Monday, February 16, 2009

One almost-final DTV update

UPDATE 2 11:25 PM: Per Rich Emery: The Kentucky.com article below has mistakes.

Ignore WCHS and WVAH in Charleston. Those two are NOT going to go.

As for WOWK they're already digital, and WSAZ is going to go tonight, following the mistake by Gray Television which will send WYMT-TV into the analog afterlife tonight.

UPDATE 11:05 PM: I have more new information on stations which are shutting down, besides those mentioned and WSTR-TV/DT here.

This list is from Kentucky.com's newest aricle and was sent to us by Tom (going by what we assume is his ham radio callsign of KR4BD), based in Lexington.

In Lexington, WTVQ-TV 36 will switch tomorrow night at midnight, during "Nightline".

In Charleston/Huntington, these stations will switch: ABC affiliate WCHS, Fox affiliate WVAH, CBS affiliate WOWK and NBC affiliate WSAZ.

Down in Louisville, the list includes CW affiliate WBKI.

In Bowling Green, this includes WKYU (PBS) and NBC affiliate WNKY.

And finally, in Paducah, the list includes WDKA (MyNetworkTV) and KBSI (Fox).

Original item follows...

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I have a bunch of new information tonight about the DTV switchover that will take place tonight or tomorrow in some markets. I wish to thank Rich E. for all of his help...

First, let's go national. This AP article includes quotes from a South Dakota General Manager and the President of Gray Television who both, in no uncertain terms, disagree with the June 12 delayed date. And the authors of the article say the majority of station owners they contacted who weren't quoted, say they believe viewers are ready.

And that brings us to two Gray Television stations within the three-state area we cover, WKYT-TV 27 in Lexington, Kentucky and WYMT-TV 57 in Hazard, Kentucky.

Rich pointed us to the WYMT website, where, as of this writing at 10:45pm, their clock is steadily and dutifully counting down to midnight tonight. That's when WYMT will go all digital on digital channel 12.

We of course reported earlier on a Kentucky.com story that said WKYT will go digital-only on April 13.

Meanwhile, we come back to the local area, where we now find that WPTD-TV 16 has indeed filed to keep analog going, per this article from the Dayton Daily News.

That completes the total disintegration of the plans for Dayton to go to an all-digital TV market tomorrow.

Unless there's a major change to local plans, this will likely be our final DTV update until Wednesday, when all stations should have switched that are going to switch.

2 comments:

emery_r said...

I've sent this info to TSMW directly, but the Kentucky.com article linked here has some mistakes. In the Charleston/Huntington market, WOWK had already gone digital in late 2008 after its analog transmitter died. WSAZ goes digital TONIGHT (Monday) after its owners sent in its application specifying an analog shutdown one day earlier than everyone else across the country. Go figure!
The other two, WCHS and WVAH, will not go digital-only until June 12; they had originally planned for Feb. 17, but are holding back after the FCC resisted the entire Charleston/Huntington market going at once (rather like Dayton!).

emery_r said...

Here's an article explaining my previous post:

http://wvgazette.com/News/200902140269

"WSAZ to go all-digital Monday

The Federal Communications Commission has requested the largest television station in the Charleston-Huntington market to turn off its analog signal Monday -- one day earlier than had been scheduled.

Scott Saxton, news director at WSAZ, says the station had expected to shut off its analog signal Tuesday, but FCC officials have moved that deadline back one day.

Three other stations in the market -- West Virginia PBS, WCHS, and WVAH -- have decided to put off the transition to digital until June. Congress recently passed a bill extending the deadline, due to concerns that some viewers were not ready.

Saxton says West Virginia Media's WOWK already has stopped broadcasting an analog signal after a storm damaged its antenna.

WSAZ's analog signal will be turned off 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Saxton said."