This looks like the way everyone should handle the transition. Cut right through all the rhetoric and crap with a simple yes or no test. Kudos to you KGMB (and KVBC in Las Vegas) for having the guts to hatch a plan like this and follow through with it. Something like this would help every consumer figure out if they need a digital TV converter box once and for all.
From David F. Carr @ BroadCast Newsroom
KGMB-TV in Honolulu gave viewers of its May 19 newscasts a sneak peak of what they will see on Feb. 17, 2009, if they fail to upgrade their analog TV sets by the FCC’s deadline for high-power stations to switch to digital broadcasting.
For just 10 seconds at the end of its 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, the station broadcast a screen full of static on its analog channel. That way, viewers who saw no interruption in the picture broadcast by the station could be clear that their TV was displaying the digital signal instead.
“There was a lot of noise, a lot of information out there, and we weren’t sure if people were really clear on what’s going to happen and what it’s going to look like,” News Director Chris Archer said. He and Chief Engineer Mike McCarthy hatched the plan after hearing about a nearly identical test conducted by KVBC in
KGMB didn’t actually switch off its analog transmission. Rather, it broadcast a graphic of “simulated static” with the information on how to get more information from the National Association of Broadcasters’ DTV Answers program at 888-DTV-2009 or www.DTVanswers.com. “We also kept the audio up, so viewers could hear the anchors explaining why they were seeing static,” McCarthy said.
To help everyone understand what all the fuss was about, KGMB also put an analog TV on the set so that digital TV viewers could see the burst of static on the picture within the picture, with the anchor standing next to it.
Archer said he thought the test was particularly relevant to Hawaiians. “We’re out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and there’s a certain feeling of isolation from what’s happening at the FCC and events on the mainland,” he said. “So we wanted to give people an actual sense of what will happen rather than just reading about it.”
Although most viewers already get their TV through a cable system that makes the over-the-air digital broadcast irrelevant, many also have an extra TV in the kitchen or the garage that’s not connected to cable and might or might not be DTV compatible, Archer said. With promos over the weekend leading up to the test, KGMB encouraged viewers to turn on all the TVs in their home and check them all over the course of each of its newscasts.
There were a few surprises, such as the calls that came in from customers of the DISH Network, which turned out to be rebroadcasting KGMB’s analog signal rather than the digital one. Those viewers also saw static, but not because of any issue with their sets, McCarthy said.
“And then there were some people who were pretty unclear about the whole thing, as clear as we tried to make it,” McCarthy said. He wound up spending some time with individual viewers on the phone trying to explain that if they had seen a normal issue, their set was fine, but if they had seen the simulated static, it was not.
It even looks like there are similar tests planned for the TV markets in Orlando and Omaha according to NAB spokesperson Shermaze Ingram. “I can’t say the idea originated with NAB, but we’ve certainly encouraged it since it started,” she added. “It’s clear that a lot of the work is going to have to be done at the local level, and these stations are taking the lead.”
Brilliant! Don’t forget if you haven’t ordered you converter boxes yet, it isn’t too late; we’ve created a list of coupon eligible converter boxes for you to make it easy. The page also contains links to make it possible for you to purchase online at a retailer that accepts the NTIA coupons. Shop online and save your gas.
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