Quoted Text

ALBANY
Switch from analog to digital approaching
BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Jason Subik at 395-3198 or jsubik@dailygazette. net

   Area television stations are beginning to look at ways to promote viewer awareness of the Feb. 17, 2009, federal deadline to switch all TV stations from analog to digital-only broadcasts.
   The National Association of Broadcasters estimates that nearly 60 percent of TV watchers are completely unaware of the impending switch. NAB announced Thursday that it will spearhead a national consumer awareness campaign to inform consumers of the change.
   “I think what NAB is looking for us to do is unite as an industry and get the message out, because there may be a lot of confusion on the public’s behalf,” WXXA General Manager Sally Stamp said. “We’ll be promoting it with spots on air here at the station.”
   WRGB General Manager Bob Furlong said WRGB broadcasts in both analog (channel 6) and digital (channel 37) but after Feb. 17, 2009, channel 37 will go off air and channel 6’s analog signal will be replaced with digital only.
   “The biggest issue will be the percentage of the public that only has over-the-air reception,” Furlong said.
   People who have newer TV sets capable of receiving digital signals should not notice a change when the switch is made in 2009. Nor should satellite television viewers or the roughly 26 million households with digital cable, but according to the NAB about 668,330 households in New York state using analog-only antennas for receiving television signals will go black unless consumers take action.
   “We’re very heavily cabled in this market, so our percentage [of analogantenna viewers] is probably … about 10 to 12 percent. That’s a hard number to get your hands around,” WXXA Chief Engineer Sargent Cathrall said. Cathrall said consumers not receiving a signal through cable may purchase digital-to-analog converter boxes or purchase TV sets with built-in digital receivers.
   “As of right now the federal government is going to issue, to those who apply, two coupons worth $40 apiece toward the purchase of a converter that would convert our digital signal to an analog signal for their existing set. As of the moment, they [cost] more than that. You can’t [order] one for less than like $80,” Cathrall said. “As time goes on that price [is expected] to drop.”
   All television before the development of digital TV technology was broadcast in analog signals of varying amplitude or frequency that would “draw” a picture on TV screens one frame at a time. Digital TV transmits data, pictures and sound that are assigned to billions of zeros and ones, that are decoded at TV sets. Digital channels take up less bandwidth and create options such as interactive services and multicasting of more than one program on the same channel. But some digital transmissions have been known to have distortions, such as incorrect color or occasional blurred motion.
   “As of right now, television receivers 13 inches and larger are required to have a … digital tuner built right into the set. Smaller sets do not,” Cathrall said. “We’d love to have [viewers] buy a digital set. We’ve got the huge expense of putting out a digital signal.”
   Stamp and Furlong said rights to the analog spectrum now used by TV stations will be auctioned off by the federal government sometime next year.
   “[It will be sold for use by] phone services, Wi-Fi, Wi-MAX, if somebody’s got enough money they can have their own personal channel. It’ll be a private relationship; there won’t be any public responsibility,” Furlong said.
   The federal government estimates that the analog spectrum auction will bring in about $10 billion, although private estimates put that number higher.
   Cable industry representatives say there is the potential for a service disruption for some of the 40 million cable customers without digital. If they still have analog TV sets in 2009, they could lose some stations.
   “This is where the confusion comes in, if you have all of your analog TV sets wired up to Time Warner cable, for example, Time Warner will continue to put an analog signal on channel 6 and you will be able to pick it up,” Furlong said.
   But that may not happen for smaller, independent stations unless those stations and cable operators work out a deal or Congress intervenes.
   On May 25 the Federal Communications Commission began requiring TV retailers to tell shoppers considering analog sets that — without a special converter box — they will not receive signals after the switch to digital.
   “They are already out there, I saw [a retail advertisement mentioning the switch to digital] earlier today,” Stamp said.
   Furlong said consumers with second and third TV sets not connected to cable will be greatly affected.
   “If you have an under-the-counter TV set that you turn on every morning to watch the news, that’s not going to work,” he said. “If you’ve got a second home on up on Lake Sacandaga and you’ve got a little antenna up on the roof, unless you get a converter box, you’re not going to be able to pick anything up.”

Quoted Text

The reason to get off analog is because the rf bandwidth used for the current analog tv signal is valuable and scarce. It will be reused by advanced wireless and public safety like police/fire/emt. some of the problems emergency responders had during 9-11 was due to the unavailability of wireless channels because of the choke hold the broadcast lobby has had on them since the 1920's.

Quoted Text

FCC approves ‘open access’ for airwaves auction
BY JOHN DUNBAR The Associated Press

   WASHINGTON — The FCC approved rules Tuesday intended to give people more choices on their cellphones and wireless devices after a pivotal airwaves auction next year.
   The vote clears the way for the auction, which is expected to raise as much as $15 billion.
   The Federal Communications Commission approved a muchdebated “open access” provision, pushed by Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, and supported by the agency’s two Democrats, that will allow customers to use whatever phone and software they want on about one-third of the spectrum to be auctioned.
   A more ambitious provision that would have required a licensee to sell access to its network on a wholesale basis was not included in the rules. That makes it unlikely that Google Inc. will bid. Google had been expected to challenge traditional wireless companies if the rules had been favorable.
   The rules also will allow for the creation of a shared public safety network that commissioners hope will solve many of the communication problems that fi refighters and other first responders have experienced during disasters like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
   The vote was not unanimous. Republican Commissioner Robert Mc-Dowell dissented on the open access provision, his first “no” vote since joining the commission. Republican Deborah Taylor Tate also expressed concerns about the provision, but she did not oppose it.
   The two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, would have preferred that the rules had included the wholesale concept sought by Google and consumer groups. Still, they ended up supporting the final rules.
   The text of the rules was not released at Tuesday’s meeting. The language in the document ultimately will determine which investors will commit billions of dollars to develop new wireless networks and which may not bid at all.
   The spectrum to be auctioned has been praised for its ability to travel long distances and penetrate walls easily — the same characteristics that made it attractive to broadcasters who are vacating it to make way for all-digital television.
   The Congressional Budget Offi ce estimates the auction’s proceeds will amount to between $10 billion and $15 billion. A total of 62 megahertz will be auctioned under the new band plan. Twenty-two megahertz will be subjected to the “open access” rules being pushed by Martin. Another 10 megahertz will be dedicated to the national public safety network, which will be shared between a commercial operator and public safety agencies.
   Martin said he tried to “strike an appropriate balance” with the new rules, noting the criticism from his fellow commissioners.
   Copps said that by failing to adopt a wholesale provision, the commission “misses an important opportunity to bring a robust and badly needed third broadband pipe into American homes.”
   While the Democrats thought the rules didn’t go far enough, the two Republicans on the commission felt they went too far.
   McDowell was concerned the rules would impose too much control on the wireless industry.
   Last April, Martin described the auction as the last best opportunity to introduce a “third pipe” competitor to the world of high-speed Internet access, which is largely dominated by cable and telephone companies.
   Public interest groups, later joined by Internet search engine giant Google, argued that the best way to ensure that a third-pipe competitor would emerge was to reserve some of the spectrum for use by a wholesaler.
   Google even said it might bid if such a condition were imposed. A wholesale requirement would have discouraged big cable and telephone companies — who would be unlikely to lease space on the new network to potential competitors — from bidding.
   The spectrum will be occupied by television broadcasters until February 2009. The winning bidder or bidders then have to “build out” the network. This could take several years and billions of dollars.  

Quoted Text

Switch from analog to digital approaching
BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Jason Subik at 395-3198 or jsubik@dailygazette. net

  
   The federal government estimates that the analog spectrum auction will bring in about $10 billion, although private estimates put that number higher.