The Associated Press reports how the Federal Communications Commission is proposing to deal with several thousand low-power television stations that won't go digital next year.
The federal government is spending $1.5 bilion on converter boxes that will allow people with older televisions to watch digital TV, but the story says the wrong box may block low-power analog stations:
Low-power
stations provide service to rural areas and to specific communities in
urban areas that are not targeted by big broadcasters. Such stations
are much cheaper to build, and unlike full-power stations, broadcast
almost exclusively to viewers who use antennas to pick up programming.
Translator
stations rebroadcast the programming of full-power stations. They serve
areas that are too far away from a full-power transmitter, or are cut
off from a signal due to mountainous terrain.
"The
low-power television stations I think obviously provide an important
service to their local communities," (FCC Chairman Kevin) Martin told reporters Friday. "We
don't want to see them adversely impacted." ...
Martin
said at the next commission meeting, scheduled for Feb. 26, he will
propose an order that would at least partially address the problem.
First,
it "explicitly encourages" the consumer electronics industry to
configure their boxes to convert digital signals, but allow analog
signals to "pass through" without interruption.
Martin would also set a deadline of 2012 for low-power stations to convert to digital broadcasting.
