Post by gartv on Feb 14, 2009 23:36:30 GMT -3
Observations of the 2009 conversion to Digital broadcast television from the Macon Georgia market.
As of February 14th, 2009, the US Government agreed to change the official deadline for all US Full power stations to shut off their analog transmitter and broadcast ONLY in Digital from FEBRUARY 17TH, 2009 until JUNE 12TH.
Stations had the option to turn off their analog signals prior to June 12th but had to seek approval from the FCC and follow specific guidelines to alert the public of their intent to turn off their old analog transmitters.
In the Macon market, ALL full power stations will go all digital before the new June deadline.
Three stations will change on the original deadline of February 17th.
WGXA- 24 (FOX)
WMGT-41 (NBC)
WPGA-58 (ABC)
WMAZ-13 (CBS) will turn off their analog signal a month later on March 16th.
WMUM-29 (PBS) will turn off their analog signal along with other Georgia Public Broadcasting stations on February 17th. Only one GPB station, WABW-14 Pelham Georgia serving Albany will keep their analog signal beyond February 17th due to other stations moving to different channels as reported on the GPB website. A recent article in the Macon Telegraph reported the opposite indicating that Macon's channel 29 would stay on the air.
Christian TV station WGMN turned off their low power analog channel 64 last spring and is only running DIGITAL broadcasting in full power on channel 45 (Id's as ch 64.1)
Low power channels 31 and 50 are both religious stations running with snowy reception in Warner Robins (20 miles south) but clear in Macon. They are not running digital.
Observations from the individual stations in the Macon market.
WPGA- "ABC Macon": They have been running announcements on the air for weeks specifically telling viewers that their analog broadcasting will end at 12 noon on February 17th. They have included a "DTV Countdown" in every station ID since last summer and now is running a "crawl" message for several minutes every half hour announcing their February 17th end of service on analog channel 58. The crawl is running EXCLUSIVELY on the analog signal and reminds viewers that if they are seeing their message crawl, they need to take action.
Lowell Register, the owner of the WPGA has made it very clear in all interviews that his station is going all digital as planned. But on the WPGA website (www.macon.tv) there could be confusion as on their main page is an article about the digital transition being postponed to June 12th. There is NO mention on the website of WPGA keeping to the February 12th date.
As of 2/14 WPGA-DT can be recieved without problems at my location 15 miles from its transmitter.
WMGT- "Todays MGT" has been running public service announcements during commercial breaks. Rarely have I seen the required "crawl" message about their intent to go digital on the 17th but when it is shown, it is broadcast over both their analog and digital signals. They do mention the DTV transition during every newscast. Little mention of WMGT changing to DTV in February on their website.
An engineer for WMGT proudly said in public interviews that he can't wait to bury their very old analog equipment.
As of 2/14, WMGT's digital signal can be recived on one area of my home. The digital reception is not good at its current power.
WGXA- "Fox 24" has made more announcements about their recent disputes with local cable companies for retransmission agreements than the DTV transition itself. WGXA began requiring fees from ALL local cable companies as of January 1st and had been removed from a few cable companies in a dispute over the carriage fees demanded by WGXA. Announcements on the FOX 24 website also show the stations concerns with local cable companies. Most cable companies had settled during January with a few in far rural areas currently offering FOX programing.
WGXA has announced during their newscasts that the FCC postponed the transition date then after that they always mention that they "intend to cease analog programing on February 17th"
As of 2/14, WGXA-DT is well recieved in most areas. It is the best of the stations in the area at current power levels.
WMUM-29: There may be some confusion about whether they will change on February 17th but their analog signal has always been the strongest in the area, same for their FM station at 89.7. However at current power, their digital station can be difficult to get. It operates on digital channel 7 with channels appearing as 29.1, 29.2 and 29.3 with the different options from Georgia Public Broadcasting. WMUM is the ONLY Macon area station offering substantial programming on their digital subchannels.
WMAZ-13: They were the last to announce a change to digital perhaps waiting on a corporate decision from parent GANNETT and the need to move their very poorly recieved digital channel 4 to the post analog shutdown return to channel 13. Still, in the digital format, channel 13 is low for good digital reception. Also, WMAZ only offers weather radar on a digital subchannel. Many people complaiin about the quality of WMAZ's HDTV reception .
I'll post more observations in the coming days.
As of February 14th, 2009, the US Government agreed to change the official deadline for all US Full power stations to shut off their analog transmitter and broadcast ONLY in Digital from FEBRUARY 17TH, 2009 until JUNE 12TH.
Stations had the option to turn off their analog signals prior to June 12th but had to seek approval from the FCC and follow specific guidelines to alert the public of their intent to turn off their old analog transmitters.
In the Macon market, ALL full power stations will go all digital before the new June deadline.
Three stations will change on the original deadline of February 17th.
WGXA- 24 (FOX)
WMGT-41 (NBC)
WPGA-58 (ABC)
WMAZ-13 (CBS) will turn off their analog signal a month later on March 16th.
WMUM-29 (PBS) will turn off their analog signal along with other Georgia Public Broadcasting stations on February 17th. Only one GPB station, WABW-14 Pelham Georgia serving Albany will keep their analog signal beyond February 17th due to other stations moving to different channels as reported on the GPB website. A recent article in the Macon Telegraph reported the opposite indicating that Macon's channel 29 would stay on the air.
Christian TV station WGMN turned off their low power analog channel 64 last spring and is only running DIGITAL broadcasting in full power on channel 45 (Id's as ch 64.1)
Low power channels 31 and 50 are both religious stations running with snowy reception in Warner Robins (20 miles south) but clear in Macon. They are not running digital.
Observations from the individual stations in the Macon market.
WPGA- "ABC Macon": They have been running announcements on the air for weeks specifically telling viewers that their analog broadcasting will end at 12 noon on February 17th. They have included a "DTV Countdown" in every station ID since last summer and now is running a "crawl" message for several minutes every half hour announcing their February 17th end of service on analog channel 58. The crawl is running EXCLUSIVELY on the analog signal and reminds viewers that if they are seeing their message crawl, they need to take action.
Lowell Register, the owner of the WPGA has made it very clear in all interviews that his station is going all digital as planned. But on the WPGA website (www.macon.tv) there could be confusion as on their main page is an article about the digital transition being postponed to June 12th. There is NO mention on the website of WPGA keeping to the February 12th date.
As of 2/14 WPGA-DT can be recieved without problems at my location 15 miles from its transmitter.
WMGT- "Todays MGT" has been running public service announcements during commercial breaks. Rarely have I seen the required "crawl" message about their intent to go digital on the 17th but when it is shown, it is broadcast over both their analog and digital signals. They do mention the DTV transition during every newscast. Little mention of WMGT changing to DTV in February on their website.
An engineer for WMGT proudly said in public interviews that he can't wait to bury their very old analog equipment.
As of 2/14, WMGT's digital signal can be recived on one area of my home. The digital reception is not good at its current power.
WGXA- "Fox 24" has made more announcements about their recent disputes with local cable companies for retransmission agreements than the DTV transition itself. WGXA began requiring fees from ALL local cable companies as of January 1st and had been removed from a few cable companies in a dispute over the carriage fees demanded by WGXA. Announcements on the FOX 24 website also show the stations concerns with local cable companies. Most cable companies had settled during January with a few in far rural areas currently offering FOX programing.
WGXA has announced during their newscasts that the FCC postponed the transition date then after that they always mention that they "intend to cease analog programing on February 17th"
As of 2/14, WGXA-DT is well recieved in most areas. It is the best of the stations in the area at current power levels.
WMUM-29: There may be some confusion about whether they will change on February 17th but their analog signal has always been the strongest in the area, same for their FM station at 89.7. However at current power, their digital station can be difficult to get. It operates on digital channel 7 with channels appearing as 29.1, 29.2 and 29.3 with the different options from Georgia Public Broadcasting. WMUM is the ONLY Macon area station offering substantial programming on their digital subchannels.
WMAZ-13: They were the last to announce a change to digital perhaps waiting on a corporate decision from parent GANNETT and the need to move their very poorly recieved digital channel 4 to the post analog shutdown return to channel 13. Still, in the digital format, channel 13 is low for good digital reception. Also, WMAZ only offers weather radar on a digital subchannel. Many people complaiin about the quality of WMAZ's HDTV reception .
I'll post more observations in the coming days.