Quietly, almost imperceptibly, the last of the government-issued coupons toward the purchase of a digital television converter box expired Monday.
After months of hand-wringing over the switch to all-digital TV signals and cries from Congress and the White House to delay the transition by four months because the country was unprepared, Americans managed to redeem just over half of the 64.1 million coupons that were distributed, federal records show.
On Monday, the final 200,000 coupons mailed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in mid-August weren't worth the plastic they were printed on, hitting the 90-day expiration date.
"The DTV coupon program was a tremendous success," NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said. "It educated millions of Americans about how to prepare for the transition and helped millions of households with the cost of purchasing a converter box."
Colorado ranked among the top states, with a 56 percent redemption rate — roughly 502,000 coupons of 896,000 issued, records show.
Redemption rates are somewhat misleading, as the agency counts coupons redistributed to a different consumer after they had expired unused.
The agency did not know how many coupon requests came in after the deadline in August. Also unclear is the number of households that still haven't upgraded for the transition.
With about $1.8 billion in funding to help Americans ready for the transition by offering $40 toward the purchase of a converter box, more than $500 million remained unused, according to rough estimates.
Some states had poor redemption rates — Hawaii ranked lowest at 40 percent — while Iowans were tops, with a 64 percent redemption rate.
Barring any congressional mandate, unused funds will return to the general fund. People still in need of converter boxes will be on their own.
Store shelves are largely devoid of the boxes, leaving anyone with an analog TV set with few choices.
"Sales have dramatically dropped since the spring," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "We'll have a few converter boxes at the stores and some online, but the big need has largely passed."
The coupon program ran through a variety of problems, the worst when coupons expired and consumers weren't allowed to acquire replacements. That changed in March when consumers were allowed to reapply.
A coupon-request backlog spurred Congress to move a Feb. 17 date for stations to go digital to June 12.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com
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( 3 / 467 )DX is an abbreviation for "distant listening". There are people that enjoy the hobby of trying to receive distant stations.
I was pleased to get this E-mail from a member of the Worldwide TV FM DX Association, or WTFDA for short. Mike is an accomplished DXer with many receptions to his credit. Here is a copy of his post to me.
We have a local LP-DTV on ch 8 that makes it tough to get WLIO. Before June 12 we had a full power analog on ch 8, WISH-TV. However, after the transition and before WIIH-DT 8 signed on I was able to pick up WLIO-DT 8 on August 3rd in the morning.
The distance is a respectable 125 miles from your xmitter to my antenna. I have attached the screen shot taken by my camera.
At that time WLIO did not have the call letters in the PSIP.
Also attached is how WLIO analog channel 35 looked in Indianapolis before the shutdown.
Mike Glass
Indianapolis
Digital - Zenith DTT900, RCA ATSC11
Analog - Samsung 12"
Low Band - Winegard HD7084P at 30' AGL
High Band - pair F1922-5/12s at 35' AGL
UHF - pair 91XGs at 40' AGL
Misc - Icom PCR-100
Current count - 203 analog, 153 digital
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( 3 / 412 )As you probably know, DTV reception requires an antenna out in the open to get signals reliably. I'm happy to see this....
CONDO RESIDENTS WIN DECLARATORY RULING TO KEEP TV ANTENNA
In an October 30th ruling, the FCC granted Constance and Daniel Lane of Palantine, Illinois a Declaratory Ruling permitting them to put up a rooftop TV antenna. This, after the board of their homeowners association told them they could not do so.
Constance and Daniel Lane had installed a television antenna on the roof of their town-home. In their petition to the FCC they had sated that they own the deeded town-home with exclusive use of their roof .
Their homeowners association does not dispute this assertion. However, the association’s rules require that antennas must be installed in the attic of a town-home and any deviation from this requirement must be approved by the Board of Directors.
But an exception in this rule exists where an owner cannot get an usable signal with an antenna in the attic. The Lane's allege that they cannot get an acceptable quality air signal in their attic and that therefore they have installed a roof mounted antenna.
In their petition to the FCC the Lane's stated that the Association was imposing continuing fines with respect to this installation. Because of this they requested the Commission to prohibit the association from enforcing its rule. The homeowners association was aware that the Lanes had taken the matter to the FCC but never filed any response.
In granting the Lane's petition the FCC weighed heavily on its own Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule. This is the 1996 law which prohibits governmental and private restrictions that impair the ability of antenna users to install, maintain, or use over-the-air reception devices. It applies to satellite antennas that are one meter or less in diameter and, as in the Lane's case, to antennas designed to receive over the air television broadcast signals.
In granting the Lane's the request the FCC noted that by declining to oppose the petition, the homeowners association has failed to carry its burden. It therefore concluded that the Lane's antenna installation on their roof is permissible under the Commission’s Rule as well as the homeowners association’s rules.
Its unknown if the homeowners association plans to file an appeal.
(Source: FCC)
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( 3 / 420 )All our stations suffered off air losses between 7 and 8:30PM due to a transformer in our transmission center that decided to pass away. The transformer started to spake, causing equipment resets until finally burning up. As of 9PM, everything should be OK now as we have bypassed all damaged equipment.
Fred Vobbe, VP/CO
WLIO & WOHL-CD Lima
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( 3 / 383 )
Via Shoptalk.ABC has a 1% problem.
Alphabet execs are trying to figure out why, according to Nielsen, their network can now be found in just 97% of U.S. TV households -- below CBS, NBC and even Fox.
All four major networks lost a bit of their nationwide coverage following the digital TV transition. Before the summer switchover, the nets' programs regularly cleared 99% of the country -- which pretty much reps everyone but a few really rural pockets of the country.
After the switchover, with a few TV owners opting not to convert to digital, that number dropped for everyone -- but while CBS, NBC and Fox eventually recovered to 98% coverage, ABC still hasn't. And no one seems to know why.
"It's bizarre," said ABC research chief Charles Kennedy. "Normally people don't get too excited about a 1% change... (and) we're not crying over spilled milk here, but there's a little more milk we could be lapping up. That's an extra 1% that is not being monetized by us."
What is ironic about this is that since moving ABC from analog channel 18 to digital channel 35.1, we have seen a 32% increase in over the air viewership.
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( 3 / 402 )
Broadcasting & Cable
After full-power broadcasters ceased analog operations on June 12 and settled into their final digital TV (DTV) assignments, one of the early findings was that stations with VHF channel assignments were experiencing far more reception problems than their UHF counterparts.
Reception issues were particularly prevalent in Eastern cities like Philadelphia and New York, where the number of stations in close proximity meant that VHF stations had to curtail their power to avoid interference and were often left with signals unable to penetrate into apartment buildings for reception on small indoor antennas.
The FCC has since granted power increases to a number of VHF stations, and let others switch their digital assignments to available slots in the UHF band.
Raycom Media, for example, has switched WLOX, its Biloxi, Miss. station, from VHF to UHF operation, and plans to do the same at its Jackson, Miss., station, WLBT, next month. And WCPO Cincinnati wants to move from its current VHF Ch. 10 assignment to UHF Ch. 22, even though the Scripps Television station has already received a power increase.
"We're still finding areas where the digital signal is not acceptable and is not being received at all," says Mike Doback, VP of engineering for Scripps.
But at least one station, KUAC Fairbanks, Alaska, decided to move in the other direction to solve its reception problems.
Click RELATED for more
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( 3 / 445 )KIDS SHOW US HOW TO BUILD A UHF DTV RECEIVING ANTENNA
Naomi and Noah Miller, the children of FCC OET attorney James Miller, show us how to make our very own zig-zag-style UHF DTV receiving antenna with readily available parts. No preamplifier, no spurs, no Irma Frausto roblem. One clean design. U-Tube video:
http://tinyurl.com/ZigZag-NoPreamp
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( 2.9 / 405 )There are days when you have to wonder about people.
Today I received a call from a business person in the 1500 block of Neubrecht Road. She was mad at the fact that channel 8 on her TV keeps cutting in and out on her TV. For those of you that don't know where this is at, it's roughly 2.5 miles east of our transmitter. Her voicemail stated that we (WLIO) needed to "get it together".I called her back and tried asking some questions. She said she didn't have an indoor antenna, but her brother who is an electronic genius installed the antenna. I asked if she knew the model of the antenna. The answer was no. I asked if it was a UHF only antenna, and I explained that VHF signals are not often received on UHF antennas. In sort of an indignant voice she said "I don't think my brother would have gotten the wrong antenna." In the end there was nothing I could do because she was convinced it was our fault.
I tried to explain there are people in Findlay, B.G. and Sidney watching us with no problem, and she is the only person who complained. That, to me, would want me to check my antenna system. But I don't think she wanted to listen. This is sad because in 99% of the reception cases, by going over what is happening, we can resolve reception problems. This is where the collective sigh comes in.
The irony is, a friend and I were thinking of contacting their company for some work on one of our custom projects. Judging from the conversation, I don't think that's going to happen now. Cue Homer - "DOH!"
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( 3 / 417 )The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees has approved a proposal to submit an offer to purchase WFUM TV in Flint for no more than $1 million.
The television station, currently owned and operated by the University of Michigan, would broadcast from Bay City to the metro Detroit area, Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said the board viewed it as an opportunity to significantly expand the university’s coverage into critical areas such as southeast Michigan.
“It allows us to expand academic programs on the behalf of CMU, especially through Prof Ed,” Wilbur said. “We’re so focused on our enrollment question and retention question, this gives us another avenue in which to pursue that.”
The Board met in special session today in the President’s Conference Room in the Bovee University Center to discuss the television station.
A purchase and interim management agreement will now be drafted so CMU can take over the station as soon as possible.
“This is very common in the broadcast world because of the normal delays in getting approval for a change in ownership through the FCC,” said Ed Grant, general manager for CMU Public Broadcasting.
WFUM is presently owned by the University of Michigan with a transmitter located in Goodrich MI, and has an application to move to channel 28 with 500,000 watts with an antenna at 258 meters (846 feet). The station is likely going to remain an PBS station under Central Michigan University ownership. Goodrich is WNW of Detroit, between Flint and Detroit. One change that probably will happen is a call sign change to better reflect the new ownership.
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( 3 / 309 )This is the WLIO Channel 8 Transmitter as it normally looks...
and with the doors open....
The cabinet on the left is the eight power amplifiers that generate 4,230 watts of power. The power then goes up to the antennas where it's amplified to the 27,500 watts ERP. On the right you see the dual exciters and the controllers.
Click on an image to SUPERSIZE it.
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