Northern Maine may lose in the Digital TV revolution

The Converstion to Digital TV is Worse than Y2K

I have corresponded with several people in Northern Maine where the digital TV and HDTV landscape is quite different than in Southern Maine.

I was feeling like Southern Maine was being left behind in the the digital TV revolution. But after hearing what's going on north of Portland, we're not doing so badly after all.

In a recent conversation with someone in the Skowhegan/Norridgewock area. The have two channels, Fox 22 and the CW, that are being broadcast ONLY on a sub channel of another network TV station(like WABI). So those channels have little to no possibility of ever being in High Definition. Fox and the CW have put their digital channels out there just to satisfy the FCC rules. But as we know, digital is not the same as HDTV. You need to be in digital to move further into the realm of HDTV, but just because a station is broadcasting in digital doesn't mean it can broadcast in HD.

Then you have the issue of reception. The FCC has put out a broad public service campaign. You've all seen the commercials about the change to Digital TV and getting a Converter Box. You probably watch these commercials and wonder what the hell they are talking about. Well if you are fortunate enough to be able to afford cable TV or satellite TV then you probably don't care and don't need to. But some people still rely on their antenna. And if you don't have a brand new digital TV, you need a converter box between your antenna and your TV in order to keep in working after 2/17/09.

I thought there were FCC rules about over-the-air, broadcast TV stations that dealt with the public's right to receive free, clear signals. I mean, there is an entire Emergency Broadcast System that relies on free, over-the-air TV stations to get emergency information to the public. But if this same public can't receive the emergency information after 2/17/09 because the digital revolution left out one little detail --TV reception in remote areas -- then what's the point.

Right now digital TV is broadcast on UHF (ultra high frequency) channels. These are channels above the number 13. After the cut-off date of 2/17/09, broadcasters in the channel 2 to 13 range who are now using UHF channels to send out their digital signals will probably go back to using channels 2-13. Channels who are already above the 2 to 13 range will probably stay right where they are. These channels number are not something that you need to know about if you are a cable/satellite user. And even if you use a converter box or have a digital TV, these devices do the conversion work for you so you only have to know what channel you are looking for, not what channel it is being broadcast on.

But digital TV signals, and especially UHF channels, are weaker than VHF (2-13). Add to that the mountainous and heavily wooded areas of Maine and you have a recipe for disaster, literally.

I personally don't believe that the FCC has thought out this whole digital TV conversion to their best ability. I think that on 2/17/09 there will still be a lot of people who have no idea why their TVs don't work. And keep in mind this "conversion" has been a long term FCC project going on since 1996. Yes, that 13 years from inception to the cut-off date. But we're talking about the U.S. Government here. Different administrations, different FCC chairs, and for the past 8 years, the Bush administration has been more concerned with Janet Jackson's boob than the boobs that are running the FCC (which include Colin Powell's son, personally chosen by Bush himself).

So even under the best of circumstances, this conversion is going to be...,well, a mess. Add to that the pile of problems and issues that the FCC hasn't even considered and you've got yourself a real disaster here. Y2K was not an issue, and I never thought it would be. I am in the computer industry. On Y2K is was sipping my cocktail not worrying about a thing because I knew that all of the scare tactics didn't add up to a hill of beans. But this? This conversion to digital. Now I'm going to stock up on canned goods, cash, and gas up my car.