WKRG Will Make The DTV Switch On February 17

Dtv Digital Television Congress voted to delay the DTV switch until June but WKRG will join other local stations in making the switch on February 17.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Tue, February 10, 2009 - 5:59 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, February 10, 2009 - 6:07 pm CST

Ready or not, here it comes. The switch to digital television is one week away.

"The analog signal is going away and when analog goes away if you are not prepared to receive digital signals you won't be able to watch local television stations," says WKRG Operations Manager Dave Mooney.

Last week, Congress voted to give TV stations until June 12 to shut down analog broadcasts, hoping to give viewers more time to prepare. Money has run out for the federal fund that subsidizes converter boxes, and there's a wait list for the coupons.

But Federal Communications Commission says 491 of the 1,796 full-power TV stations in the country, including WKRG, intend to shut down their analog broadcasts on February 17, sticking to the original date despite the wish of the Obama administration that they delay until June.

"Most of the reasons have to do with planning or budgetary reasons, technical reasons as well. We have a tower project based on the DTV time being on the 17th and the delay past June would have caused us some major problems."

If you don't have a converter box for older television sets, don't have satellite or cable service, you will be out of time and out of luck according to Mooney. "Cable signals and satellite signals are utilizing our digital signal so you do not have to do anything different. If you are watching with an antenna and don't have a converter box, don't have a newer TV then you will not be able to watch television after the 17th."

Mooney says there is a simple way to find out if your TV is ready. "If you see a crawl at the top of your screen on channel 5, it's going to be up continuous, you are watching a set that will not work the way it's hooked up on the 17th of February."

For more than half a century WKRG has broadcast your favorite CBS programming through an analog signal. February 17th only the signal will change.

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