We have a couple early morning DTV items with the transition just 2 weeks away...
DTV Transition to be Staggered Here: Indeed, the four remaining analog signals will be shut off at different times during the day on June 12, reports the Kiese Blog.
We already reported on WXIX-TV 19/Newport's decision to shut their analog signal off at 6am. Here's the entire day's schedule of analog shutdowns for Cincinnati (we don't know about the Dayton stations, but will find out):
12:01am: WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati
2am: WKRC-TV 12/Cincinnati (shortly after, they will flashcut from digital channel 31 to digital 12, which is a VHF band station)
6am: WXIX (as noted above)
11:59pm: WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati
The only problem we can see is with the WXIX shutdown occurring during their morning news programming. (And after what happened with their digital signal Tuesday night, we hope they'll be ready in the event that happens again.)
Converter Box Installation Help Available: Rich Emery sent us this one.
He reports that Dayton was recently designated by the FCC as one of a bunch of markets in which assistance is available with installing converter boxes.
He also sent us this link, where you can enter your ZIP Code, answer the questions, and then be told if you're eligible to have help installing your converter. It looks like Cincinnati is also an eligible market, as we followed the instructions and were taken to a screen on which we could enter our information.
We think this is a good idea. Anything that will reduce the current estimated number of 24,000 households that aren't prepared for the switch, is a good idea to us...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
WCPO Analog to drop in strength
WCPO-TV 9/Cincinnati is broadcasting some warnings, in addition to the DTV Transition warnings, that their analog signal is going to drop in strength in the next few weeks.
From the Kiese blog yesterday, where he also talked about today's soft analog shutoff test:
By the way, we're wondering if Time-Warner straightened up their problems, after the first one or two DTV tests in which some stations accidentally had their analog feeds pulled in by TWC, instead of the digital. (Paging Rich Emery!) Let us know about it by emailing us at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.
From the Kiese blog yesterday, where he also talked about today's soft analog shutoff test:
And speaking of reception problems... in the next three weeks, Ch 9 will be broadcasting a weaker analog signal as it removes the analog antenna from atop its Walnut Hills tower. By June 12, the analog deadline, Ch 9 should have its new digital antenna installed atop the tower (about 100 feet higher than the current temporary digital antenna), says GM Bill Fee.We of course get Insight Cable, so our TV's should be good to go tonight.
By the way, we're wondering if Time-Warner straightened up their problems, after the first one or two DTV tests in which some stations accidentally had their analog feeds pulled in by TWC, instead of the digital. (Paging Rich Emery!) Let us know about it by emailing us at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.
DTV Soft Test TODAY
EDIT/UPDATE 4:45pm 5/21: 3 more notes about the 7:30pm(which is a question mark for Dayton, see note 3 below) test.
1) The reason tonight's test will go at 7:30 here is because FOX19 has their evening news at 6:30, when some cities have decided to do the soft test this evening. And of course, they don't want to interfere with the sweeps...
2) Stations that won't participate: WCVN/54 Covington (and the rest of the KET Kentucky Educational Television network, including WKON/52 Owenton, Kentucky), WPTD/16 Dayton, WPTO/14 Oxford, and WCET/48 Cincinnati. All of these have already shut down analog signals and are already digital-only.
3) We don't know about Dayton for this evening. Are they going at 6:30 (which would interfere with the FOX45 news), or waiting til 7:30 like Cincinnati? Let us know by email at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.
There is news today on a soft test of the analog shutoff nationally today.
This report from MSNBC has the details. TV stations nationally are to shut off their analog transmitters 3 times today, two of which already happened at 7:30am and 12:30pm. The final test is at 7:30 this evening.
1) The reason tonight's test will go at 7:30 here is because FOX19 has their evening news at 6:30, when some cities have decided to do the soft test this evening. And of course, they don't want to interfere with the sweeps...
2) Stations that won't participate: WCVN/54 Covington (and the rest of the KET Kentucky Educational Television network, including WKON/52 Owenton, Kentucky), WPTD/16 Dayton, WPTO/14 Oxford, and WCET/48 Cincinnati. All of these have already shut down analog signals and are already digital-only.
3) We don't know about Dayton for this evening. Are they going at 6:30 (which would interfere with the FOX45 news), or waiting til 7:30 like Cincinnati? Let us know by email at tristatemediawatch@gmail.com.
There is news today on a soft test of the analog shutoff nationally today.
This report from MSNBC has the details. TV stations nationally are to shut off their analog transmitters 3 times today, two of which already happened at 7:30am and 12:30pm. The final test is at 7:30 this evening.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Emphasizing the point about DTV emergency preparedness....
We felt we needed to follow up on the very first article we posted here at TSDTW.
If you recall, we posted an article that detailed one Florida station's push for their viewers to obtain a battery-power DTV.
Well, people in parts of Illinois will definitely be seeking those, so they are more prepared for the next disaster.
We're hearing that severe weather in the area knocked out thousands of people on the local power grid, besides taking out local CBS affiliate WSIL/3 Carterville, Illinois, knocking them off the air when the station's roof was ripped off. The station does have a backup facility, KPOB/15 Poplar Bluff, MO...so it can broadcast from there, if need be. However, WSIL is still providing service, via updates (and technology folks at the local Raycom station WXIX/19 Cincinnati are familiar with by now, a live blog) at www.wsiltv.com and through their twitter feed, located at http://twitter.com/WSILNews. (Although, the latter hasn't been updated, but we can certainly understand that. After all, when a storm takes your roof off, it's difficult to keep everything functional.)
We're not sure what will happen with WSIL...but it does make us wonder what the backup plans would be here, if and when a severe storm happens to take the roof off one of the local TV operations here...
If you recall, we posted an article that detailed one Florida station's push for their viewers to obtain a battery-power DTV.
Well, people in parts of Illinois will definitely be seeking those, so they are more prepared for the next disaster.
We're hearing that severe weather in the area knocked out thousands of people on the local power grid, besides taking out local CBS affiliate WSIL/3 Carterville, Illinois, knocking them off the air when the station's roof was ripped off. The station does have a backup facility, KPOB/15 Poplar Bluff, MO...so it can broadcast from there, if need be. However, WSIL is still providing service, via updates (and technology folks at the local Raycom station WXIX/19 Cincinnati are familiar with by now, a live blog) at www.wsiltv.com and through their twitter feed, located at http://twitter.com/WSILNews. (Although, the latter hasn't been updated, but we can certainly understand that. After all, when a storm takes your roof off, it's difficult to keep everything functional.)
We're not sure what will happen with WSIL...but it does make us wonder what the backup plans would be here, if and when a severe storm happens to take the roof off one of the local TV operations here...
An Announcement
As you know, we have a twitter account at twitter.com/tristatemedia.
From now on, we have it set so that our twitter picks up our latest posts via our RSS feed, and tweets them automatically. This way, we don't have to post, then go to twitter and go through the whole process of copying the link, then using tinyurl or somesuch to shorten the url just so we can post it to twitter. We can just post here, and twitter will automatically check this every half an hour. Heh...who knew RSS could be so useful?
From now on, we have it set so that our twitter picks up our latest posts via our RSS feed, and tweets them automatically. This way, we don't have to post, then go to twitter and go through the whole process of copying the link, then using tinyurl or somesuch to shorten the url just so we can post it to twitter. We can just post here, and twitter will automatically check this every half an hour. Heh...who knew RSS could be so useful?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
FCC To Host 9 DTV Awareness Events in Tri-State
We found this while perusing local12.com today.
The FCC is going to host nine separate DTV events in the Tri-State next week, to educate people about the transition that, as of this writing, is just over a month away, and that, when it happens, will involve WLWT, WXIX, WKRC, and WCPO (WSTR already went on the original date of 2/17, and all the PBS stations have gone digital-only in the last month).
The reports we have indicate that 97.1 percent of the area is ready for the switch. But, as a trip to the Kiese Blog shows, even those with DTV converters or sets may not really be viewing...well, DTV.
Anyway, here's the list of events in case you want to save the trip to Local12.com (although, we do think the site is good viewing):
Monday, May 11, 2009, 3:00-7:00 p.m.
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-369-6900.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Butler County Senior Center
3907 Central Avenue, Middletown, OH 45055
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
Oxford County Senior Center
922 Tolgate Drive, Oxford, OH 45056
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Highland County Senior Citizens Center
185 Muntz Street, Hillsboro, OH 45133
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
Highland County Library
10 Willetsville Pike, Hillsboro, OH 45133
Thursday, May 14, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Owen County Senior Center
103 W Perry Street, Owentown, KY 40359
Thursday, May 14, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Owen County Library
N Main Street, Owenton, KY 40359
Friday, May 15, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Dearborn Adult Center
311 W Tate Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
Friday, May 15, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Lawrenceburg Public Library, Dearborn County
150 Mary Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
The FCC is going to host nine separate DTV events in the Tri-State next week, to educate people about the transition that, as of this writing, is just over a month away, and that, when it happens, will involve WLWT, WXIX, WKRC, and WCPO (WSTR already went on the original date of 2/17, and all the PBS stations have gone digital-only in the last month).
The reports we have indicate that 97.1 percent of the area is ready for the switch. But, as a trip to the Kiese Blog shows, even those with DTV converters or sets may not really be viewing...well, DTV.
Anyway, here's the list of events in case you want to save the trip to Local12.com (although, we do think the site is good viewing):
Monday, May 11, 2009, 3:00-7:00 p.m.
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-369-6900.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Butler County Senior Center
3907 Central Avenue, Middletown, OH 45055
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 1:00 p.m.
Oxford County Senior Center
922 Tolgate Drive, Oxford, OH 45056
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Highland County Senior Citizens Center
185 Muntz Street, Hillsboro, OH 45133
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
Highland County Library
10 Willetsville Pike, Hillsboro, OH 45133
Thursday, May 14, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
Owen County Senior Center
103 W Perry Street, Owentown, KY 40359
Thursday, May 14, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Owen County Library
N Main Street, Owenton, KY 40359
Friday, May 15, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
Dearborn Adult Center
311 W Tate Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
Friday, May 15, 2009, 12:30 p.m.
Lawrenceburg Public Library, Dearborn County
150 Mary Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
Saturday, May 2, 2009
CET/ThinkTV Drop Analog
The latest dominoes have fallen in the slow switch to DTV locally.
Late last night, WCET/48, WPTO/14 and WPTD/16 all switched to digital-only broadcasts. (We can verify WCET and WPTO, as we get both here at TSMW HQ.) Taken with WCVN/54 and WKON/52 switching with the rest of KET 2 weeks ago, this means the only way to watch PBS programming is through DTV, cable or satellite. We're not hearing of a major increase in call volume to CET/ThinkTV, only up to 6 at CET, while only 26 people called ThinkTV.
A note to our readers using the converter boxes, or who have Digital Televisions that don't need converters, and one you will hear often repeated the next few months as more stations drop analog.
RESCAN, RESCAN, RESCAN! (Yes, it's all caps, but we wanted to emphasize the point.)
WPTD/16 went from their old channel allocation of 58 to digital 16 with the switch, flashcutting the analog to digital in the process. So, if you'd been picking up 16 on digital 58, you MUST rescan to get it back on digital 16.
We are working on another post, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning...we're dead tired, and can't sit at this keyboard anymore...
Late last night, WCET/48, WPTO/14 and WPTD/16 all switched to digital-only broadcasts. (We can verify WCET and WPTO, as we get both here at TSMW HQ.) Taken with WCVN/54 and WKON/52 switching with the rest of KET 2 weeks ago, this means the only way to watch PBS programming is through DTV, cable or satellite. We're not hearing of a major increase in call volume to CET/ThinkTV, only up to 6 at CET, while only 26 people called ThinkTV.
A note to our readers using the converter boxes, or who have Digital Televisions that don't need converters, and one you will hear often repeated the next few months as more stations drop analog.
RESCAN, RESCAN, RESCAN! (Yes, it's all caps, but we wanted to emphasize the point.)
WPTD/16 went from their old channel allocation of 58 to digital 16 with the switch, flashcutting the analog to digital in the process. So, if you'd been picking up 16 on digital 58, you MUST rescan to get it back on digital 16.
We are working on another post, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning...we're dead tired, and can't sit at this keyboard anymore...
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