Feb. 17, 2009: Now just another, ordinary day

Last night, WHIO ran an hour-long special from 7 to 8 p.m. explaining every. single. minute. detail about the Feb. 17 switch to digital television. So I missed Wheel of Fortune last night for nothing?!

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered 123 broadcast television stations, including Dayton’s major network channels, to cease their planned early switch to digital signals on Feb. 17.

The stations, which had been previously granted permission, now must stop the transition until further notice, the FCC announced…

Recent legislation has set June 12 as the new date of transition…

“Millions of Americans, including those in our most vulnerable communities, would have been left in the dark if the conversion had gone on as planned, and this solution is an important step forward as we work to get the nation ready for digital TV,” Obama said.

Apparently two years of ads, a free coupon for digital converter boxes, endless reminders on local TV and even a NASCAR sponsorship weren’t enough to prepare us all for “the transition.”

It was enough to give me a migraine.

And while I have been looking forward to this Tuesday for months — not because I can’t wait for digital television, but because I would no longer have to watch a stupid crawl take up the bottom of the screen for 10 minutes every hour — now we get to hear it all for another four months.

The comments at the DDN site have it right when they ask why we should expect people who are not ready by now will ever be ready. I wouldn’t be surprised if the June 12 “deadline” gets moved again.

“Rob” says it best:

I look forward to the day in 2087 when the last analog TV finally breaks and we’ll at long last be free to switch to digital.

To be fair, the DDN story misrepresents the FCC’s position. As reported, the Commission had indeed previously granted a waiver to the Dayton stations to make the transition as previously scheduled on Feb. 17. They rescinded that waiver on Feb. 11 saying they had identified 123 stations “whose early termination was determined by the Commission to pose a significant risk of public harm.”

However, the FCC would re-grant the waivers if the stations in the entire Designated Market Area (DMA) could prove by Feb. 13 they would meet a list of eight requirements. It’s all very interesting reading and can be found at the stunningly current and hi-tech FCC Web site.

Among those eight requirements:

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.

Got that? One of our local stations would have to continue on analog while all the others went to digital. That sounds fair.

Oh well, at least now I’ll be able to grill out on the deck at my DTV switch party.