FCC: 36% Of Stations Will Make Switch By Original DTV Hard Date
421 Stations Pulling Analog Signals Tonight
John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 2/16/2009 5:44:18 PM
The FCC released its latest digital TV transition figures Monday and 421 stations will terminate their analog signals as of midnight Feb. 17. That's in addition to the 220 that have already cut their analog signals off or will today.
All told, 641 stations -- 36% of the country -- will have made the switch by the original hard date, according to the FCC data.
Congress moved the date to June 12 at the urging of the then Obama transition team. The president signed the measure into law last Wednesday.
The FCC says it has sent staffers to the 72 markets with higher analog penetration, where they expect the impact from tomorrow's shut-off to be the greatest. The FCC has also boosted its call center staffing for its DTV help line, 1-888-CALLFCC.
The commission has a new DTV reception map at http://www.dtv.gov/fixreception.html to help viewers figure out what kind of DTV reception they should be getting.
"This is not just about whether people can watch their favorite reality show," said acting FCC chairman Michael Copps. "It's about whether consumers have access to vital emergency alerts, weather, news and public affairs."
Over the weekend, the FCC identified 106 stations that had sought to pull the plug on analog Feb. 17 in markets where all the network affiliates wanted to do so.
Forty three of those decided to delay, while the rest agreed to an enhanced analog nightlight. Under that set-up, at least one of the stations in the market would keep an analog signal on for another 60 days with news and public affairs, DTV transition info and, potentially, emergency information.
There were also 10 stations that identified themselves as hardship cases and needed to pull the plug on Feb. 17 in a problematic market; the FCC granted all 10 requests.
The FCC also said over the weekend that it would be less strict about letting stations that had indicated they were switching Feb. 17 to change their decisions and stay on.
Even so, only a half-dozen -- mostly educational stations -- took the commission up on its offer, according to an FCC spokesperson
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