Thursday, February 12, 2009
WDRL making digital switch despite new law
The Roanoke station is televising related alerts to viewers every half hour, a station official said.
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As President Obama now has signed a law to delay the switch to digital television to June, independent television station WDRL appears to be the only local TV station that will cease broadcasting its analog signal next week..
Why WDRL?
"Because we were already prepared to do it," said Mel Eleazar, owner and general manager of the Roanoke-based station, which broadcasts in digital on Channel 24.
He said that WDRL is televising related alerts to viewers every half hour.
Fox television affiliate WFXR (Channels 21/27) in Roanoke had seriously considered terminating its analog broadcasting on Tuesday, the original date set for the nationwide conversion of analog television transmission to digital.
But Deb Saunders, assistant general manager, said Wednesday that the station has decided to keep broadcasting in analog -- as long as its transmitter on Poor Mountain keeps working.
On Feb. 4, Congress passed legislation known as the DTV Delay Act that postponed until June 12 the mandated transition from analog to digital. The president has signed the bill, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Obama has said the June 12 date will give viewers more time to prepare. He says many would have been left in the dark otherwise.
Money has run out for a federal fund that helps people without cable or satellite service pay for converter boxes they will need in order to keep watching their televisions. And there's a long waiting list for the coupons.
Still, nationwide nearly 500 stations, including WDRL, say they intend to go ahead with the switch Tuesday.
But in the Roanoke viewing market, WFXR and other network affiliates, including WSLS (Channel 10), WSET (Channel 13), WBRA (Channel 15) and WDBJ (Channel 7), intend to continue analog broadcasting past Tuesday. However, some may decide to switch to total digital transmission before June 12.
Nationally, according to a Nielsen Co. study released last week, 5.8 million U.S. households -- 5.1 percent of the total -- are not ready for the conversion to digital television. In the Roanoke market, WDBJ President and General Manager Jeffrey Marks last week indicated that about 5 percent, or 22,500 of the 450,000 households, are not ready for the switch.
Based in Roanoke, WDRL's market area includes the cities of Roanoke, Lynchburg, Martinsville and Danville and surrounding communities. Each day it broadcasts 18 hours of regular programming, with the remainder being religious programming, Eleazar said.
Recognizing that some stations might need to stick to the original date, the Federal Communications Commission set Monday as the deadline for television stations to notify the commission if they planned to terminate their analog signal Tuesday.
After Tuesday, the FCC will not allow stations to kill analog service with less than 30 days notice to both viewers and the commission "except in the case of equipment failure."
With the digital conversion looming, TV stations nationwide have been reluctant to spend money to maintain analog equipment. Saunders compared the dilemma to considering whether to pour big sums into repairs for an old car.
Stations also have expressed concerns about continuing to absorb high utility costs to keep two transmitters operating simultaneously.
Saunders said TV stations in the region are communicating with one another about transmission-related issues "to try to make a decision as one."
WFXR has studios on Colonial Avenue Southwest. It operates a full-time satellite station, WWCW, in Lynchburg. Together, the two stations are known as "Fox 21/27" and are owned by Grant Broadcasting Systems II.
More information about the analog/digital transition: www.dtv.gov
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
