Locals in Digital

Phone: 243-7471 or email us or download the VCF CARD HERE !

City's network-affiliated TV stations make the switch to digital

After repeated deadline extensions, companies move to high definition

By RICHARD RICHTMYER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: September 4, 2005
Last Modified: September 4, 2005 at 02:28 AM

There's a change in the air around Anchorage these days, but it's probably not quite clear yet to most area residents.

All six of the city's network-affiliated television stations are either already broadcasting their programming digitally or plan to start within the next couple of weeks.

The new technology enables them to air programming with dramatically higher picture and sound quality or squeeze several channels' worth of programming onto one digital TV signal.

If you're wondering why, if all this is true, your TV's picture still fades in and out, and the screen is full of static, shadows and ghosts, it's because the stations are still airing their analog signals as well. That's probably what you're receiving.

Most TVs aren't equipped to receive digital signals over the air. To get the digital programming, you'll have to upgrade to a new TV that can receive digital signals, buy a digital converter box for your current TV, or subscribe to a pay TV service. Even then, you might not be able to get the most out of the emerging TV technology without spending hundreds of dollars.

The Federal Communications Commission has required all TV stations to shift their programming onto digital signals as part of a national transition to all-digital TV. The end of analog signals is now expected to occur in 2009.

GET THE PICTURE?

Most people in Anchorage get their TV via cable or satellite. Those who get it over the air -- fewer than one-third of the households -- have TV sets that use analog broadcast technology, which has been around since the inception of television. It uses fluctuating magnetic waves to transmit pictures and sound.

Digital broadcasts use a more modern technology. Images, sound and other information is coded and transmitted through the air as a series of 1s and 0s. It's the same basic technology that makes personal computers and other high-tech gadgets work.

The new technology allows broadcasters to transmit far more information than is possible with an analog signal.

It has cleared the way for high-definition programming, called HDTV. It also enables stations to broadcast several channels over one signal, giving them the opportunity to increase the amount of programming they air, similarly to what cable networks like ESPN and HBO do with their related channels.

Most Anchorage stations have lagged in making the switch. The FCC had set a May 2002 deadline, and the Anchorage stations repeatedly asked for extensions, citing the high costs and geographical challenges they faced in making the switch.

Jeremy Lansman, president of KYES Channel 5, took a different tack.

Rather than continue to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole of filing for extensions, Lansman two summers ago scrounged up the equipment he needed to air a digital signal and set up a makeshift transmitter site at his Hillside home.

"It was actually less work to get it started than to ask for government's permission to delay it," he said.

He found most of the equipment he needed on eBay, picking it up for a few thousand dollars, and KYES has been airing digital programming since August 2003, Lansman said.

In addition to Channel 5's regular UPN network programming, Lansman said he's using his digital signal to broadcast programming from Wealth TV -- a money-focused cable TV network -- plus audio from two local radio stations as well as a separate music channel. These are available only on his digital signal.

For now, it's a low-power signal, and his digital programming is not available on cable or satellite pay TV services, Lansman said.

Although he's had reports of people picking up the signal as far away as Wasilla, Lansman said he doesn't think many people are tuned in to his digital programming.

"There's been zero publicity," he said.

SHARING THE COST

A consortium of three Anchorage stations recently completed a somewhat more sophisticated digital broadcast system.

The stations -- KAKM Channel 7, KTUU Channel 2 and KIMO Channel 13 -- pooled money to upgrade their shared broadcast center in Goose Bay on the north shore of Knik Arm, from which they also transmit their digital signals.

KAKM now is airing digital programming. KTUU and KIMO plan to be on the air with a digital signal within the next couple of weeks.

KAKM, a PBS affiliate, is using its digital signal to broadcast its evening programs, such as "NOVA," "Mobil Masterpiece Theatre" and "Mystery!" in high definition -- a superclear picture, said Paul Stankavich, the general manager.

Within six months, Stankovich plans to begin expanding the station's daytime programming and it will be using the digital signal to transmit as many as five separate channels by the end of the year, he said.

They haven't made final decisions, but station executives are considering an all-Alaska channel that would combine programming from the public television stations in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Bethel, Stankovich said.

They're also looking at airing a health channel, possibly in partnership with local hospitals, an adult-learning channel, a business channel and a public affairs channel, Stankovich said.

"We have a number of opportunities," he said. "A lot's going to depend on partners and people who might be interested in working with us."

Al Bramstedt, KTUU's general manager, said his NBC affiliate will be airing a lot of high-definition programming over its digital signal.

In addition to the network's programming, KTUU has upgraded its cameras and other equipment, enabling it to record and broadcast local events in high definition as well, Bramstedt said.

For now, KTUU has no plans to air more than one channel. But that's likely to change as the new technology catches on and more people can receive the digital programming, Bramstedt said.

"Someday, when the digital set counts get higher, we'll probably be doing Alaska sports on one channel," he said. "NBC also is promoting a digital weather-service channel."

For its part, KIMO doesn't have any special programming plans yet, said Sean Bradley, the ABC affiliate's general manager.

The picture and sound quality will be cleaner and crisper and the programming on KIMO's digital channel for the most part will be in standard definition and mirror that being aired on its analog counterpart, Bradley said.

The station won't be able to air high-definition programming until it upgrades its studio equipment, and it probably won't have the means to do that for about a year, Bradley said.

Being a step behind the competition with HDTV doesn't bother Bradley much. "The jury is still out as to how many people will be watching it," he said.

Jeff Glaser, KTBY Channel 4's general manager, agreed.

"A very small percentage of households in the Anchorage area have digital televisions," he said.

KTBY, a Fox affiliate, will have its digital signal on the air within two weeks. For now, it will beam the same programming that's aired on the analog channel, Glaser said.

Jerry Bever, KTVA-Channel 11's general manager, said his CBS affiliate has been airing a digital signal for about a month and is working toward making high-definition programming available as well.

Within three months, Bever said, his station plans to be airing CBS' high-definition programming, and he expects HDTV viewership to gradually increase as area viewers learn that it's available and get the equipment they need to watch it.

WHO'S WATCHING?

Some HDTV programming from local broadcasters will be available on cable. Satellite TV providers aren't expected to begin beaming it to their subscribers for two years.

Each broadcaster negotiates a separate deal with General Communication Inc., Alaska's dominant cable TV company, to carry its programming.

GCI so far has agreed to carry KAKM and KTUU's digital programming, said Bob Ormberg, GCI's vice president of cable marketing and programming.

To get the HDTV programming, however, you'll need to have a TV that's capable of displaying it and pay an extra $10 a month on your cable bill.

Currently, GCI cable customers who subscribe to the company's regular cable service pay a $5 monthly fee for their set-top boxes. A more sophisticated and expensive set-top box is required to receive the HDTV programming, which is why it costs an extra $10 a month, Ormberg said.

The extra $10 will get you the HDTV programming from the local channels, as well as HD programming from the TNT network and the NFL network, and the HD broadcasts of whatever premium movie channels you already pay for. An additional five HD channels are available for another $7 a month, Ormberg said.

At last count, only about 9,000 of GCI's 137,428 cable subscribers had an HDTV box. But it isn't clear if they are using them to receive the high-definition programming, Ormberg said. The more expensive boxes come with digital video recorders built into them, and a lot of subscribers might be interested in that feature alone, he said.

The FCC last month told satellite TV providers Dish Network and DirecTV that they must carry local stations' digital programming, including HDTV and multiple channels, by June 2007.

Neither Dish nor DirecTV, however, is releasing any details as to their timing or pricing plans.

Daily News reporter Richard Richtmyer can be reached at rrichtmyer@adn.com or 257-4344.

Send mail to jason@thesatguy.com with questions or comments about this web site.  Dowload the Microsoft Outlook VCF CARD HERE
Last modified: 12/21/09