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on february 20 2009 the fcc released an order stating that stations that wish to go all digital before the final june 12 2009 date must inform the fcc of that decision by march 17 2009 84 85 while 93 large city network owned and operated stations controlled by cbs abc nbc fox and univision would continue analog broadcasts until june 12 86 many small market broadcasters were unable to justify the extra cost with non commercial and independent stations heavily adversely affected no funding was provided to reimburse broadcasters who incurred additional costs due to the dtv delay act citation needed public broadcasting service ceo paula kerger had estimated a 22 million cost to the nation s pbs member stations to extend simulcasting until june 12 87 more than a hundred pbs stations ultimately elected to stick to the original deadline 88 some individual commercial station groups most notably sinclair broadcast group and gray television shut down the vast majority of their analog signals on the original deadline others left the question to their individual local stations many local markets ranging from burlington vermont and sioux city iowa 89 to san diego 90 lost analog signals from most or all major u s stations some stations in coastal regions such as fort myers florida had chosen not to wait until june 12 so as to ensure the transition was complete before hurricane season 91 in some cases the federal communications commission forced stations to continue full power analog broadcast of at least a local newscast and information on the digital transition for an additional sixty days a costly move for independent affected broadcasters of the 491 stations which had indicated their intention to go digital only in february 2009 92 123 affiliates of four major u s commercial networks abc cbs fox nbc were targeted by federal communications commission opposition precluding or applying additional restrictions to the shutdown of their analog signals 93 in markets where the only analog service remaining after the february 17 shutdown would have been an independent or educational broadcaster an adjacent market station or a low power station 94 95 of approximately 1 800 u s full service tv stations an additional 190 were already digital only before february 2009 these included hawaii digital since january 2009 zanesville ohio digital since july 2008 and wilmington north carolina the fcc s 2008 digital test market as well as some new stations and a few broadcasters forced to shut down analog early due to technical problems citation needed on april 12 nielsen estimated that 3 6 million households remained unready 96 key problem markets according to fcc and ntia included albuquerque baltimore cleveland dallas fort worth denver fresno houston brownsville indianapolis los angeles minneapolis st paul phoenix portland oregon tulsa sacramento st louis the san francisco bay area salt lake city and seattle nightlighting dtv nightlight edit see also short term analog flash and emergency readiness act on february 11 2009 the fcc announced it would allow 368 of the 491 applied stations to go all digital on the original february 17 date 100 of which will be allowed to use their analog signal to inform unprepared viewers of the new transition date or for emergency situations such as severe weather called nightlighting the fcc concluded that the other 123 stations who applied present a significant risk of substantial public harm if they go all digital on february 17 the fcc stated we considered the presence of major networks and their affiliates critical to ensuring that viewers have access to local news and public affairs available over the air because the major network affiliates are the primary source of local broadcast news and public affairs programming the fcc would not permit the 123 stations in at risk markets to proceed unless they had certified with the agency by 6 pm et on february 13 that they comply with eight additional requirements including ensuring that at least one station that is currently providing analog service to an area within the dma provides dtv transition and emergency information as well as local news and public affairs programming enhanced nightlight service for at least 60 days following february 17 81 97 98 99 on february 13 the fcc said 53 of the applied 106 at risk stations had qualified to go all digital on february 17 the other 43 qualified for nightlight service 10 others could not comply with the nightlight clause the total number of stations which became digital only on february 17 was 421 100 101 provisions in american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 edit main article american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 house republican joe barton from texas who strongly opposed the dtv delay act introduced a bill that would insert 650 million in dtv transition assistance into the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 to be used for making more converter box coupons available and for dtv education which was strongly supported by the obama administration 69 102 the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 passed with this revision in the house with a vote of 244 188 on january 28 2009 103 104 and the senate passed the bill on february 10 by a vote of 61 37 105 congressional negotiators announced on february 11 2009 that they had reached agreement on a 789 billion economic stimulus bill 106 president obama signed the final 787 billion version into law on february 17 2009 in denver colorado 107 the final version included the dtv provisions 108 while the economic stimulus bill did allow additional funds for coupons there was also a risk that available retail stock of the converter boxes themselves could prove inadequate the consumer electronics association had estimated three to six million boxes remained in stock at the beginning of february 2009 nielsen media research reported five million households as completely unready for digital transition in this same time period the average u s household used 3 television screens 109 however the converter box coupon program only allowed 2 coupons per household the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 also allocated funds for expert installation services for those switching to dtv 110 the fcc awarded the contract to several companies to provide expert installation services 111 problems with the final transition edit initial problems edit on may 1 2009 nielsen media research reported that 3 1 of americans were still completely unprepared for the transition 112 on june 11 2009 one day before the analog shutoff the national association of broadcasters reported that 1 75 million americans were still not ready 113 971 tv stations made the final switch to digital on june 12 it was believed albuquerque santa fe austin and dallas would be the least prepared markets but this turned out not to be the case as most of the difficulties were in the northeast primarily with stations that changed their digital frequencies from uhf to vhf citation needed on june 13 2009 the fcc said their help line with about 4 000 answering phones received 317 450 calls on june 12 about one third of callers still needed converter boxes and one fifth had reception problems acting fcc chair michael copps said our job is far from over this transition is not a one day affair 114 in new york city about 11 000 people called the fcc for assistance the most of any market the other areas from which the most calls to the fcc were made chicago 6526 los angeles 5473 dallas fort worth 5473 and philadelphia 3749 around 900 000 calls were received in total citation needed the national association of broadcasters said 278 tv stations received 35 500 calls but most callers merely needed to rescan citation needed the commerce department said 319 900 households requested converter box coupons on june 11 almost four times the average of the previous month smithgeiger llc said 2 2 million homes were not ready while nielsen said the number was 2 8 million this included homes which had requested coupons 115 on june 14 nielsen said the number was 2 5 million or 2 2 percent of homes that number was down to 2 1 million or 1 8 percent by june 21 116 and 1 7 million or 1 5 percent a week later 117 one month after the transition the number was 1 5 million 1 3 percent 118 and after nearly 2 months the number was down to just over one million or 1 1 percent 119 as of august 30 2009 the number was 710 000 as 572 000 had upgraded in august and 1 8 million since june 12 120 in some cases where digital frequencies moved people have been advised not only to re scan but to double scan in order to clear outdated information from the digital tv or converter box memory 121 calls to the fcc decreased from 43 000 a day in the week ending june 15 to 21 000 the next week reception problems representing nearly a third of calls at first were down to one fifth 122 on june 15 2009 u s representative peter defazio an oregon democrat introduced the house version of the digital tv transition fairness act which senator bernie sanders introduced in december 2008 it would require video service providers to offer a 10 basic package to anyone who lost at least one channel to the dtv conversion with broadcasters waiving fees pay for outdoor antennas including installation and extend the converter box program beyond july 31 123 124 it did not pass citation needed vhf frequencies and digital television edit one of the most common problems was the return to vhf frequencies by stations that had used them when they were analog over 480 stations were broadcasting digitally on the vhf spectrum after the transition up from only 216 on the frequencies before many antennas marketed for digital tv are designed for uhf which most digital stations use vhf analog signals travel further than uhf signals but watchable vhf digital signals appear to have a more limited range than uhf with the lower power they are assigned and they do not penetrate buildings as well especially in larger cities 125 126 mike doback vice president of engineering for scripps television said it s only now that we ve found out the planning factors were probably wrong in terms of how much power you need to replicate analog service 127 according to tv consultant peter putman the problem with vhf reception is that vhf antennas must be large to be effective and indoor antennas do not perform well enough in addition channels 2 through 6 are more susceptible to many types of interference 16 richard mertz of cavell mertz associates says multipath interference inside the house is also a factor some receivers can deal with this problem better than others but there are no standards and with amplified antennas or amplifiers it is possible to overload a converter box amplifiers can also cause noise that is interpreted as data 37 raycom media chief technology officer dave folsom said there s nothing inherently wrong with vhf it s just easier to have interference because it goes out further 127 the fcc sent extra personnel to chicago philadelphia and new york city to deal with difficulties in those cities wls tv had received 1 735 calls just by the end of the day on june 12 and an estimated 5 000 calls in total by june 16 wls tv is just one station which may solve its problems by increasing its signal strength but doing this required making sure no other stations were affected 128 a low power analog station not required to shut down after 30 days like other nightlight stations aired newscasts that could not be seen by a number of people after the transition while the stations attempted to solve problems 129 in philadelphia most of the problems were with wpvi tv which had the area s leading news program and public station whyy tv many people having trouble with those stations could pick up stations from reading and atlantic city 130 unlike wls wpvi had concerns about increasing its signal because of potential interference to other stations and to fm radio in new york city many called the fcc because they lived in apartment buildings with a single roof antenna which was not suitable for digital reception the city reported antenna shortages and numerous requests for cable service 121 by the end of june four stations had received permission to increase power ten other stations asked for power increases as well but these were not in major cities instead the markets were in rural or mountainous areas such as montana virginia and alabama 131 knmd tv in santa fe tried an alternate vhf channel 132 the fcc had two concerns about the requests for more power some stations just wanted a competitive advantage and were not actually experiencing difficulties other stations wanted uhf frequencies instead because uhf worked better with mobile digital tv however some stations with legitimate problems had asked to return to their uhf frequencies 131 two months after the transition two or three dozen stations continued to have problems 133 three months after the transition about 50 stations had applied for a power increase 16 approximately a half dozen stations were still deciding at the end of october about what to do 134 in some of the cases where stations returned to uhf interference to nearby stations prevented a power increase citation needed ironically kuac tv in fairbanks alaska moved from channel 24 back to channel 9 in september 2009 the area never had uhf before dtv so most people had vhf antennas while few people lived in apartment buildings the higher power needed for uhf cost too much and channel 24 had signal problems so the station asked to move back citation needed of the 79 stations asking for a new channel 22 wanted to go from vhf to uhf and 10 wanted to go from uhf to vhf 127 evaluating the transition edit on june 30 2009 his first full day as fcc chairman julius genachowski said in a speech that the transition succeeded far beyond expectations you pulled it off by working collaboratively with each other across the agency and with the commerce department and other parts of government and by thinking creatively to leverage all available resources 135 still the fcc planned a report on how well the transition went and genachowski admitted more work was needed 122 genachowski s predecessor michael copps called the process a huge transition with significant impact on consumers that was not until the last moment adequately planned for or coordinated it was a transition that led to problems that were largely predictable and one that we moved measurably forward from january to june to the benefit of many consumers but it s not a closed book it is ongoing there are still problems out there lessons to be learned and a document to write 136 low power stations edit in september 2010 the fcc proposed the implementation of a hard deadline of 2012 for low power stations to broadcast in digital though this deadline was not adopted citation needed on july 15 2011 the federal communications commission issu...