Post by MasterFX1 on Jun 19, 2009 9:03:25 GMT -5
By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, timesunion.com
First published: Friday, June 19, 2009
Phil Zeller Jr. was prepared. He owned a digital TV and had attached a converter box to a second set. So last Friday, on the night of the long-anticipated switch to digital-only broadcasting, he relaxed in front of the TV in his Albany apartment, confident he wouldn't be affected. And then ... poof!
The screen went blank. The Late Show with David Letterman disappeared. WRGB Ch. 6 was gone.
A week later, it's still missing -- making Zeller one of the many Capital Region viewers who can't watch the CBS affiliate out of Niskayuna. "I didn't realize how much I watched Ch. 6 until I didn't have it," he said Thursday. "All of a sudden, there's a void."
WRGB is very aware of the problem. Thirteen hundred phone calls will do that for a station. It's looking for solutions.
"The bottom line is that every viewer is important to us, and we've got to solve this," said Robert Furlong, general manager at WRGB. "I want everybody to be able to watch us. That's our goal."
There are several causes for the station's problems. First, WRGB's signal strength dropped from 100,000 watts for the old analog signal to 10,000 watts for the digital signal, on Federal Communications Commission orders.
Then, there's the unpleasant fact that some converter-box and antenna manufacturers assumed no station would broadcast digitally on Ch. 6, which is low on the frequency band and particularly vulnerable to interference.
Those manufacturers, of course, were wrong -- and Ch. 6 stations across the country have disappeared from TV screens.
Furlong stressed that WRGB's problem affects a limited number of viewers. About 90 percent of Capital Region households subscribe to cable or satellite services, and so weren't affected by the conversion mandated by Congress.
About 50,000 households rely on over-the-air broadcasting (although many more have a second television that's not attached to cable). Furlong estimated that 1,000 to 1,500 households can no longer receive his station, and those folks are scattered across the region.
WRGB is not the only local broadcaster with new reception difficulties. Most Capital Region TV outlets have switched to a new shared digital transmitter in the Helderbergs, making reception difficult in northern areas of the Capital Region.
"There are some pockets where people can't get us," said Steve Baboulis, general manager at WNYT Ch. 13, which received about 700 phone calls after it shuttered its analog signal. "It's all about topography. The valleys and the hills are playing a part in this."
There are other complications: Jim and Lamarian Lesperance, Schodack residents, have cable but bought converter boxes for analog TVs in their kitchen and bedroom. Neither, though, had the input socket needed to connect the converter, rendering them useless after last Friday's switch.
Jim Lesperance said he'll try to sell the sets at his next garage sale.
Other viewers are finding that indoor antenna won't get them a signal, forcing them to install one outdoors. Viewers with aluminum-sided homes have troubles, too.
Some viewers are confused by the fact that they could receive WRGB's digital signal before Friday, but no longer can. The answer: The station had been broadcasting digitally on Ch. 39, but switched to Ch. 6 when it ended analog broadcasting on Friday night. (Most TVs automatically moved the Ch. 39 signal to Ch. 6, so viewers wouldn't have noticed the change.)
Some digital tuners and converter boxes still may be trying to pick up WRGB at the old digital location. For that reason, the FCC recommends that viewers with reception problems try a "double rescan" that involves unplugging the antenna, re-scanning, turning off the converter box or TV, turning it back on, plugging in the antenna and re-scanning again.
That process should reset the tuner's memory.
Furlong said WRGB is also hearing from viewers upset that the station's audio is no longer available on the radio, at 87.7 FM. The station eliminated the service because engineers believed the radio signal was contributing to the TV problems. The radio signal eventually will return, Furlong said. But only after WRGB has improved its television reception.
To that end, WRGB is asking the FCC for permission to strengthen its signal, among other measures. But Furlong warns that a fix for the station's signal problems won't come quickly.
That's bad news for viewers like Zeller, who said he's considering giving up on over-the-air broadcasting altogether. He said he might get cable.
Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.
First published: Friday, June 19, 2009
Phil Zeller Jr. was prepared. He owned a digital TV and had attached a converter box to a second set. So last Friday, on the night of the long-anticipated switch to digital-only broadcasting, he relaxed in front of the TV in his Albany apartment, confident he wouldn't be affected. And then ... poof!
The screen went blank. The Late Show with David Letterman disappeared. WRGB Ch. 6 was gone.
A week later, it's still missing -- making Zeller one of the many Capital Region viewers who can't watch the CBS affiliate out of Niskayuna. "I didn't realize how much I watched Ch. 6 until I didn't have it," he said Thursday. "All of a sudden, there's a void."
WRGB is very aware of the problem. Thirteen hundred phone calls will do that for a station. It's looking for solutions.
"The bottom line is that every viewer is important to us, and we've got to solve this," said Robert Furlong, general manager at WRGB. "I want everybody to be able to watch us. That's our goal."
There are several causes for the station's problems. First, WRGB's signal strength dropped from 100,000 watts for the old analog signal to 10,000 watts for the digital signal, on Federal Communications Commission orders.
Then, there's the unpleasant fact that some converter-box and antenna manufacturers assumed no station would broadcast digitally on Ch. 6, which is low on the frequency band and particularly vulnerable to interference.
Those manufacturers, of course, were wrong -- and Ch. 6 stations across the country have disappeared from TV screens.
Furlong stressed that WRGB's problem affects a limited number of viewers. About 90 percent of Capital Region households subscribe to cable or satellite services, and so weren't affected by the conversion mandated by Congress.
About 50,000 households rely on over-the-air broadcasting (although many more have a second television that's not attached to cable). Furlong estimated that 1,000 to 1,500 households can no longer receive his station, and those folks are scattered across the region.
WRGB is not the only local broadcaster with new reception difficulties. Most Capital Region TV outlets have switched to a new shared digital transmitter in the Helderbergs, making reception difficult in northern areas of the Capital Region.
"There are some pockets where people can't get us," said Steve Baboulis, general manager at WNYT Ch. 13, which received about 700 phone calls after it shuttered its analog signal. "It's all about topography. The valleys and the hills are playing a part in this."
There are other complications: Jim and Lamarian Lesperance, Schodack residents, have cable but bought converter boxes for analog TVs in their kitchen and bedroom. Neither, though, had the input socket needed to connect the converter, rendering them useless after last Friday's switch.
Jim Lesperance said he'll try to sell the sets at his next garage sale.
Other viewers are finding that indoor antenna won't get them a signal, forcing them to install one outdoors. Viewers with aluminum-sided homes have troubles, too.
Some viewers are confused by the fact that they could receive WRGB's digital signal before Friday, but no longer can. The answer: The station had been broadcasting digitally on Ch. 39, but switched to Ch. 6 when it ended analog broadcasting on Friday night. (Most TVs automatically moved the Ch. 39 signal to Ch. 6, so viewers wouldn't have noticed the change.)
Some digital tuners and converter boxes still may be trying to pick up WRGB at the old digital location. For that reason, the FCC recommends that viewers with reception problems try a "double rescan" that involves unplugging the antenna, re-scanning, turning off the converter box or TV, turning it back on, plugging in the antenna and re-scanning again.
That process should reset the tuner's memory.
Furlong said WRGB is also hearing from viewers upset that the station's audio is no longer available on the radio, at 87.7 FM. The station eliminated the service because engineers believed the radio signal was contributing to the TV problems. The radio signal eventually will return, Furlong said. But only after WRGB has improved its television reception.
To that end, WRGB is asking the FCC for permission to strengthen its signal, among other measures. But Furlong warns that a fix for the station's signal problems won't come quickly.
That's bad news for viewers like Zeller, who said he's considering giving up on over-the-air broadcasting altogether. He said he might get cable.
Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.