Are you ready for what will happen on February 17? Although there has been lots of hand waving and infighting lately about postphoning the DTV transition, many people are confused about exactly how the new law will effect them. This law does not delay the transition for all stations. It simply provides the option to delay the switch if the station so desires. This means that if you aren’t prepared (with your digital TV converters) that there is a very good chance that your TV will still go blank tomorrow. All the stations in my area are still going to abide by the original transition, but I’m already prepared. I’ve had the converter boxes up and running (I grabbed the Tivax STB-T8) for quite some time now and am really thrilled with the new digital reception. We’ve canceled our cable, and are using the new digital broadcasts and streaming for all our TV needs. This move is being praised right now for many seeking to do some frugal living, and it really helps. We’re saving over $80/month!
To be fair, I did purchase a new antenna (an Antennas Direct DB4) to pull in a couple more stations, but it only cost me $50 (free shipping from Amazon) and I more that made that back the first month I cut the cable. It’s working great leaned up in the attic, so the install literally took less than 30 minutes. What’s really funny is that my HDTV reception is better that my neighbors because the over-the-air signals aren’t compressed like your digital cable & satellite signals. This means an even better picture & clearer sound. Won’t everyone be envious when they figure out what it cost you? You could even hook up the antenna just for your local & HD stations and use your cable for the rest if you wanted.
Many stations are not going to delay their DTV transition citing cost or equipment reasons. It costs around $10,000-$15,000 per month to run a transmitter so many stations will want to abandon the analog ones as soon as possible as this could have a huge effect on their bottom line. The analog towers also need more maintenance and many have been limping along and patched together. According to Alex Von Lichtenberg of WUNI Boston, “an individual transmitter tube for a full-power analog transmitter like ours runs somewhere in the vicinity between $35,000 and $45,000 dollars. And that’s, if I have to pay that — in this current economic environment, that’s a job in my building for someone.” Staying with analog also means that the stations need to keep airing the PSAs for the DTV transition which means additional lost revenue as they have fewer ad slots to sell. This could mean staff cuts or other drastic measures just to keep the analog towers going. This is why most stations will still observe the February 17th date in lieu of the new June date.
If you want more information, feel free to browse the rest of our digital converter box reviews. We’ve done all the hard work for you, so you can just sit back and bask in the glory that is digital TV. If you’ve already picked up your digital TV converters, you’re not finished yet. You also need a good digital TV antenna to get great digital TV channels for free. We’ve reviewed all the top models ranging from the smallest indoor digital TV antennas to the best outdoor HDTV antennas that can pull in stations from up to 70 miles away. Pick up one of these, and there will be no more blacked out games or fuzzy channels for you.
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