Published: December 30, 2008 07:10 pm      

Legislation gives residents more time to prepare for digital television conversion

BLUEFIELD — Legisla-tion signed into law by President Bush will give residents of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia an additional 30 days to prepare for the upcoming transition to digital television.

Bush signed into law The Short Term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, legislation sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The legislation seeks to preserve access to critical emergency information for millions of Americans at risk of losing their over-the-air-television signal following the Feb. 17, 2009, transition to digital television.

“The DTV transition is a matter of public safety for American families,” Rockefeller said in a press release. “And as we’ve been reminded in the aftermath of the winter storms that have wrecked havoc on parts of our nation over the last week, television plays a very important role in keeping the public informed and safe. With the digital transition just weeks away, this law aims to make sure that millions of Americans will be able to get important public safety information, and learn how to restore their lost television signals.”

Rockefeller said the legislation permits a 30-day continuation of analog signals to help educate those consumers using antennas to watch free over-the-air signals to understand what steps need to be taken after Feb. 17, 2009, to restore their television signals. Rockefeller said the DTV Act of 2005 directs the Federal Communications Commission to require all full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasting following Feb. 17, 2009.”

“That is 88 days from now,” Rockefeller said. “What this means — and let me be very clear — is that any consumer with traditional analog televisions (regular TV sets that use an antenna to get a signal) will not be able to watch free, over-the-air television without taking one of three steps to adapt their TV to receive the digital signal. The most common and least expensive way that consumers can adapt their TV will be to buy a digital-to-analog converter box to hook up to their analog television.”

Without a converter box or digital ready television, Rockefeller said between 10 to 13 million Americans could lose their television signal on Feb. 19, 2009.

Frank Brady, general manager of WVVA TV-6 in Bluefield, said a soft-test conducted last week by the Bluefield-based television station didn’t generate a large response. Brady said the old analog signal was briefly cut during the soft test so area residents picking up WVVA TV-6 through rabbit ears and over-the-air antennas could see if they were ready for the digital television transition.

The television station received only a few phone calls, which Brady said could be a sign that area residents using antennas have already purchased their converter boxes, or now have digital ready televisions.

“We expected the possibility of a lot of phone calls, but we didn’t get it,” Brady said. “The main inquiries on this past soft test was whether people can still get coupons (for converter boxes), and they still can. But that money is running out. The funding is almost depleted for the original coupon push.”

Brady said the television station has scheduled another soft test — where the old analog signal will be briefly discontinued — for Monday, Jan. 12, at 6:25 p.m.

Brady said WVVA has no way of measuring or knowing how many people actually pick up the NBC-affiliate via rabbit ears and over-the-air antennas. With a converter box or digital ready televisions, residents who use r over-the-air antennas can pick up digital signals of both WVVA TV 6 and the local CW affiliate.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com