Analog TV in the US fades to black
Today marks the day when TV stations around the country will turn off the analog signal broadcasting gear they’ve been running side-by-side with their newer digital stuff. Not only will the broadcast type be different, some stations are actually shifting broadcast frequencies. From Fox News:
Any sets hooked up to cable or satellite feeds are unaffected. Newer, digital TVs that get broadcasts through antennas — and older sets hooked up to converter boxes — should be fine, but they will need to be set to “re-scan” the airwaves, to find stations that move to new frequencies Friday.
Some people might also need new antennas, because digital signals travel differently than analog ones. While an analog station that came in imperfectly might have had static but remained viewable, digital generally comes in all or nothing. Indeed, one of Bruchalski’s newly available stations looked pixelated, and Ebling said she might have to get a different antenna.
The shutdown of analog channels frees up the airwaves for modern applications like wireless broadband and TV services for cell phones. It was originally scheduled for Feb. 17, but the government’s fund for $40 converter box coupons ran out of money in early January, prompting the incoming Obama administration to push for a delay. The converter box program got additional funding in the national stimulus package.
One of the facts that’s not well-known outside of technical circles is that analog TV broadcasts are very inefficient in terms of their usage of frequency spread and bandwidth. Digital signals can be spaced more closely on “the dial” and this offers a golden opportunity when all of those analog broadcasts cease. You see, the broadcast spectrum that analog TV takes up has been reserved for TV’s use for decades – the whole spectrum, whether it’s been in local use or not. So, even though your town only has broadcasters on channels 3, 5 and 9, all the frequencies belonging to channels 2 – 12 were still unavailable for use for anything else. Moving broadcasters to a narrower frequency range means we’ve got lots of available spectrum now for things like wireless broadband, navigational information, etc. All kinds of new information services can be delivered like that.
Should be an interesting few years as this gets sorted out.
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