Feb 17, 2009 11:17 pm US/Central
Minnesota TV Stations Start Making The Switch
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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A digital to analog converter box can be used to allow an older television to recieve new, digital TV signals. (File)
CBS
Even though Congress delayed the deadline until June, a few Minnesota television stations were turning off their analog signals Tuesday as they make the switch to digital.
At 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, WUCW, also known as The CW, will be the first station in the Twin Cities market to make the switch. WCCO, KARE, KMSP and KSTP are among the stations waiting until June.
WUCW general manager Joe Tracy said stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. that are ready for the all-digital switch are making it. The St. Paul-based station has been running informational radio spots in the Twin Cities, telling viewers about the upcoming switch.
"They (Sinclair) feel they're almost doing a disservice if they postpone. It would create confusion," Tracy said. He said WUCW will be part of the "Nightlight" program, running information on its analog signal for at least 30 days after the switch, telling viewers what they need to do to get a digital signal.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the Duluth-Superior area TV stations shutting off their analog signals Tuesday are WDIO and WIRT. Rochester stations doing so include KTTC and KXLT.
"We're ready. We wouldn't even try to do this if we didn't think our viewers were ready," said Jerry Watson, vice president and general manager of KTTC, KXLT and KTIV-TV in Sioux City, Iowa, which also was making the switch to all-digital on Tuesday.
Watson said "the majority of feedback has been positive, and it's basically, 'Thank you for getting this over with."'
He noted that KTTC turned on its digital signal in September 2000, KXLT and KTIV in 2002.
Watson said there are "a lot of digital purists out there," especially in small markets, and it "makes people crazy" when a digital station would have to temporarily convert to analog to carry a weather warning or school announcement crawl, then back to digital. The screen would go from letterbox to squared, then back again.
"So it's been wacko, and we're not going to miss that at all," Watson said.
Originally, Feb. 17 was the date that analog TV signals would end. But Congress passed a bill to delay the deadline to June 12.
"I think the reaction we've seen all along is overwhelming," said Amalia Deloney of the Main Street Project in south Minneapolis, one of the Twin Cities' two DTV Assistance Centers. She said the four-month delay "can only help."
Deloney said the majority of calls the center receives are from the elderly. "They're just confused from start to finish -- the cost, how to do it, they're homebound, they don't have the tech skills," she said.
Dorothy Delegard, 67, of Minneapolis bought a converter box for her 13-inch TV because a friend gave her a coupon that expires Tuesday.
"It's kind of an irritation, but I understand that everyone will have a much better picture," Delegard said. "As far as I was concerned, they could have left things the way they were."
Best Buy Co. Inc. said its stores are well-stocked with TV converter boxes. The Richfield-based consumer electronics giant also has a toll-free digital TV conversion hot line (877-BBY-DTV9) that also is stocked with converter boxes.
"We had geared up as Feb. 17 being the deadline day, so we were anticipating that sort of a rush," Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said.
He said Best Buy is watching its stores closely and trying to move quickly if there's a run on boxes at any one location.
Tuesday was Blackout Prevention Day at Best Buy, with stores showing video on a loop, making announcements on the public address systems and having extra people on hand to answer customers' questions.
The FCC says other TV stations in Greater Minnesota making the change include KWCM in Appleton, KAWE in Bemidji and KAWB in Brainerd.
Other stations in Minnesota have already made the switch. FOX affiliates KQDS in Duluth, KVRR in Fargo-Moorhead, and KBRR in Thief River Falls made the switch on Feb. 1. NBC affiliate KRII in Chisholm ended analog broadcasting on Jan. 6.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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