Create your Benton.org account today. Registration is quick and easy. Creating an account gives you access to special features, click to learn more.
Digital Television Transition (Archived)
FCC to warn TV viewers: 'This is only a test'
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 19, 2008 - 5:48pmLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 5:48pm
If you watch an older TV hooked up to rabbit-ear antennas and your screen goes snowy for a moment this November, replaced by a message telling you to call a toll-free number, do not be alarmed.
States want outdated TVs out of landfills
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 19, 2008 - 7:24amLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 7:24am
As the switch to digital TV nears, concern about old TVs piling up in landfills has prompted state and local governments to develop recycling programs.
Nationwide FCC DTV Outreach Tour
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:02pmLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 7:44am
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin announced a nationwide initiative to increase awareness about the upcoming transition to digital television. The FCC identified target television markets for specific DTV outreach, including all those markets in which more than 100,000 households or at least 15% of the households rely solely on over-the-air signals for television.
Wilmington TV Broadcasters to Continue Analog Broadcasts after Sept 8
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:01pmLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:02pm
Beginning at 12 noon on September 8, 2008, WWAY (ABC), WSFX-TV (FOX), WECT (NBC), WILM-LP (CBS) and W51CW (Trinity Broadcasting) will transmit their commercial programming only on digital channels. Viewers tuning to the stations' traditional analog channels following September 8th will see graphics informing them of options for receiving digital broadcast signals through the month of September.
NTIA: "Over-the-Air" Participation in DTV Coupon Program On Track
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:00pmLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:00pm
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today that nearly 6.4 million "over-the-air" TV households, those that rely on an antenna for broadcast TV, have requested about 12 million coupons from the TV Converter Box Coupon Program.
Most aware of deadline for digital TV signal
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:22amLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:22am
With six months to go before television broadcasting makes its long-awaited switch from analog to digital, the emphasis is shifting from simple awareness to action. Broadcasters, government leaders and community groups are finding that most over-the-air TV viewers - about 34 million people - are aware that their set will go dark on Feb.
Cable Shuns NAB's 'Quiet Period' Plan
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 17, 2008 - 7:12pmLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 8:05am
The cable industry thinks broadcasters' so-called quiet period is a lot of noise, mainly because it wouldn't give cable systems the right to restore carriage of TV stations that were withholding their signals as February arrived.
Aug 22 FCC Meeting Agenda
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 17, 2008 - 7:08pmLast updated: August 17, 2008 - 7:09pm
If there's anything that people in DC love, its Friday meetings in August. Kevin Martin, he's such a crowd pleaser. The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Friday, August 22, 2008, scheduled to commence at 10:00 a.m.
Wilmington Preps for Aug 19 Digital 'Soft Test'
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 14, 2008 - 8:25pmLast updated: August 14, 2008 - 8:26pm
Four commercial stations in Wilmington (NC), site of the earliest complete switch to digital signals, will turn off their analog signals for one minute starting at 7:30 p.m. August 19.
False Positive Results Likely in Wilmington
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 14, 2008 - 8:24pmLast updated: August 14, 2008 - 8:28pm
On September 8th television stations in Wilmington (NC) will be turning off their old analog signals and going all digital. For such a test to be truly useful it needs to take place in as typical an environment as possible, but in a whole host of ways the Wilmington experiment will be anything but typical.
