Digital TV Facts: The Latest

• The first DTV converter boxes certified by NTIA are two $70 models from Digital Streams.

• Is enough help available for elderly Americans facing the digital TV transition?

• FCC chief Kevin Martin defends broadcasters’ commitment to the public interest. Oh, and he still wants must-carry status for DTV multicasts.

Cable customers may miss out on some HD programming from local stations, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). Rules approved by the FCC last week require cable companies to provide local “must-carry” stations in both analog and digital form after the shutdown of analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009, unless the cable system is entirely digital. The FCC, announcing its rules on Tuesday, also said it “reaffirmed the requirement that cable systems must carry high definition (HD) broadcast signals in HD format.”

But Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the cable lobby, told Multichannel News that

a broadcast TV station will have to decide whether to offer an SD or HD feed as the “primary” [digital] signal to a cable operator. “In the event that some must-carry broadcasters do introduce HD, they probably will still declare SD as their ‘primary’ signal to guarantee carriage of that and reach the widest possible audience,” he said.

If the NCTA’s interpretation is correct, the FCC’s HD “requirement” isn’t worth much to viewers who have paid for HDTV sets and cable service only to miss out on high-def programming from certain local stations.

Must-carry stations are typically independent or public TV channels that elect mandatory carriage under federal regulations. (More-popular network-affiliated stations are in a position to negotiate with cable operators for carriage under “retransmission consent” rules.) Unaffiliated stations tend to show less HD programming—and if cable viewers won’t be able to watch it anyway, the stations will have a disincentive to invest in costly HD equipment.

Earlier:
• FCC: Cable may degrade local HD signals (a little)

• Link: Multichannel News

Cable TV subscribers who watch local channels’ HD broadcasts may be short-changed on signal quality, under an FCC action adopted Tuesday. While the ruling “provides cable operators with flexibility,” according to the commission, consumers who have splurged on home theater systems won’t be cheering a decision that can lead to diminished picture quality.

Cable operators will be required to carry local stations’ high-definition telecasts in HD after the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts on February 17, 2009. But the FCC will not require cable systems to pass through the entire HDTV signal as broadcast over the air. Instead, according to an FCC statement, “cable operators must carry broadcast signals so that the picture quality is at least as good as the quality of any other programming carried on the system.” In other words, cable companies can downgrade quality on local stations, but they aren’t allowed to make the locals look worse than the cable networks they carry.

The decision can be seen as a compromise between demands from broadcasters, who want cable companies to provide “all content bits” to their subscribers, and cable companies, who face capacity constraints on their systems because of the huge amounts of data that must be transmitted to provide HD programming.

Some cable companies will probably provide the full HD signal if system capacity is sufficient. But if you have an HDTV and want the best picture quality possible from your local stations (and you live in an area with reliable reception), your best bet is to watch over-the-air using an antenna.

• Link: FCC [pdf]

For cable customers, the digital TV transition just got much simpler. Under rules approved by the FCC Tuesday night, most cable subscribers, including those without digital cable, will continue receiving local stations after the shutoff of analog TV broadcasts on February 17, 2009.

In the absence of the rule change, many analog cable customers may have lost access to certain local broadcast channels or been forced to get a digital cable box. Instead, the FCC will require cable systems to offer “must-carry” stations in both analog and digital form, unless the system is entirely digital. (Must-carry stations are typically independent or public television stations that, upon a station owner’s request, a cable company is required to carry. Network-affiliated commercial stations, however, typically negotiate carriage agreements with cable operators.)

Bottom line for cable subscribers: Whatever kind of cable service or television you have, you should be able to continue watching local channels after the DTV switchover in 2009. There is one exception, though: Small cable systems will be permitted to apply for waivers from the FCC that would allow them to drop local stations from analog cable channel slots. If granted, some of their subscribers will need digital cable boxes.

The FCC’s dual-carriage rules are set to expire in 2012. The commission could choose to renew the rules, although by then more cable systems can be expected to be all-digital and more subscribers will own digital TVs.

• Link: AP

• Vizio, founded in 2003, is now North America’s top-selling flat-panel TV brand. Thanks to rock-bottom prices, U.S.-based Vizio has overtaken Samsung.

• NTIA releases agenda for its September 25 meeting on the DTV Transition.

• Europe’s Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Group announces its “groundbreaking” next-generation digital TV specification, DVB-T2.

• As broadcasters launch ads and intensify lobbying against white-space devices (WSDs), New America Foundation [pdf] and Free Press complain of a “misinformation” campaign by WSD opponents.

After tomorrow, subscribers to plain-old cable service may finally be assured of continued access to local stations. Cable carriage of local channels after completion of the digital TV transition will be addressed at the FCC’s public meeting on Tuesday, and commissioners might just approve a proposal from Chairman Kevin Martin to require cable operators to set aside enough channel slots to provide stations in both digital and analog form. If such a measure moves forward, customers without digital cable service would still be able to watch local stations on conventional television sets without needing to add a digital cable box.

After the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts on February 17, 2009, cable customers are likely to continue receiving most or all of the local stations they receive today, one way or another. The details remain uncertain, however, despite a reported $200 million advertising campaign launched by the cable TV industry last week intended to assure cable subscribers that everything will be fine.

I would not like to see cable customers saddled with digital cable set-top boxes that they would not otherwise need—a senseless waste of energy that would probably also stick consumers with additional monthly fees.

But a solution imposed by the FCC may also harm consumers. Read the rest of this entry »

Although a handful of companies have publicly announced plans to market digital TV converter boxes to U.S. consumers, the actual size and competitiveness of that still-emerging segment of the consumer electronics market remains something of a mystery.

Chipmaker Microtune today offered some fresh evidence of activity among digital-to-analog converter manufacturers, indicating that “multiple customer converter box designs” will employ its three-in-one tuner, the MicroTuner MT2131. The company did not specify what brand name or names the DTV converter boxes will carry.

Microtune facilities in Plano, Texas, are being used to help its customers test converter box tuner performance against technical requirements established by the U.S. government. Read the rest of this entry »

Federal grants worth $4.95 million will ease the shift to digital television for rural public broadcasters. Seven projects in six states will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Among the grants announced today:

• Mississippi Public Broadcasting was awarded $1.86 million for two projects to enable several counties in the Hurricane Katrina-damaged Mississippi Delta region to upgrade coverage and receive a digital public television station signal for the first time.

• The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority will receive $1 million to fund the digital conversion of three rural translators.

• Prairie Broadcasting in North Dakota was awarded a grant of $837,895 to convert its Dickinson transmitter from analog to digital, and to fund tower upgrades.

• Link: USDA

Cable customers’ access to local stations after the digital TV transition is an agenda item for the FCC’s public meeting on September 11. A plan circulated by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin reportedly envisions dual carriage of local channels in analog and digital form following the shutdown of analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009.

Dish Network’s parent company, meanwhile, is telling the FCC that it will be unable to provide all “must-carry” local stations in high-definition for its satellite TV customers in time for the 2009 deadline. EchoStar is also saying that it cannot make an overnight switch from analog to digital stations on February 17, 2009; the transition of 1,500 local signals nationwide could take months, the company contends.

• DTV converter boxes will be a “hot topic” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. But HDTV will remain the star of the show.

• U.S. consumers are still waiting for a low-priced digital-to-analog converter box. In Britain, meanwhile, a supermarket chain is offering a box for about $20.

• Philips tells the FCC the company’s prototype white-space device (WSD) works even better than initially thought. Big deal, say broadcasters, who remain alarmed about potential WSD interference blanking out digital TV reception.

Smaller, lower-profile broadcasters are preparing for their digital TV transition, too, although the FCC has yet to declare an analog shutdown date for low-power television (LPTV) stations and translators. “DTV—It’s Our Turn!” is the theme for the Fall Show of the Community Broadcasters Association (CBA), which represents Class A and LPTV stations.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is a confirmed speaker, according to CBA Executive Director Amy Brown. Read the rest of this entry »

Television viewers may struggle with reception problems on certain channels after the digital TV transition is completed in 2009, recent comments filed with the FCC by broadcasters suggest. Station owners moving DTV broadcasts from a UHF channel back to a VHF channel previously used for analog TV are concerned about losing audiences after the transition, explains Doug Lung, Telemundo Group vice president of engineering, in his latest column. (VHF channels are numbered 2 through 13; channels 14 and up are UHF.)

VHF stations are asking the FCC to reconsider technical rules affecting how their signals are broadcast, including limits concerning interference with other signals. The current limits would force some stations to operate at reduced power, “affecting their ability to cover their market unless interference limits are relaxed or they are allowed to change to another channel post-transition,” Lung writes.

In the DTV era, the “low VHF” band—channels 2 through 6—is no longer a desirable neighborhood for most broadcasters, given its susceptibility to interference. Read the rest of this entry »