Three television stations went dark last week for Alle-Kiski Valley residents who relied on antennae to pick up broadcasts.
Those stations are WPGH, WQEX and WPMY. WPGH is the local FOX affiliate, WPMY carries MYTV, and WQEX broadcasts mainly home shopping programming, with some children's programming in the mornings.
The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that television stations switch their broadcasts from analog to digital, requiring television owners who rely on antennas to upgrade their service to cable, buy a new television or buy a digital converter to continue to receive broadcasts.
This switch would will open analog channels to emergency responders.
Congress passed a bill earlier this month delaying the mandatory transition from Feb. 17 to June 12. The three aforementioned TV stations opted to stick with the original date. WPGH and WPMY chose to voluntarily stop transmitting via analog to avoid confusion about when the stations would switch, after a year of advertisements and public service announcements.
WQED has been broadcasting digital signals since 2007, which includes two additional channels — The Create Channel and the Neighborhood Channel.
WQED will stop transmitting its analog signal on April 1, which spokesman George Hazimanolis said was because the cost of transmitting both was prohibitive.
"We'll keep the analog broadcast going through the end of our March fund drive," he said.
The station stopped transmitting WQEX via analog signal last week because it was more expensive to broadcast than WQED.
KDKA, WTAE and WPXI, the respective local CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates, will make the transition June 12. So will WPCW.
WPCB, a Christian broadcasting station, is planning to switch March 17.
Mark Cristello, part-owner of Good Housekeeping Appliance in Harrison, said his store has been sold out of converter boxes for two weeks, but the demand has not been overwhelming.
"Maybe every three or four days someone will come in asking for one, but that's it," he said. "About half of the people who bought one ended up returning them because they realized it was unnecessary.
"About 90 percent of our customers have cable or satellite service, but maybe they'll buy a converter for a set they have upstairs that uses rabbit ears."
Additional Information:As seen on (digital) TV
With Congress' delay of the digital television transition, local stations have an extra four months to prepare for the switchover. This is when local stations will stop broadcasting using analog signals that can be received using rabbit-ear antennae:
⢠KDKA (CBS): June 12
⢠WPCB: March 17
⢠WPCW: June 12
⢠WPGH (FOX): Feb. 17
⢠WPMY: Feb. 17
⢠WPXI (NBC): June 12
⢠WQED (PBS): April 1
⢠WQEX: Feb. 17
⢠WTAE (ABC): June 12
