Contrary to popular belief, over-the-air television signals, otherwise known as ‘analog’ signals, will not suddenly stop broadcasting on February 17, 2009 in Canada. In fact, it’s looking like it won’t even happen in the United States for a while.

According to DTV.gov, a website run by the U.S. government, “Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality and additional channels.” The site also says, “Converting to DTV also will free up parts of the scarce and valuable broadcast spectrum. Those portions of the spectrum can then be used for other important services, such as advanced wireless services.”

President-elect Barack Obama is now pushing Congress to delay the forced transition from analog signals in the United States to strictly digital signals, as many television stations and households simply are not ready to go digital-only.

“Canadian channels don’t have to switch until [Aug] 2011”, says Kendall Gibson, sales manager at Global Lethbridge.

When the switch happens, it won’t mean that the moment all broadcasters switch to digital-only, your over-the-air TV will stop working, in the U.S., or Canada. In fact, you may only need to purchase a set top box to receive the digital over-the-air signal. In Canada, though, those set top boxes are hard to find.

“There are over 180 kinds of set top boxes available [from different manufacturers]”, says Dale Munro, broadcast engineer at CTV Lethbridge. “We’re a long ways off from transferring to digital TV in Canada.”

TV stations in the United States will likely switch to digital-only broadcasts sooner than those in Canada, though we have more time to ease into digital television then our southern neighbours.

“A lot of broadcasters are pushing off until they absolutely need to, then they’ll fast-track it,” says Munro. “Vancouver and Toronto have been broadcasting [digital tv] for some time now and CTV Calgary just started transmitting [digital tv]. Also, please take note that this is in addition to the analogue transmission.”

According to Munro, there are a couple of major setbacks to the planned transition to digital-only. The first is that only 50% of the available set-top converter coupons available in the United States have been given out.

Another problem is that the very department responsible for the coupons has run out of money for the program, according to msnbc.com, but they are quick to point out that the program will get more money.

So, there’s no reason to rush out and buy a set top box converter so you continue to watch over-the-air broadcasts on the new digital signal, especially if you’re in Canada, since many stations aren’t even broadcasting over-the-air digital signals yet. If you’re in the U.S., now would be a good time, but Canadians get to wait until mid-2011.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:00:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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