Loss of analog TV stations on February 17th? Not necessarily.

To say that this delay is a complete joke is putting it mildly. (However, I like to keep my articles clean so that the entire family can enjoy them without all those “bleeps.”)

Most people are ready but a few procrastinators decided to complain and make the whole transition messier than it needed to be.

I’d expect a few more delays along with lost jobs all thanks to a new administration and Congress that wants to “create jobs.” With stations now most likely having to keep both signals on until June, expect more layoffs to compensate for running two signals that were not in a station’s budget beyond this month. Not to mention lawsuits from those waiting for the spectrum to open up this month.

Can anyone see a trainwreck coming? Read the FCC notice at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs public/attachmatch/fcc-09-6a1.pdf.

The FCC with the new DTV delay law (just a Presidential signature away) has decided to make it tougher for TV stations to shut off their analog TV stations before the new June 12th deadline.

They are now requiring stations to let the FCC know if it’s in the public interest to shut down their analog signal before June 12th. Some stations have already converted or are nearly converted.

Every station that has filed to terminate it’s analog early will have to do so before next Monday evening according to Ohio Media Watch. They had reported that a station there had filed for early analog termination but with the new change, they are saying on air that they will now shut off it’s analog on June 12th instead.

Two Youngstown area stations (WKBN and WYTV) had also planned on shutting down early but will now have to refile if they intend to do so with just cause. Meanwhile WSEE is stating that they are going ahead with their analog shut off on February 17th while WICU would have to wait until a tower crew was available.

Their plans to convert WICU to DT 12 may have to wait until June unless they state that they have to shut off their analog signal first in order to convert.

Same goes with WJET, though they could temporarily piggyback on WFXP’s signal on 66-2 if they decide to back off of their plans to convert to DT 24 on February 17th. No word on their plans as of yet.