[SBE] 4 more months?

[Larry Bloomfield]

Henry

I like your very last paragraph the best. However, the incalculable 
amount of inventory that has been given up by stations to educate the 
public about the demise of analog (I refuse to call it the transition to 
digital as digital has been on the air for some time now) would very 
well added up into the millions had it been sold as commercial time. I 
don't believe there are very many who are not aware of the Feb. 17 date.

In my little town of Florence, OR, (8,000 population) I get asked 
frequently about "the transition." We're served by nothing but 
translators, which isn't part of this whole boondoggle, which creates 
other issues. That's another government screw up - EVERYONE in ALL 
services should have the same date to end analog. The way this is coming 
about has really confused many especially in communities where there are 
both  low power and high power network affiliates sharing the same 
audience. The issue of pass through and not pass through boxes is also 
another government screw up.

If my memory serves me correctly, the whole idea of companion channels 
and the abandonment of the analog on a given date was to have the 
abandoned spectrum auctioned off in an effort to bring about a balanced 
budget. As we all know, it will take one hell of a lot more than the 
auction of vacated television channels to make that happen, but it might 
put a dent into it.

We need not get into the government screw up when it comes to the 
funding of converter boxes either. Had the origional program been 
carried out as it had been intended (who knows what that was these 
days?), there wouldn't be an issue of lack of funds. As Tony said in 
another post, the past administration had only committed $990 to the 
coupon program out of $1.5 BILLION. Monies would have been replenished 
automatically, according to the original bill, if the administration had 
asked for the monies they were entitled to, but now there is a new 
administration and God only know what kinds of hitches in the "getty-up" 
they'll be putting into this equation.

There are supposed to be funds for those communities of 20,000 or less 
to help replace their translators. West Lane Translator, who serves my 
community, is waiting for those funds to become available so we can make 
a move. Remember that NTIA, like the FCC has to go out with their 
equivalent of a NPRM and the time for responses etc before those funds 
can be made available. Some of us may not see digital for sometime to 
come. Go figure.

*Larry Bloomfield, KA6UTC*
1980 25th St.
Florence, OR 97439
(541) 902-2424 (everything number)
*www.Tech-Notes.TV <http://www.Tech-Notes.TV>*
See you on the Taste of NAB Road Show



A9xw at cs.com wrote:

> I must take umbridge with your comments. Your tirade of economic woes 

> for the station still benefits those who are receiving the $1.2 

> million from teh station to stay on analog longer, thus maintaing 

> income to the utility, tower owner, and we lowly engineers that keep 

> the boxes working.  If a station can't manage to stay on for another 4 

> months, it is so badly managed going DTV only early will likely not 

> help either.

>

> Then lets not forget that your station income is derived from the 

> number of eyeballs that can see it. If you lose some percent of your 

> audience because they do not have DTV reception, then your bottom line 

> Nielsen numbers are also going to drop and sales by the $/k income 

> drops. But if you allow the NTIA enough time to fund the boxes, and 

> stores to sell the boxes, you lose less as time goes by because your 

> universe of eyeballs increases on dtv.  

>

> The Government is forcing obsolence of analog receivers purely to gain 

> the income from the auctioned frequency spectrum.  

>

> Besides, you can't turn off analog in February, its black history 

> month and Obama must speak to his audience. March is NBA finals, April 

> is the start of Baseball.  May kids are still in school, so we have to 

> wait for summer when lots of people no longer watch TV, and travel, go 

> outside, or take that tax refund and spend it on a new big screen DTV 

> set. Congress will not be in session, so the hate mail will be tossed 

> by staff and then congress comes back in September long after any hate 

> mail has dwindled to near nothing.

>

> Henry

>

>

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