Area stations to switch to digital on Tuesday

Last-minute demands by the Federal Communications Commission have forced NBC 29 to adjust its plans to cease its traditional over-the-air analog TV broadcast on Tuesday.

Yet despite the late-arriving — and costly — changes, the Charlottesville region’s TV stations will transition from analog to digital broadcast on Tuesday as originally planned.

Under the government-mandated switchover, viewers with analog TV sets that receive signals over the air will be left without service after Tuesday unless they purchase a digital TV, connect to cable or satellite, or purchase a converter box.

The Newsplex — which operates the local ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates — will power down its three analog transmitters on Carter Mountain and will flip on its all-digital signals. The Newsplex’s digital signal will reach farther and will include an over-the-air high-definition broadcast.

NBC 29, meanwhile, had planned to cease its analog broadcast on Tuesday, but received last-minute instructions this week from the FCC that it must continue its analog signal.

The commission is requiring NBC 29 to broadcast a video over its analog signal that explains the digital TV transition and how to hook up a converter box.

The video will play on a loop all day, with the exception of during the evening news between 5 and 7 p.m.

NBC 29 operates two transmitters, one analog and one digital. The FCC has required that at least one station in the Charlottesville area continue the analog broadcast to keep getting the word out about the digital TV transition.

NBC 29 had intended to run the instructional video for a week before it powered down its analog signal. Under the FCC’s new mandate, however, the station will have to air the video over its analog signal for the next two months.

$20,000 delay

The station pays roughly $10,000 per month in electricity costs for the analog transmitter. Harold Wright, the station’s general manager, said the FCC’s new mandate will cost the station an extra $20,000 in a time of lackluster advertising revenue.

“We’re not excited about it, but we’ll comply with the law,” Wright said. “It’ll strain our budget.”

As to whether the unexpected costs might lead to layoffs, Wright demurred. “Oh, don’t say that word,” he said. “Times are tough. I don’t know the answer to that.”

Both the Newsplex and NBC 29 were among 123 stations across the country that were notified by the FCC earlier this week that they were not allowed to cease their analog broadcast on Tuesday unless they agreed to broaden their public notification efforts about the digital TV transition.

The Newsplex got word Friday afternoon that it had received approval to move forward with Tuesday’s transition. Wright said NBC 29 did not foresee any problems, with the exception of having to continue the analog signal for an extra two months.

President Barack Obama signed a bill into law Wednesday that extends the digital TV deadline from Feb. 17 to June 12. An estimated 5.8 million households were unprepared for the transition as of last week, according to media research firm Nielsen Co. By pushing back the deadline, the government was aiming to give those households more time to prepare and to address a backlog of 3.5 million requests for $40 coupons that help pay for the digital converter boxes that cost between $40 and $60.

Coupon backlog

An estimated 610 people remain on the waiting list for the coupons in the Charlottesville region, Wright said.

Many stations, such as the Newsplex and NBC 29, asked to stick with the original target date to minimize befuddlement among viewers and to save the costs of operating the analog transmitters.

“We didn’t want to further confuse viewers,” said Brad Ramsey, general manager of the Newsplex, which is owned by Atlanta-based Gray Television. “And there is a great expense of continuing to operate three analog transmitters.”

Both TV companies have been promoting the Feb. 17 transition date for more than a year. In recent days, the stations have ramped up their efforts, running frequent “crawls” on the analog signal and explaining the transition numerous times on the air and on their Web sites.

Charlottesville’s PBS affiliate, WHTJ, has not broadcast a full-power analog signal since an electrical storm damaged its analog transmitter atop Carter Mountain last fall. It broadcasts an analog signal only to homes in a 3-mile radius around the mountain. The station will shut off its analog transmitter completely in June.

Most unaffected

Roughly 87 percent of the region’s homes get TV via cable or satellite, said WHTJ station manager D.J. Crotteau. Most of the remaining households, he said, already have upgraded their analog TV sets with new digital models or have installed converter boxes.

Many of the TV viewers who will be most affected by the transition are seniors, said Elyse Thierry, who has been running training sessions at local senior centers for the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. Many of these seniors, she said, live alone, are somewhat isolated in rural areas and have little income.

“For many of them, the TV is their only connection to the outside world,” she said.

Thierry estimated that 60 to 70 seniors still need help installing a digital converter box. A number of them, she said, may go for a week or two without TV service.

“It’s a small number, but the people who are left out tend to be the ones who really depend on their TVs,” she said.

On the plus side, Thierry added, households that have transitioned and are now receiving digital broadcasts are seeing better reception and have a wider array of channels.

The digital TV transition has been somewhat of a boon to Albemarle County-based consumer electronics retailer Cructchfield Corp. While there has not been a huge influx of TV viewers buying new digital sets, it has had some influence on new sales, said Scott Anderson, business unit leader for the company.

“At our retail stores, it’s definitely come up in conversation. People are talking about it,” he said. “It’s had an impact. It’s played a role.”