MORE ABOUT THE DIGITAL TRANSITION
Congress has legislated that on February 17, 2009, all over-the-air broadcast television must convert to digital over-the-air broadcast television and all analog over-the-air television broadcasting must end.
Digital television (DTV) is an advanced broadcasting technology that will transform your television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with movie-quality picture and sound. It can also offer multiple programming choices, called multicasting, and interactive capabilities.
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 public and safety services (police and fire departments, emergency rescue), and advanced wireless services.
The Transition to Digital TV
TV stations serving all markets in the United States are airing digital television programming today, although most will continue to provide analog programming through February 17, 2009. At that point, full-power TV stations will cease broadcasting on their current analog channels, and the spectrum they use for analog broadcasting will be reclaimed and put to other uses.
The FCC's digital tuner rule specified that as of March 1, 2007, all new TVs had to include digital tuners. This rule prohibits the manufacture, import, or interstate shipment of any device containing an analog tuner, unless it also contains a digital tuner. Despite this prohibition on manufacture and shipment, retailers may continue to sell analog-only devices from existing inventory. As a result, at the point of sale, many consumers may not be aware that this equipment will not be able to receive over-the-air-television signals after February 17, 2009.
Digital television Quality Levels
There are many quality levels of digital television programming. The most common are:
- Standard Definition TV (SDTV) - SDTV is the basic level of quality display and resolution for both analog and digital. Transmission of SDTV may be in either the traditional (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) format.
- Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV) - EDTV is a step up from Analog Television. EDTV comes in 480p widescreen (16:9) or traditional (4:3) format and provides better picture quality than SDTV, but not as high as HDTV.
- High Definition TV (HDTV) - HDTV in widescreen format (16:9) provides the highest resolution and picture quality of all digital broadcast formats. Combined with digitally enhanced sound technology, HDTV sets new standards for sound and picture quality in television. (Note: HDTV and digital TV are not the same thing -- HDTV is one format of digital TV.)
FOX 13 WTVT-TV
For most people, watching FOX 13 will not dramatically change. Viewing FOX 13 on your cable or satellite receiver will only change when the cable or satellite company upgrades their equipment, and those changes will be communicated from the companies to their customers.
The dramatic difference will happen for people who watch FOX 13 with an "off-air" antenna. After February 17, 2009, you will no longer be able to see FOX 13 on your traditional "channel 13." Instead, you will need to use a digital tuner to see FOX 13 on digital channel 12.
Links to more information
 DTV IN TAMPA BAY HOME PAGE
|
