Digital TV conversion troubles not over yet

San Jose Mercury News (MCT) - The shift to digital television could leave thousands unable to tune in their favorite channels.

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Thanks to a range of transmission and reception issues, residents who are currently able to tune in analog, over-the-air stations may not be able to get those stations' digital transmissions _ even if they get a converter box. In some cases, consumers can solve those issues by upgrading their antennas. In other cases, they won't be able to solve them at all.

"It's a big issue," said Chris Murray, senior counsel at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

Unfortunately, few residents may be aware of the problems they face tuning in digital TV. That's because most of the discussion to date about the digital transition has focused on making sure broadcast viewers have a digital tuner in their home, either in the form of a new TV or a converter box. What hasn't gotten a lot of attention is that consumers wanting to get the new signals may need to invest in an antenna also, and even an antenna might not guarantee reception.

"The antenna issue is something that (the government) wasn't emphasizing enough to begin with," said Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, which is helping oversee the transition to digital television. "We're trying more to emphasize it."

Nationwide, 8.5 million households live in "reception challenged" areas, meaning they will be able to tune in four or fewer digital stations, according to Centris, a market research firm that has studied reception issues. That means they won't be able to get programming from at least one of the national networks.

But the problems receiving the new digital signals may be particularly acute in the San Francisco Bay area. Reception of TV signals can be impeded by hilly terrain and tall buildings, both of which can be found in the area. Also, signals weaken the farther they have to travel, which could pose problems for some South Bay residents, because many local television stations broadcast out of San Francisco, about 50 or more miles away.

Meanwhile, many stations are switching the frequency at which they broadcast their signals, which in some cases could make them more difficult to receive. Others are changing the location of their transmitters, which could affect the ability of viewers in huge geographic areas to receive their signals.

Thanks to these changes, large numbers of local viewers could find themselves unable to tune in the new digital channels. About 337,000 Bay Area residents _ many of them in the South Bay _ who formerly were able to get an analog signal from KTVU will not be able to receive the digital one, according to a study commissioned by the FCC in the fall. For KRON, the number is around 148,000.

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All told, of the approximately 400,000 Bay Area households that get only broadcast television, 154,000 live in reception-challenged areas where they'll be able to get four or fewer digital stations, according to Centris.

The Bay Area "is a really good example of a market that's going to have some issues," said David Klein, an executive vice president at the research firm.

Already, people are having problems. In the days surrounding Feb. 17, the original deadline _ now postponed _ for the digital transition, more than a third of the calls placed to Federal Communications Commission help centers focused on reception or signal loss issues, according to Wigfield.

Burlingame, Calif., resident Jane Pearcy, 49, is among those losing out. Pearcy can tune in analog channels with a simple indoor antenna. But she can't tune in those stations' digital transmissions, despite having a converter box and attaching to it a more sensitive indoor antenna.

"At this point, we haven't bothered to switch over" to digital TV, Pearcy said.

Consumers have been led to believe that all they need to do to receive digital over-the-air signals is get a digital tuner, whether by buying a new television or getting a digital converter box, noted Klein. But in order to tune in the digital signals, they may also need to upgrade their antennas, he said.

"If you have a converter box, that's all fine and well, but it doesn't mean you're ready," he said.

In planning the digital transition, the government made the assumption that anyone who wanted to get broadcast television already had a rooftop antenna. But that's not the case. Centris estimates that 80 percent of households receiving over-the-air broadcasts have an indoor antenna mounted on their television. Such antennas are typically less able to tune in weaker signals and are subject to much more interference that can come within a house.

With analog transmissions, a weak or poor signal typically meant a fuzzy picture or one with ghosting _ multiple versions of the same image. With digital transmissions, a weak signal can mean a picture that cuts in and out _ or doesn't come in at all.

The problem can get complicated. If you can't get particular digital signals now, that doesn't mean you won't receive them after the analog signals are shut off. As part of the transition, several local stations plan to boost their digital signals and even change the frequency at which they are broadcast.

KGO, for instance, is currently broadcasting its digital station on UHF channel 24. After June 12, it will switch the digital station to VHF channel 7, the channel on which it is currently broadcasting its analog station. As part of the switch, the company plans to physically move its transmitter up Sutro tower, which should allow the signal to reach more people in the area.

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At least 10 other local stations also plan to switch the channel on which they are broadcasting come June 12.

That's why, some consumer advocates say, consumers may want to wait before spending a lot of money to install a new rooftop antenna. Instead, they say, they might want to do whatever they can shy of that until after the transition, such as scanning and rescanning for channels using their converter box, testing out their signal with their current antennas or buying inexpensive indoor ones to see if they make any difference.

"Some number of consumers will find a new antenna will help them," said Chris Murray, senior counsel at Consumers Union. But he advises that consumers should "do all the things that don't cost any money first."

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© 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).