http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/05/30/daily.3/
LEAVING THE LIGHTS ON FOR THE DTV STRAGGLERS
TVNEWSDAY, May. 30, 1:10 PM ET
Capitol Broadcasting's Jim Goodmon says the Wilmington, N.C., stations that are participating in the FCC's September test switch-over to digital will run explanatory information on their analog channels for viewers who aren't ready after the switch over. He's urging the FCC to allow all stations to do the same following next February's for-real transition.
By Harry A Jessell
Broadcasters and cable operators are dutifully conducting DTV education campaign, trying to insure that no viewer is left behind on Feb. 17, 2009.
But, let’s face it, many will.
As I pointed out here last October, some people are so dense or out of touch that they will miss or not comprehend the blizzards of PSAs, snipes and crawls about DTV that they will be exposed to over the next nine months.
Others are pathological procrastinators. They will put off getting the coupons and buying the A-to-D settop box until it is too late. They will be up the digital stream without a paddle.
If there are 35 million homes today that rely on over-the-air reception on at least one of their sets, there could be a millions of homes on the morning of Feb. 18 where folks will be wondering what happened to their favorite TV shows.
This is why on in past columns I have passed along the idea that a man in Arlington, Va., dropped into the FCC suggestion box.
The idea is that least one TV stations in each market stay on the air in analog after the cut-off to broadcast a slide or a looping video that tries to explain to left-behind viewers what happened to the analog signals.
It’s a good idea, but it has lacked a strong advocate.
Until now.
Earlier this week, Capitol Broadcasting’s Jim Goodmon called me to say that all the stations involved in the Wilmington, N.C., DTV transition trial have decided to try some post-cut off education using their analog channels.
At the request of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the Wilmington stations agreed to make the leap to digital on Sept. 8—five months before everybody else—just to see how it goes and what obstacles might pop up.
Goodmon’s flagship is WRAL, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, but his small group also includes the CBS affiliate in Wilmington, WILM.
“We got damn serious about the transition since we are going to do it in September and this is the one thing we came up with for the people that we miss somehow—the people who are not clued in,” Goodmon told me.
“When they turn on their TV and go to the channel that they normally go to, they won’t see programming,” he said. “But they will see a graphic that tells them who to call and what to do.”
Goodmon believes that what’s good for Wilmington is good for America.
Goodmon said that he will press the FCC give permission to every station to continue broadcasting such information on their analog channel after Feb. 17 for a limited period, perhaps 30 or 60 days.
The period may depend on what happens in Wilmington, he said. “That’s part of the experiment. How long we will get calls?”
Goodmon acknowledged that he was not enthusiastic about Wilmington trial at first, uncertain about what value it would have. “But I’m a big supporter now,” he said. “I’m ready to make it work.”
Just to be clear: Goodmon is not advocating any FCC mandates. Stations would be permitted to air the analog messages after the cut-off, but would not have to.
In fact, he pointed out, some stations would not be able to participate because they are scheduled to move their digital signal to their current analog channel prior to Feb. 17. Such stations would be forced to take their analog signals off the air.
This is a good idea that will benefit tremendously from Goodmon’s advocacy.
Inevitably, a good number of our fellow American will not “tune into” the DTV transition until they discover that they cannot tune in their local stations.
Rather than be confronted by snow, wouldn’t it be better that they receive a message about what’s going on?
As Goodmon said, “It’s kind of a last line of defense.”
