US stations end analog broadcasts, leaving many TV's dark (Roundup)

Los Angeles - Television stations across the US on Friday pulled the plug on analog television technology Friday that first started broadcasting in 1928. The switch to a digital format is designed to free up valuable spectrum for mobile broadband communications, but has left millions of viewers facing blank screens despite a massive government effort to update household receivers In a 2-billion-dollar campaign, the federal government has been offering free 40 dollar vouchers for the purchase of digital converters that allow viewers to tune in to the new signals. A massive advertising campaign warned viewers about the change for months, while President Barack Obama's ordered a postponement of the switch from February to June as one of his first acts in office. Television was first broadcast in New York via analog signals in 1928, according to The New York Times, and the switch brings to an end an era of sorts. While the new technology delivers a clearer picture, TV owners who still rely on rabbit ears - instead of cable or satellite - to pull signals out of the ether complain that they have access to fewer stations, especially those that they used to receive with only a mediocre, grainy analog signal. Industry proponents say the switch was intended to provide viewers with a better picture and more stations. A recent survey by Nielsen Media found that some 3 million households remained totally unprepared for the switch while a further 8 million were only partially prepared - meaning that they had converted one television in the house but not others. The Federal Communications Commission, which is raising billions of dollars by selling off the freed-up spectrum to mobile phone operators, has set up a 4,000-person phone bank to help deal with issues. Acting FCC chairman Michael J Copps has conceded that the impact of the change was falling hardest on poor families, the handicapped, the elderly and in homes where little English is spoken. 'Despite near-universal consumer awareness of the DTV switch, some households remain unprepared,' said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Friday. 'That's why our efforts won't end today.' In addition to the FCC's help centre, many stations set up their own response operations to help viewers manage the transition. 'The call center is going crazy,' said the Louisiana station WAFB, which cut its analog signal at 7 am. 'Believe it or not, a lot of people (are) saying they didn't know anything about the switch.' At Cincinatti's WCPO, general manager Bill Fee said his station had fielded some 850 calls. 'There's a lot of confusion, but we're walking people through it,' he told the online Broadcast and Cable trade publication. The switch has helped prompt a 32 per cent rise in TV sales this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, and is also boosting demand for cable and satellite television service which is unaffected by the transition to digital broadcasting.