Alaskans prepare for digital TV broadcasting
Older TVs with an antenna will require a converter box
Originally published Monday, May 12, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
Updated Monday, May 12, 2008 at 10:56 a.m.
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Stumble It!As of Feb. 17, 2009, digital is in and analog is out. TV stations nationwide are required to free up space on the broadcast spectrum for public use and safety services like police and fire departments by using a digital signal instead of the old analog signals.
The bad news is if your television has an antenna or “rabbit ears.” You will need a converter box to change the new digital signals into analog, otherwise local stations will appear black on the screen after the mandated transfer date.
The good news is you won’t need to harass the rabbit ears every time you want a signal and the new digital broadcast will have a more vivid picture, clearer sound and the possibility of more programming choices. A digitally broadcast picture has a picture quality more than a thousand times better than an analog television because of the high pixel value.
“This is a global move,” said Anthony Wilhelm, director of Consumer Education and Public Information for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
However, a few Fairbanks stations will not make an immediate transfer to digital in February. Some local channels will be digital, and some will be analog.
AlaskaOne public television station has made the initial steps toward digital with grants for equipment from the federal government.
“We’ve been making the conversion since June of 2004,” said Claudia Clark, executive producer of KUAC/AlaskaOne. “We’re making an effort to get the information out there because we’re concerned people won’t get the right box.”
Alaskans will need to purchase a special type of converter box called a pass-through box, which is different from the regular converter box.
The converter box is a one-time purchase that will allow analog televisions to work after the February conversion.
The boxes cost between $40 to $75, depending on the manufacturer.
Although the boxes are only available online now, local retailers expect them to be on the shelves in the next month.
To ease the transition from analog to digital signals, every U.S. household with an analog television is eligible for two coupons provided by the federal government, good for $40 each, to apply toward a TV converter box at any electronics retailer such as Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart or Radio Shack.
“The government is stepping in to help anyone who bought an old TV in good faith and giving them a coupon for the converter box so they can keep their TV,” Wilhelm said.
Enclosed with the government coupon will be special instructions as to which box is necessary, depending on the region.
The government coupons are free, but there is a limited supply.
“We’ve had about 6 million requests for coupons so far,” Wilhelm said. “Don’t procrastinate, because supplies are limited.”
Applications for coupons are available online at www.DTV2009.gov or via phone by calling 1-888-DTV-2009.
Those with cable or satellite subscriptions do not need to purchase the converter box.
But if you want to keep watching TV with an antenna on your older television, you’ll need to buy a converter box or a newer TV.
The KUAC/AlaskaOne station suggested an informational Web site (www.dtvanswers.com) that describes in the transition in detail.
“We all want the transition to go smoothly,” Clark said.
Community Discussion
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I wonder how much Congressman X got in campaign contributions from the people who snatched up the licenses for the "public use" portion of the spectrum, only to turn around and sell a service using these frequencies, making a hefty profit for said company.
I always wondered what part of the Constitution empowered Congress to get involved with how I receive my TV signals. Must be that catch all "interstate commerce" clause they love so much. Don't they have more important things to do?
Oh, I forgot, "Follow the money..."
It should be noted that most of the local stations are already broadcasting and available in digital format. Aside from AlaskaOne which is listed in the main article, existing analog stations KATN Channel 2, KTVF Channel 11 and KFXF Channel 7 are currently broadcasting in digital formats. Additionally, The CW, which has been a GCI Cable-only channel until now, is also available on digital. You will find KATN Channel 2 (ABC) on digital 2-1, KWFA (CW) on digital 2-2, KTVF Channel 11 (NBC) on digital 11, and KFXF Channel 7 (FOX) on digital 22. If you are experiencing difficulty in picking up any of these stations under the current analog signal, you might consider purchasing the converter box at this time. As of today, KXD Channel 13 (CBS) is not available digitally, but is scheduled to be available digitally before the mandatory changeover date of February 17, 2009.
Kip Harmon
Station Manager
KATN Channel 2
Now would seem to be an excellent time to get rid of your television altogether. I don't say this smugly: having once been hooked on "The Simpsons" and "Law & Order", I can appreciate how difficult this will be to some. But, having lived without a television for a few years, I now wonder how I ever had time for it. Give it a little time, and you'll wonder, too.
Instead, why not fill your evenings with some human interaction? I've suggested elsewhere (http://fairbankspedestrian.wordpress.com...) a few things to do in place of an evening of passivity:
* Got a spouse or partner? Spend a while taking stock of your relationship and the course of your life together. What’s working well? What not so well? What do you want to be doing with your lives that you’re not doing right now? Make lists.
* Bake a cake. Pretend to be missing one crucial ingredient — say, a cup of sugar — and ask a neighbor you haven't met before if you can borrow it. Later, bring the neighbor a piece of your cake.
* If you belong to a church, volunteer for one of its committees. Surely your church has committees. Make sure it's something that really interests you.
* Apply for (and get) a position on one of the Borough's many boards and commissions. If you don’t want to join, then just attend a meeting you're interested in — perhaps the City Council or Borough Assembly, too.
* Join a book group, a poker club, a baseball team, or a bowling league.
Or, as local blogger SubarcticMama (http://subarcticmama.wordpress.com/2007/...) suggests:
* Lost. Deadwood. The Sopranos. Whatever it is, for your marriage’s sake, shut it off and go have sex instead.
--Paul Adasiak
Kip,
KJNP Channel 4 is also broadcasting digitally - not sure the channel though but they are.
This is from the same Congress that gave you "water saver toilets"
You know they would save water if they really worked, so now you have to flush twice or three times. Is Congress so far out of touch?
No, they are in charge of your life. Maybe we should prohibit the importation of Ethanol fuel into the State of Alaska. Karo Corn Syrup is not for cars, use it to feed cattle, chickens and pigs.
Actually we used moonshine in our vehicles for years in Missouri and the cars worked great. The only problem we ran into was with the catilatic (sp?) converters they got so hot they burned the corn fields down.
And as for TV I've been without TV for 15 years and don't see a need to have one. I think this is another scam by the government and industry to get more of our money in their pockets. Someone called on KFAR and pointed out the slogan on Alyeska's trucks, "NOBODY GETS HURT" and that the phrase is often used by crooks right after they say Put your hands up.
Thanks Jeff...according to the folks in North Pole, KJUD is currently broadcasting on digital Channel 21.
I saved for two years to buy a quality HD flat screen so i could watch HD and digital through my cable. Sorry to say Mr. Harmon but on gci chanel two is very lousy picture quality i dont even watch it. It is a little better on my rabbit ear tv not hooked up to converter box yet. And as far a HD you dont get much from gci on that first you pay about fifty bucks just for cable then fifteen more for the HD box that records and you get i think five free HD channels but if you spend eight bucks more you can get another eight i think big woop. Although the HD channel have a awesome picture you would think gci would give them to you for free because after all you do pay fifteen extra dollars for the HD box but guess again on top of that they cant even tell you if they are gonna get more HD but if you do some checking you will find they have more in anchorage i guess that would figure seeing how they cater more to them than fairbanks. I talk to a dish dealer and you can get a bunch of HD if you spend an extra three hundred bucks for another dish. The other digital channels on cable are not even that great anyways maybe i am expecting to much.
What I want to know is where to find a list of what TVs will work without the converter box. I've looked all over that DTV website and can't find a list, so I have no idea if my TV will work or not.
If a TV is digitally compatible, then how do you get the signal?
Tony: Please do not confuse digital transmission with high definition service...they are two completely different items. Unfortunately for you, I'm sure your HD television is very nice, but because of the amount of bandwith GCI has and the compression of their many channels, GCI's bandwidth doesn't provide the same clarity with high definition programming as Dish Network, DirecTV or a digital converter box would. As far as our KATN picture on GCI Cable...you are correct, GCI does not have very good retransmission of our signal. Unfortunately it's a GCI issue that we can not do anything about. I can tell you the signal going from our studios TO GCI is excellent. Our digital picture is as crisp and clear as any other station out there.
Aidey: If you go to any retail outlet that sells televisions, they should be able to tell you which ones have a "digital tuner." That's the key here. Televisions can be digitally compatible...but unless they have a digital tuner inside, you will need to purchase the converter box as well.
And local broadcast stations look bad on GCI because GCI is using inferior equipment on those channels. Want to find out for yourself? Tune the channels with and antenna, and OH MY! Whats this? The channels look PERFECT? Yea. Sad isn't it. The hum bars (bars rolling down the screen) on 13 are especially atrocious and the result of lazy or incompetent engineering. Again, strangely, the image is perfect when tuned with an antenna. Hmm. Does this mean that cable inherently cripples picture quality, or is it simply lazyness?
I'm not confusing the two Kip trust me on that. I was just stating that even though i have a digital box that will broadcast both the digital and high def just a regular digital box from gci will not do both. Your channel is very poor through gci and with just plain rabbit ears its almost as good as the others but i have always had bad picture with your channel. I have not bought one of the new boxes to hook up to my tv without cable so i cant comment on how good the picture is. Seems to me you should letting gci know your not happy with how bad your picture is being broadcast on thier system.
Kip, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Are the local stations broadcasting in HD, or just digital. As I understand it, a converter box converts the signal back to analog, so there's no HD, correct? I have an HD ready TV, and was thinking of getting a DVR with a digital tuner just so I could get the digital channels in HD. However, if they're not being broadcast in HD, will I get the exact same picture if I go with a converter box as mentioned in the article than if I go with a digital tuner? Thanks for your help. I've looked all over the internet and couldn't find an answer.
Chelly: You are welcome. The stations will be distributing their signals on a digital platform. My own personal opinion...please feel free to call me here at the KATN office (452-2125) and I'll be happy to share it.
"We’ve had about 6 million requests for coupons so far,” Wilhelm said. “Don’t procrastinate, because supplies are limited.”
Why should supplies be limited? I understand the new digital bandwidths can squish more and higher quality info into smaller spaces, and the left over room can be used for our increased public safety needs. That, I don't argue with. I have a problem with the idea that people must spend money to keep up with being able to access what before now has always been offered free as a public good, even if it is just the local stations. To not disenfranchise the poorer people in our society, the federal govt should offer as many coupons as needed, to as many people as have old and funky televisions as possible. Better yet, cover the WHOLE cost of the tuner, not just the first $40. Some folks, the poorest and most illiterate among us, will be disenfranchised otherwise. Currently, this just smacks of a marketing push; this combined with the increasing consolidation of media outlets by fewer and fewer owners makes me gitchy.
-jen
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