Little Static in Digital TV Switch

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 15, 2009 12:48 PM CDT
Little Static in Digital TV Switch
Michael J. Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, left, visits the tie digital TV transition command center at FCC headquarters, Friday, June 12, 2009.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The digital TV switch took place Friday, and you’d be forgiven for missing it. The FCC is patting itself on the back, USA Today reports, because the long-planned, long-delayed switch went off without any major hiccups. By Saturday, the FCC had fielded 315,000 calls from consumers, but that died down to 60,000 by yesterday afternoon, and most were about run-of-the-mill issues.

“There were no dramatic moments,” said an FCC spokesman. Areas where stations had to switch from UHF to VHF experienced some reception issues, but only because they needed to reprogram their tuners to find new channel locations. Of course, about 1.75 million households didn’t make the switch, but they can still nab a $40 coupon for a converter from the FCC until July 31. (More digital broadcasting stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X