No Signal

I admit it. I made a mistake. I should have known better. I usually do. But I suppose hope had me beguiled to believe the United States Federal Government could actually do something worthwhile and good for a change.

With the June 12th cut of analog television signals, I finally went out and bought a DTV receiver, brought it home, hooked it up and got …nothing. The screen read only “No Signal”. According to AntennaWeb.org with my quality pre-amplified antennae, I should be getting all these wonderful stations:

uhf   W46DB    62    UNI  MELBOURNE, FL           3°   9.0mi
uhf   W16AJ    16    NBC  DAYTONA BEACH, FL      69°   5.2mi
uhf   WSCF-LP  31    IND  MELBOURNE, FL           3°   9.8mi
uhf   WFTV-DT   9.1  ABC  ORLANDO, FL           337°  44.5mi
uhf   WOTF-DT  43.1  TFA  MELBOURNE, FL         336°  46.4mi
vhf   WESH-DT   2.1  NBC  DAYTONA BEACH, FL     338°  47.1mi
uhf   WDSC-DT  15.1  PBS  NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL  338°  47.1mi
uhf   WTGL-DT  45.1  FMN  COCOA, FL             336°  46.4mi
uhf   WBCC-DT  68.1  PBS  COCOA, FL             338°  47.1mi
uhf   WOPX-DT  56.1  ION  MELBOURNE, FL         336°  46.4mi
uhf   WOFL-DT  35.1  FOX  ORLANDO, FL           336°  47.5mi
uhf   WRDQ-DT  14.1  IND  ORLANDO, FL           337°  44.5mi
uhf   WRBW-DT  65.1  MNT  ORLANDO, FL           338°  47.1mi
uhf   WHLV-DT  53.2  FMN  COCOA, FL             336°  46.4mi
uhf   WKMG-DT   6.1  CBS  ORLANDO, FL           338°  47.1mi
uhf   WKCF-DT  18.1  CW   CLERMONT, FL          336°  46.4mi
uhf   WMFE-DT  24.1  PBS  ORLANDO, FL           336°  47.7mi

After fussing with my antennae for a bit I managed, while holding the antenna over my head in a specific direction, pull down two channels –one of those was in Spanish. And that’s it.

To say the least, I was disappointed. I had believed the hype. I had read all the government talking points: superior picture quality, more stations, better reception and range, and of course free over-the-air access just like it used to be. I thought the government was truly looking out for the people for once –making the effort to give everyone, even the poor, access to television. Sure, the plethora of channels and special stations would remain the domain of cable and satellite, but the main stations, ABC, CBS, NBC and a few others like ION along with their extra sub-channels, would now be a available to anyone at little to no cost. Clearly, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The next day, after my disappointment subsided a bit (a few curse words helped with that), I ventured some additional research. This time without the starry-eyes. My first Google hit, searching “what was the point of the DTV transition?”, brought me this little beauty.

People just don’t get the point of this DTV thing.

The real purpose of the DTV transition is to kill-off free over-the-air television.

First, encumber every television so it is no less klunky than a TV with a cable box, so there’s no operational advantage for using OTA programming.

Second, pull the biggest flag day since the ARPAnet went TCP-only, leaving analog TVs stranded by the tens of thousands and many otherwise-faithful DTV users out in the no-signal zone resulting from the “all or nothing” nature of DTV signals. (Technically not exactly right, but close enough for Gubmint Work if you live in a fringe area.)

The local stations who have nearly bankrupted themselves deploying the mandated DTV capability will see viewership drop off precipitously except for viewers on Cable, at which point the cable companies will have the economic upper hand, especially in the absence of “must-carry” rules for DTV.

The local free OTA stations will starve – some quickly, some slowly, a few maybe not at all, but most will die a horrible, lingering death.

And that will be the end of Free TV in the US

Howzat for juicy a conspiracy theory?

–Michael O’Dell, October 16, 2008 9:00:21 PM PDT

Exactly what I was now beginning to suspect myself. If only I had been more suspicious, even back in January, a month before the original cut-off was scheduled. I might have read this.

Now the that the cut-off date has come and gone, there is endless confirmation of these issues all over the Web: here, here, here, here, here… this could go on and on.

What really strikes me as funny about the whole thing though, is just how much time and bureaucracy it took to achieve the this monumental fail.

Tags: dtv