill is in committee right now, and will be voted on again. My lawyers in Washington say it's a safe bet the date will be delayed to June 12th. We plan to switch as soon as possible, which means we have to file a 30 day notice if the bill passes. That puts the new date in April as the earliest possible date to switch. If the bill is defeated, then February 17th is the day.
All TV channels above 51 will go away on the switch date. We have no choice but to switch back to channel XX for digital. Everyone will have to rescan channels after the switch, and things should be back to normal. "
What I'm unclear about is the "30 day notice...". Granted, I haven't specifically read the bill. This could be something their lawyers have advised them is in the bill. In that, each station that plans to switch now must give a 30 day notice to the FCC of their switch in order to coordinate channel re-mapping with other locals that may still be broadcasting analog on the new frequencies. Or, maybe they will advise a certain market to all go digital at the same time to coordinate all the details that would have been a flood had a nationwide switch taken place in one day.
Or, maybe I'm attributing too much forethought to our government officials.
"If the original Feb 17 date holds (and we should know later today) , we will cease analog broadcasting on that date and move our DTV to channel XX. If the transition is delayed, we will delay this change as well."
Another response;
"The DTV delay bill is in committee right now, and will be voted on again. My lawyers in Washington say it's a safe bet the date will be delayed to June 12th. We plan to switch as soon as possible, which means we have to file a 30 day notice if the bill passes. That puts the new date in April as the earliest possible date to switch. If the bill is defeated, then February 17th is the day.
All TV channels above 51 will go away on the switch date. We have no choice but to switch back to channel XX for digital. Everyone will have to rescan channels after the switch, and things should be back to normal. "
What I'm unclear about is the "30 day notice...". Granted, I haven't specifically read the bill. This could be something their lawyers have advised them is in the bill. In that, each station that plans to switch now must give a 30 day notice to the FCC of their switch in order to coordinate channel re-mapping with other locals that may still be broadcasting analog on the new frequencies. Or, maybe they will advise a certain market to all go digital at the same time to coordinate all the details that would have been a flood had a nationwide switch taken place in one day.
Or, maybe I'm attributing too much forethought to our government officials.
That is part of the original switch to digital. Stations were actually free to switch at any time prior to 02/17 as long as they gave 30 days notice to their viewership. I believe there is some question now that if a station does not wish to delay the switch and actually wants to switch on 02/17 will they now have to provide that 30 days notice or will they be allowed to switch as scheduled.
There are some stations that have announced they will go ahead with the transition on 2/17.
Wausau/Rhinelander CBS, NBC and ABC Network Television Stations Confirm Conversion to Digital on February 17, 2009
This afternoon I read on AVSForum that the FCC has, even before the bill has been signed, created a rule that stations that want to shut off the analog signal on the 17th have to file by the 9th EVEN IF THEY'VE ALREADY FILED ONCE, and worse, the FCC can deny them the right to shut off if they think there will be too many unprepared customers in their market! What idiocy!
this is bad news for some of us that wanted just 1 more spring for anolog dxing
Amen! Digital DXing sucks.
That would be the stations that are afraid of leaving too many unprepared people without TV, resulting in lower ratings or bad publicity, I suppose. So far in WI 5 out of 30 stations are ending analog on 2/17, and all 5 released statements claiming less than 1% of their market is unprepared.
Here's the quote from the new FCC acting Chairman: Stations Must Alert FCC By Feb. 9 To Make Early DTV Switch - 2009-02-05 19:24:02 - Multichannel News
Does the FCC do anything of a positive nature? On screen graphics have grown to the point where, at times, 30% of the screen is covered; stations get around the commercials limitations by running banners at the bottom of the screen during programming; they completely dropped the ball on ala-carte programming; they dropped the ball on defining minimum picture quality for satellite and cable feeds; this is the second time they've dropped the ball on the digital conversion; they make no effort to force the pizza dish guys to get their act together; the airwaves are filled with commercials glorifying reckless driving, with itty-bitty words at the bottom that say, basically, "Don't do this."; they allow ED commercials during shows that children watch, like sports for instance; commercial audio is 20% louder than the programming; and it has become invisible in the fight to get cable companies to do something about their outrageous prices. What are we getting from the FCC for our tax money? Not much that I can see. I think their motto is "Don't make waves."
Our local ABC station led off the evening news announcing they were sticking with the original DTV transition date of Feb. 17. They posted a more detailed news item at their web site. The cited a local survey showing 99% of the station's viewers were ready for the switch.
Apparently all the major network affiliates in the Wichita Falls, TX - Lawton, OK viewing market talked amongst each other and filed all the appropriate new FCC paperwork (before the Monday deadline). They're all shutting off their analog broadcasts at the end of Feb. 17. They're doing so in order for all four network affiliates to be able to ramp up DTV broadcasts to full power and properly coordinate with various cable/satellite companies.
Apparently all the major network affiliates in the Wichita Falls, TX - Lawton, OK viewing market talked amongst each other and filed all the appropriate new FCC paperwork (before the Monday deadline). They're all shutting off their analog broadcasts at the end of Feb. 17. They're doing so in order for all four network affiliates to be able to ramp up DTV broadcasts to full power and properly coordinate with various cable/satellite companies.
