Posted 12:03 am Thursday, June 11, 2009
East Texans Ready For Analog TVs To Go Digital
By BRIAN PEARSON
Business Editor
Tammie Anderson has soldiered on just fine with the two analog televisions in her rural home near Ben Wheeler west of Tyler.
Business Editor
Tammie Anderson has soldiered on just fine with the two analog televisions in her rural home near Ben Wheeler west of Tyler.
Ms. Anderson, 44, who handles the sign changeouts at Target in Tyler, picked up converter boxes for her metal-ear televisions two months ago and will be ready when local television stations ax the analog signal and convert to all digital Friday morning.
However, even though her employer sells a wide variety of digital televisions, Ms. Anderson, who is single, said she will not be buying one anytime soon, thanks to the economy.
She doesn't own a computer, either, and that's fine, too.
"I'm a little behind the times," she said.
Ms. Anderson represents the fewer than 10 percent of viewers across the land who still depend on the trusty antenna to get their television.
Ms. Anderson represents the fewer than 10 percent of viewers across the land who still depend on the trusty antenna to get their television.
Mike Garrett, a Target manager, said Wednesday that digital converter boxes, listed for $48 at his store, remain white-hot sellers, indicating that some viewers still waited until the last minute to prepare for a switch initially slated for February.
"We've been selling them as fast as we can get them," Garrett said. "We expect a rush in the next two days."
The store had several shelves stocked with boxes as of midday Wednesday, but Garrett didn't expect them to last long.
"As long as the manufacturer keeps them in the warehouse, we'll keep stocking them," he added.
It was a different story across the street at Don's TV & Appliance, where Brian Thedford said his store no longer carries the converters.
"We ran out about a week ago," Thedford said. "We've seen a slowdown in people needing them."
John Gaston, general manager for CBS affiliate KYTX-Channel 19, estimated that 9 percent of television viewers still depend on an antenna.
About 5 percent were unprepared for the switch in February, he said, adding that he has not seen recent statistics on viewers still not ready for the conversion Friday.
Gaston's station went ahead with the switch midnight Feb. 17, resulting in about 100 calls from disconnected analog viewers over the next 2ï¾½ weeks.
"We didn't get flooded," he said, adding that the calls quickly died down.
The change was federally mandated because digital signals are more efficient, and ending analog broadcasts will free up airwaves for commercial wireless services and emergency-response networks. The deadline was pushed back to give analog viewers more time to either get their converter boxes or buy digital televisions.
Butch Adair, chief engineer for ABC affiliate KLTV-Channel 7, said his station had to wait until the new deadline to make the switch because there are other Channel 7s in the region.
Adair said the station's company, Raycom, one of the nation's largest broadcasters, made the decision to wait until Friday.
KLTV will pull the plug at 9 a.m., he said.
"Then we'll find out if there are any viewers out there without converter boxes," Adair said. "Hopefully, it's going to be a nice, peaceful day."
"Then we'll find out if there are any viewers out there without converter boxes," Adair said. "Hopefully, it's going to be a nice, peaceful day."
A call to FOX affiliate KFXK-Channel 51, which serves the Tyler-Longview area, was not returned Wednesday.
Dave Tillery, general manager for NBC affiliate KETK-Channel 56, said his station had planned to switch Friday, but a transmitter failure changed all that March 27.
The failure killed the analog signal, which would have cost thousands of dollars to restore, Tillery said.
The Federal Communication Commission approved the station's request to just leave the analog signal dead, he said.
"It was a catastrophic failure," Tillery said.
He estimated that 35 to 50 viewers contacted the station about the analog outage.
He estimated that 35 to 50 viewers contacted the station about the analog outage.
"They sent e-mails and called," Tillery said. "We didn't get that many."
