Austin TV and the Switch [The Digital Transition and You]

Surely you've been seeing those ads and messages scrolling at the bottom of your television screen about the upcoming digital transition. You may have already gotten yourself a digital converter box (unless you are a cable subscriber, then it's not needed) in preparation for the transition that was scheduled to occur next week. Well, Congress postponing the transition date until June has thrown a wrench in a lot of stations' plans.

Most local stations (KXAN, KVUE, and even FOX7), are sticking with analog past February. In a statement, KXAN's President and General Manager Eric Lassberg said that they were going to continue broadcasting the analog signal "based on our detailed analysis of how prepared our viewers are for the switch to digital TV." He also states, "We will continue to assist viewers while determining the most appropriate time for our station and viewers to transition to Digital TV." So while KXAN is continuing the analog broadcast past February, they may transition before June. KVUE and FOX7, at least according to their DTV info sites, will hold out until the new June transition date.

Austin's public television station KLRU will broadcast an analog signal until March 31. Bill Stotesbery, KLRU's CEO and General Manager, says that the station hadn't budgeted to continue with the analog signal past February 17. The station is waiting to fully switch over to digital until the end of March because, Stotesbery told Austinist, "we recognize the need for some education in the marketplace." Delaying the switch until March does give a little more time for TV viewers to get used to the idea; Stotesbery says that if they were to keep broadcasting in analog until June, the financial impact to the station would be about $20-30 thousand more.

The Washington Post reports today that about 500 stations nationwide are going ahead with the digital transition on the originally scheduled date of February 17. Given this tweet posted yesterday saying "KEYE will stop broadcasting its analog feed on the original planned digital conversion date, Feb. 17," KEYE (Austin's CBS affiliate) looks to be one of them. So if you want to keep watching NCIS or the new season of The Amazing Race and you don't have cable, better get yourself a converter box soon.

See also:
[TV Blog: Austin TV stations mulling: DTV delay or not? (from 2/5)]
[Broadcasting & Cable: 491 TV Stations Want To Keep Feb. 17 DTV Transition Date]