Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Feb 5, 2009 16:15:50 GMT -6
If I'm correct, the low-power TV stations are allowed, but not required, to "flash-cut" from analog to digital on their current channel on February 17. I assume that this also applies to 20 and 24. I don't know what any of them plan to do. Channel 16 is already analog and digital. I don't know what they plan to do.
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 5, 2009 18:16:20 GMT -6
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 5, 2009 23:58:41 GMT -6
Yes, Ion's 16 (DT29) is already on in digital. Interestingly the digital is on Farnsworth with everything else but the analog is still on Lake Mountain.
There was a PSA on KSL last night (Wed) announcing that they were in fact going to go digital only on the 17th. They're planning on throwing the switch "around noon" on Feb 17. I wonder if that will be a featured piece during either Studio 5 or the noon news.
20 and 24 are full power stations and have the same 'do now or don't' options that all the other biggies do. The difference is that they either switch or don't. There isn't a dual light option.
P.S. The Jerry Doyle quote that the board mangled was "Elected Cockroaches".
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Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Feb 7, 2009 14:04:43 GMT -6
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 7, 2009 21:46:19 GMT -6
Wimps. Apparently they think this will actually do some good. I doubt it. We'll see who ends up right. I'm forecasting the same hand wringing reappearing about June 1.
The really puzzling thing is that KTVX was (according to the Deseret News article) the station that prompted the others to also wait. Yet KUCW isn't. I know at one time both were owned by Clear Channel, which then sold them to Newport. Is the High Plains listed as KUCW's owner a subsidiary or Newport or am I forgetting another transaction?
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 8, 2009 15:17:29 GMT -6
The really puzzling thing is that KTVX was (according to the Deseret News article) the station that prompted the others to also wait. Yet KUCW isn't. I know at one time both were owned by Clear Channel, which then sold them to Newport. Is the High Plains listed as KUCW's owner a subsidiary or Newport or am I forgetting another transaction? KTVX general manager Matt Janquint said Newport decided to wait until June 12 to shut down the analog signal because it realized too many people were still unprepared for the switch. KTVX is a news and information station that must be available to as many homes as possible, he said, while KUCW is not. It's more costly for KUCW to operate both an analog and digital signal than it is for KTVX, Janquint said. "People want news, and we are a public service," he said. *snort* Because... so many viewers choose KTVX for news.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Feb 8, 2009 22:20:16 GMT -6
<i>It's more costly for KUCW to operate both an analog and digital signal than it is for KTVX, Janquint said.</i>
I can believe that, but not for any reason that was listed in that paragraph. KUCW aims at a much younger audience than KTVX does. The younger people are the ones that are more likely to have either gotten a converter, used cable/satellite or bought a digital TV recently. But the older folks are much more stuck in their ways and will resist upgrading. (The same reason why advertisers don't like older demos as much.)
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Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Feb 8, 2009 23:51:46 GMT -6
I wonder whether the cost of electricity to power the transmitters is a factor. Channel 4 has an ERP of 32 KW whereas Channel 30's ERP is 1486 KW. Analog UHF TV stations have to use much more power to cover the same territory as VHF. Assuming that they were actually burning that much juice (I know, ERP is not actual power consumed) and assuming, say, 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, it would cost $60 a day to run channel 4 and $2850 a day to power channel 30. Actual power is less, so actual cost is less, but the ratio might be about the same.
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Post by dxstuboy on Feb 9, 2009 1:01:57 GMT -6
Yikes. Thanks for the estimate Terry, I can believe it. I would suspect the bad economy has something to do with all of this too. Oh yeah and LOL at seattle's comment of KTVX. The only source of news on TV I get is from Fox 13.
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 9, 2009 11:16:49 GMT -6
I wonder whether the cost of electricity to power the transmitters is a factor. Channel 4 has an ERP of 32 KW whereas Channel 30's ERP is 1486 KW. Analog UHF TV stations have to use much more power to cover the same territory as VHF. Assuming that they were actually burning that much juice (I know, ERP is not actual power consumed) and assuming, say, 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, it would cost $60 a day to run channel 4 and $2850 a day to power channel 30. Actual power is less, so actual cost is less, but the ratio might be about the same. That explains Sunbelt Communications (lma'ing "Fox 31" in Pocatello) throwing the switch early on KFXP-TV but waiting on KPVI. They were going Feb. 17, but KIFI decided to force the entire market to wait... which basically appears to be the case nationwide. One commercial broadcaster goes "nope, I'm not going to switch..." and the others all fall in line. E. Idaho has one other UHF channel (KPIF 15) but I don't think most people even realize they get the CW - let alone that the channel exists. That's worthy of a tangent I won't go into here.
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