Some stations won't delay switch
All networks: We are trying to avoid confusion
By Warren Wise
The Post and Courier
Monday, February 16, 2009
There's a hitch to the switch.
Some local TV stations will change their broadcast signals from analog to digital at midnight Tuesday even though Congress said they can wait. Others won't.
The big three network affiliates in the Charleston area — WCBD (NBC), WCIV (ABC) and WCSC (CBS) — will wait until June 12 to make the switch. Congress voted Feb. 4 to postpone the shutdown of analog TV signals for four months to give consumers more time to prepare.
Three other local networks have decided to go forward. They are SCETV, Fox and My Network TV, which are WITV, WTAT and WMMP, respectively.
"We feel like it will avoid additional confusion," said Allison Taylor, general manager of the local Fox and My Network TV affiliates, which are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group of Hunt Valley, Md. "We feel like the numbers are small that are not ready."
SCETV is going forward with the switch because it will save the state-owned educational network $35,000 a month in electrical costs, said Rob Schaller, director of communications.
"We re-examined the budget to see if there was anything else that can be done, but unfortunately there wasn't," he said.
Officials with the local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates conferred with each other and decided it was best to wait.
"We all on a local level wanted to do the same thing," WCBD-TV General Manager Rick Lipps said. "It split along corporate lines."
WCSC-TV News Director James Warner said all the stations thought the market was ready but decided to wait.
"We felt it was in the best interest to delay to avoid any confusion," Warner said.
Congress mandated the change in 2005 to free up valuable space in the nation's airwaves for commercial wireless services and emergency-response networks. Digital signals also are more efficient than analog ones.
Congress decided to allow stations to delay the switch because of growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready. The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 5.8 million U.S. households, or 5.1 percent of all homes, are not ready for the analog shutdown.
The Obama administration sought the delay after the government ran out of money for the $40 coupons that subsidize digital converter boxes. The program has a waiting list of 3.7 million people, The Associated Press reported.
Viewers who pay for cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected. Those who don't and don't have a digital converter box will find a black or blue screen after Tuesday on stations that make the change.
