Re: Wilmington, NC to test "total" analog TV cutoff

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Alan [alan () clueserver org]
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:35 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Re: [IP] Wilmington, NC to test "total" analog TV cutoff

> In conjunction with the FCC, it appears that Wilmington, North
> Carolina (135th largest TV market in U.S.) will shut down all but
> one of their analog TV signals starting Sept. 8, instead of waiting
> for next February.  The idea is to test people's reactions and
> awareness of the DTV transition.

Awareness is not going to be the issue, quality of service is going to be
the issue.

I have both digital HD (via antenna) and satellite service. (I can't get
HD satellite signal unless my neighbours lose some trees.) The digital HD
signal fades in and out on a regular basis. (I don't live in a rural area
either.  I live in a heavily populated part of SE Portland, Oregon.)

Analog signals are much more resilient to interference and signal loss. In
many cases I expect people in the switchover will get digital signal but
the quality will be so much inferior than the old analog signal that they
will wonder why it is happening it at all and raise bloody hell.

Either it is going to force people to move to cable or satellite or get
them to stop watching TV altogether.



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