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  1. Member
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    Their request to stick with the original date of Feb 17, 2009 for ending analog TV broadcast are denied based upon a determination of harm to the public interest. Two exceptions allowed: certify to a tough list of last minute conditions, or plead extreme financial hardship.

    "In contrast to the stations remaining on the air and those that have previously terminated analog service or complied with the Third DTV Periodic Report and Order procedures to terminate analog service before February 17th, we have identified 123 stations of the 491 intending to terminate analog service on February 17th whose early termination poses a significant risk of substantial public harm. We developed this list of stations by first identifying the markets in which all of the stations would be terminating analog service on February 17, 2009. We also identified markets in which affiliates of all four of the major networks, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, would be terminating analog service, or, in markets that do not have affiliates of all four networks, we determined if all of the major networks broadcasting in those markets would be terminating their analog service on February 17th. We also considered loss of major network service in cities within the larger DMAs. We considered the presence of major networks and their affiliates critical to ensuring that viewers have access to local news and public affairs available over the air because the major network affiliates are the primary source of local broadcast news and public affairs programming. Therefore, even if independent or non-commercial stations remain on the air in these markets, we still considered these areas at risk. The stations and markets that we identified in this analysis are attached in the Appendix.

    Accordingly, we hereby reconsider the partial waiver granted by the February 5th Public Notice to those stations listed on the Appendix attached to this Public Notice. These stations are, therefore, not permitted to terminate their analog service on February 17th, unless they comply with the conditions and procedures described below. Any station that was listed in Appendix A to the February 17, 2009 Termination List Public Notice, DA 09-221, and is not listed in the Appendix to this PN, is expected to proceed with termination of its analog service on that date, subject to the conditions previously described in the February 5th Public Notice.

    Stations listed in the Appendix to this Public Notice may obtain reinstatement of the waiver necessary for them to terminate analog service on February 17, 2009 by certifying to the Commission, not later than the close of business (6:00 pm EST) on Friday, February 13th, that they will individually undertake the measures specified herein as a means of ameliorating the public interest harms that the termination of their analog service would engender. We also encourage stations in the markets listed in the Appendix to cooperate and undertake the actions on a joint basis. Each station should certify in response to this Public Notice its compliance with the following eight measures. These certifications will reflect that the station is undertaking the action individually or that they have confirmed that another station will do so.

    • Ensure that at least one station that is currently providing analog service to an area within the DMA that will no longer receive analog service after February 17, 2009 will continue broadcasting an analog signal providing, at a minimum, DTV transition and emergency information, as well as local news and public affairs programming (“enhanced nightlight” service ) for at least 60 days following February 17, 2009. The local news, public affairs, or other programming may include commercial advertising.
    • Ensure that on-air educational information (prior to February 17 and thereafter as part of “enhanced nightlight” service) will include demonstrations of converter box installations, antenna setups, and other helpful information.
    • Ensure that enhanced nightlight service concerning the DTV transition or emergency information will be provided in Spanish and English and accessible to the disability community (e.g., silent scrolls or slates do not provide information to the visually impaired, and therefore, broadcast notices must have an aural component, as well as being closed or open captioned).
    • Ensure that the DTV educational information, both on-air and through other means, will provide information describing areas that may be losing over-the-air signal coverage temporarily or permanently as the station transitions to digital-only broadcasting. Such information may include detailed maps, listings of affected communities, and instructions on how to assess what type of antenna may be necessary to retain or regain the station’s digital signal, as well as identifying specific locations that will not be able to receive a digital signal regardless of antenna.
    • Each station individually or collectively in the market commits to assisting viewers by providing local or toll-free telephone assistance, including engineering support. Such assistance may be provided jointly with other stations, organizations, and businesses in the area.
    • Each station alone or together with other stations or local businesses and organizations in the market will provide a location and staff for a consumer “walk-in” center to assist consumers with applying for coupons and obtaining converter boxes, to demonstrate how to install converter boxes, to provide maps and lists of communities that may be affected by coverage issues, and to serve as a redistribution point for consumers who are willing to donate coupons, converter boxes, televisions and for those in need of these items.
    • Each station, individually, is complying with the obligation established in the February 5th Public Notice to broadcast a crawl on their analog channel regarding the station’s termination of analog service, for the seven day period from February 10 through the termination of the station’s analog signal on February 17. For the first five days, the crawl must be aired for 5 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime. For the final two days, the crawl must be aired for 10 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime. Each station will include in the crawl the FCC toll-free number for our Call Center (1-888-CALLFCC, 1-888-225-5322) beginning as soon as possible following the release of this Public Notice.
    • Each station will consider and is encouraged to coordinate with and use community resources to provide consumer outreach and support, including in-home assistance.

    Stations listed in the Appendix that do not certify that they will undertake the actions described above may make an alternative showing to the Commission that extraordinary, exigent circumstances, such as the unavoidable loss of their analog site or extreme economic hardship, require that they terminate their analog service on February 17th. The showing should not exceed five (5) pages, not including attachments. We do not anticipate that many stations will be able to meet the high burden applicable to this showing. Any station electing to make this showing must await a determination by the Commission that its showing is sufficient before terminating analog service. The Commission will endeavor to resolve all of these cases prior to February 17th.

    Stations certifying to the above conditions are permitted to cease analog operations on February 17, 2009 without further authorization from the Commission. Pursuant to this Public Notice, we restore the waiver to be effective at the time the station certifies compliance with the public interest conditions.
    The FCC reserves the right to take appropriate action against stations that certify they will meet the conditions, fail to do so and nevertheless go off the air on February 17, 2009.

    For additional information, contact Barbara Kreisman, Barbara.Kreisman@fcc.gov, of the Media Bureau, Video Division, at (202) 418-1600.

    Action taken by the Commission on February 11, 2009: Acting Chairman Michael J. Copps and Commissioners Jonathan S. Adelstein and Robert M. McDowell."


    http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-7A1.pdf
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  2. I didn't see anything in there about determining the actual effect on the viewers in the market. It would appear that even if every household in the broadcast area is completely digital ready, they still can't shut down the analog broadcasts because that's not part of the criteria.
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    I didn't see anything in there about determining the actual effect on the viewers in the market. It would appear that even if every household in the broadcast area is completely digital ready, they still can't shut down the analog broadcasts because that's not part of the criteria.
    How would the FCC determine if everyone is ready? Neilsen survey data? Frankly I doubt that would show everyone is ready in any market. Neilsen's aggregate figures showed that, at best, 6.5% of households were not ready. That's not many just looking at percentages, but it represents one-third to one-half of all those who needed to get ready. (Depending on whose figures were used, last year 13% to 18% of households only had antennas and needed to do something to prepare for the switch.)
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  4. Member
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    The responses from the 123 affected Broadcasters are now up on the FCC homepage.

    http://www.fcc.gov/

    I think the only true criteria is based upon an unstated objective, that being to maintain analog broadcast from at least one commercial station in unofficial areas that are based on geography and population rather than DMA.

    I see signs of this when looking at Quincy, Illinois: Two Hi-Band VHF Stations (KHQA - CBS and WGEM -NBC) covering the Tri-State Area (Western Illinois, Northeast Missouri and Southeast Iowa). Both are temporarly transmitting digital in UHF at low power with limited coverage. And both need to shut down their analog transmitters and transition to permanent, full power digital on their respective VHF channel. So KHQA is staying up on analog and WGEM is making the switch. There is a TV channel out of Kirksville Mo, but it doesn't extend much into Illinois.

    Peoria-Bloomington is a bit questionable.....they are all going down........but hey, Obama was there yesterday and fixed everything!
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  5. Originally Posted by usually_quiet
    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    I didn't see anything in there about determining the actual effect on the viewers in the market. It would appear that even if every household in the broadcast area is completely digital ready, they still can't shut down the analog broadcasts because that's not part of the criteria.
    How would the FCC determine if everyone is ready? Neilsen survey data? Frankly I doubt that would show everyone is ready in any market. Neilsen's aggregate figures showed that, at best, 6.5% of households were not ready. That's not many just looking at percentages, but it represents one-third to one-half of all those who needed to get ready. (Depending on whose figures were used, last year 13% to 18% of households only had antennas and needed to do something to prepare for the switch.)
    The FCC shouldn't, and it shouldn't require 100% readiness. It should be up to the stations to determine if their market is ready and demonstrate it to the FCC. A cooperative force from the stations, in conjunction with the area schools, should be able to determine the readiness of a given broadcast area within a matter of a few weeks, and at the same time identify the areas that need specific attention in case it hasn't reached that level. But I still haven't seen the definition of "digital ready". The coupon program doesn't care if you're a cable or satellite subscriber, both of which should be automatically deemed ready. There are households who don't even have a TV, these should also be considered ready.
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  6. Member
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    The FCC shouldn't, and it shouldn't require 100% readiness. It should be up to the stations to determine if their market is ready and demonstrate it to the FCC. A cooperative force from the stations, in conjunction with the area schools, should be able to determine the readiness of a given broadcast area within a matter of a few weeks, and at the same time identify the areas that need specific attention in case it hasn't reached that level. But I still haven't seen the definition of "digital ready". The coupon program doesn't care if you're a cable or satellite subscriber, both of which should be automatically deemed ready. There are households who don't even have a TV, these should also be considered ready.
    Obviously 100% is too high. Some will never be ready on any given date. However, the FCC would have to determine the acceptable percentage of readiness, not the stations. They're in charge of this process. If it was left up to the stations, there would have been no compulsory date. They would have picked their own dates to shut down analog based on their revenue and market surveys.

    As far as the definition of readiness, according to what I have read about the FCC's criteria, those with a paid TV service are considered ready, those with no TV are considered ready, those with a digital TV or converter box are considered ready, and those who have a TV, but only use it for video games, the Internet, or watching DVDs are considered ready.

    To some extent, the coupon program does care about whether someone has a paid TV service or not. They ask. Originally half the funding was allocated for antenna-only housholds and would only be made available after the other half was used up. I don't know if that has changed.
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    I have said before that a Mid February date was stupid to begin with. Any date set would have probably been extended. But going to a whole new approach with only 3 weeks to go (4 days to go for 123 Stations) is behond absurd. It can only be understood in the realm of political gamesmanship.

    Ask yourself why the accounting or funding problems with the coupon program has never been fixed? Only one answer: fixing it at the first oppurtunity (late December 2008) would have undermined political objectives.

    I reject the notion that anyone would be harmed because they can no longer receive local news, emergency information (or political propaganda) via TV. These people don't have radio? They don't talk to anyone...no family, friends or neighbors? Hell, are they strapped down infront of their TV sets?

    When it's all said and done, you can follow a half billion dollars flowing into the "right hands" to assist those who are "at risk"!
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  8. I didn't say leave it up to the stations, I said make them responsible for showing that their market is ready. The FCC would still be responsible for setting the date, determining what "ready" means and for reviewing the station's data "proving" that they're ready. It's in the station's best financial interest to get their market ready as fast as possible and they'll get it done. But as long as Congress is trying to fix this "problem", it's only going to get worse.
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  9. This is total BS. The station I work at has been broadcasting both analog and digital signals for several years now (at an enormous cost). We have coordinated with the other TV stations in our market and have all been informing the public with thousands of PSA's for more than a year about the shutdown of analog. Now the government is forcing us to continue to burn even more cash for at least several more months to pay for the electricity to simultaneously broadcast both signals?

    Like we can afford that in this current economic downturn. These "leaders" are a bunch of asshats.
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    Originally Posted by gshelley61
    These "leaders" are a bunch of asshats.
    Thats funny!
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    Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    Ask yourself why the accounting or funding problems with the coupon program has never been fixed? Only one answer: fixing it at the first oppurtunity (late December 2008) would have undermined political objectives.
    Yes, they should have, when they passed other TV-related legislation, the "Analog Night Light" provision. The trasition delay seems to have been overshadowed by news related to the ongoing financial crisis. I'm not sure if it has made a much of an impression on most members of the public, although those who express an opinion on the subject generally aren't happy, nor are affected businesses. I don't think politicians are doing this to win more votes.

    Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    I reject the notion that anyone would be harmed because they can no longer receive local news, emergency information (or political propaganda) via TV. These people don't have radio? They don't talk to anyone...no family, friends or neighbors?
    I think The public-safety concerns are somewhat legitimate. Undoubtedly some people do have a TV, but no radio, or they don't listen to the radio much. There are people who have no family nearby, or no family period, and don't know their neighbors. I haven't spoken to any of my neighbors in months. For one thing they are not home much. If I had to depend on them to let me know about anything urgent, I'd be out of luck.
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  12. My take on this:
    There are (and have always been) two facets to making sure switch goes smoothly. Facet 1 is to make sure that the broadcasters are ready to broadcast. Facet 2 is to make sure that the viewers are ready to receive. Congress has done a typically dismal job with both facets. Having said that, the manufacturers and broadcasters haven't done so well themselves, although some of that can still be blamed on Congress.
    When the original date was set, there was plenty of time to get both facets prepared, but the issue got mucked up with High Definition. Instead of flooding the market with cheap TVs with ATSC tuners and cheap converter boxes, they instead pushed high priced HDTV and made the consumer believe that DTV meant the same thing as HDTV and the vast majority of viewers could not afford an HDTV. All of the "now broadcasting in High Definition" was meaningless to most viewers because they couldn't receive it that way. So as the first deadline neared it became apparent that the viewers weren't ready and Congress extended the deadline. Who knows what the motivation for the date they picked was, but it's irrelevant, again it was far enough in the future to allow the transition to happen.
    Congress made another typical blunder in trying to get the viewers ready by setting up the coupon program. This attempt to "make the tuners affordable" was destined to fail because it has artificially kept the prices high. There's no reason why those converter boxes shouldn't be in the ~$20 range, except for the coupon program. As with all government handouts, instead of encouraging the correct behavior (just go get a converter because I need one), it encourages the opposite (I’ll wait until I can get my coupon, even if the program runs out of money and I have to wait months to get it). Since anyone and everyone can get coupons whether they need them or not, there is no way that the program could ever have adequate funding and will only delay things further. And there’s still nothing to verify whether the household will be ready or not.

    Since gshelly61 works for a station, he’s probably in the best position to answer this.
    IF:
    Your station and the other stations in your coverage area were told 2 years ago that you could turn off your analog transmitters as soon as you can show that 97% of the households, based on the latest census data, in your market are digital ready. Digital ready being defined as:
    The home subscribes to Cable or Satellite.
    OR
    The home has been informed of the change but has indicated they don’t have a TV or don’t care to watch broadcast TV.
    OR
    The home has at least one TV capable of receiving the digital signal, either through a tuner or a converter.
    OR
    The home is vacant.

    Would you still be broadcasting analog today?

    Would your resources have been used on PSAs, 90 second “digital ready tests”, and promotional videos about how to get ready for the switch?
    Or would your resources have gone to identifying what households aren’t ready and doing whatever was necessary to make them so?
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    TV stations never had and never should have any responsibility to make sure the audience have TVs and antennas that work.

    Without the Federal coupon program, I'm not sure the required digital tuner and D/A converter could have been developed on time at an affordable cost. The coupon program practically guaranteed the unit volume needed to make the development and manufacturing of the boxes profitable. No profit, no product.

    Political gamesmanship, as practiced in Washington DC, often involves fabricating phoney crisises which are used to damage the opposition party and to build public dependency upon the phoneys. Chicago politics means all large campaign contributors get paid back 10 times over, one way or another,.....some of it is in the stimulas package, and there is more to come.
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  14. Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    TV stations never had and never should have any responsibility to make sure the audience have TVs and antennas that work.
    TV stations have always had the responsibility to develop, maintain, and grow their audience. Making sure their audience can continue to receive their programming is in their own best interest. As a commercial interest (no pun intended), they are in the best position to find and implement the most efficient means to that end.

    Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    Without the Federal coupon program, I'm not sure the required digital tuner and D/A converter could have been developed on time at an affordable cost. The coupon program practically guaranteed the unit volume needed to make the development and manufacturing of the boxes profitable. No profit, no product.
    Bullocks. Most of the electronics and manufacturing requirements have existed for centuries. The ATSC tuner technology development happened at the same time as the broadcast equipment, and none of this is "new" technology. There's nothing magic about converting a digital signal into an analog NTSC output. My Commodore64 did that back in the '80s.

    Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    Political gamesmanship, as practiced in Washington DC, often involves fabricating phoney crisises which are used to damage the opposition party and to build public dependency upon the phoneys. Chicago politics means all large campaign contributors get paid back 10 times over, one way or another,.....some of it is in the stimulas package, and there is more to come.
    Couldn't have said it better myself, but this is straying into politics...
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Originally Posted by SmokieStover
    Without the Federal coupon program, I'm not sure the required digital tuner and D/A converter could have been developed on time at an affordable cost. The coupon program practically guaranteed the unit volume needed to make the development and manufacturing of the boxes profitable. No profit, no product.
    Bullocks. Most of the electronics and manufacturing requirements have existed for centuries. The ATSC tuner technology development happened at the same time as the broadcast equipment, and none of this is "new" technology. There's nothing magic about converting a digital signal into an analog NTSC output. My Commodore64 did that back in the '80s.
    We had an ATSC tuner discussion in a related thread a week or more ago. The tuner chips that existed pre-2007 were both considerably more expensive, and not as good as the ones that came out about the same time that ATSC tuners were made manadatory for new TVs.

    There's no coupon to subsidize the purchase of an inexpensive new SDTV with a digital tuner. Are electronics manufacturers making a lot of those? No, they are making HDTVs with better profit margins. Without the coupon program I think there is an excellent chance that most of the converter boxes available would have been more like the non-coupon eleigible boxes currently being manufactured, with additional features that most SD analog TVs can't use, and priced at $100 and up. Once the coupon program expires, I don't expect the price will drop much except for models that are being clearanced.
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  16. Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Since gshelly61 works for a station, he’s probably in the best position to answer this.
    IF:
    Your station and the other stations in your coverage area were told 2 years ago that you could turn off your analog transmitters as soon as you can show that 97% of the households, based on the latest census data, in your market are digital ready. Digital ready being defined as:
    The home subscribes to Cable or Satellite.
    OR
    The home has been informed of the change but has indicated they don’t have a TV or don’t care to watch broadcast TV.
    OR
    The home has at least one TV capable of receiving the digital signal, either through a tuner or a converter.
    OR
    The home is vacant.

    Would you still be broadcasting analog today?

    Would your resources have been used on PSAs, 90 second “digital ready tests”, and promotional videos about how to get ready for the switch?
    Or would your resources have gone to identifying what households aren’t ready and doing whatever was necessary to make them so?
    Bingo. We would already have stopped broadcasting analog by now to save money on our huge electric bill. In our market, only about 12% of the TV households rely on antenna reception only... the other 88% have satellite or cable (and may or may not have an antenna, as well). Based on the lack of negative reaction we have received when we have run the digital only tests (to ferret out those households who aren't ready), I'd say there are very few people in our market that don't know about the digital changeover and are unprepared. Walmart and other stores are loaded with converter boxes. We are certainly more than prepared to help anyone who is somehow still confused about this after the analog shutdown occurs.
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  17. Member
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    Originally Posted by gshelley61
    Bingo. We would already have stopped broadcasting analog by now to save money on our huge electric bill. In our market, only about 12% of the TV households rely on antenna reception only... the other 88% have satellite or cable (and may or may not have an antenna, as well). Based on the lack of negative reaction we have received when we have run the digital only tests (to ferret out those households who aren't ready), I'd say there are very few people in our market that don't know about the digital changeover and are unprepared. Walmart and other stores are loaded with converter boxes. We are certainly more than prepared to help anyone who is somehow still confused about this after the analog shutdown occurs.
    What does Neilsen have to say about the readiness of of your broadcast area? The number of calls received during a five-minute test isn't as precise a measurement as their survey. If your station truly can't afford to the cost of waiting, the FCC allows the cessation of analog broadcasts on the basis of financial hardship.

    Now I'll play devil's advocate for a moment. People keep brings up the cost of maintaining OTA transmissions., which only 12% of the audience really needs. OK, maybe it's time for OTA to go away entirely. Most of the 12% could get cable or satellite. If 6% can't afford it or don't have it available, well access to TV is not a right, or so I have frequently read in the course of these discussions. All the current TV broadcast spectrum could then be freed up for higher purposes, like streaming video to mobile devices using wireless broadband.

    Of course the vast majority of local stations might go away too, because the networks could certainly make their own arragements with paid TV providers, and there would only be a need for one or two 24-hour news/traffic/weather stations per market. These news outlets could rent their channel and save money compared to the enormous financial burden of broadcasting OTA.

    Although this would be very inconvenient for me, I'd find a way to live without it for the sake of fairness (full-power broadcast stations an have unfair competative advantages over cable-only stations in the form of must-carry status), energy efficiency. and technological innovation.
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