Digital TV to get trial run

Wilmington stations will be first in U.S. to switch

WILMINGTON -- This historic port city is where the future of TV has come to rehearse.

At noon Monday, Wilmington's stations will be the first in the nation to switch over entirely to digital broadcasting, a technical revolution for TV and one that will be the nationwide standard come February.

Wilmington is the test case for the technology, which requires new receivers for those who get their signals over the air rather than through cable or satellite.

As in any test, lessons are being learned. Like attitudes about the switch.

"A lot of people think it's some kind of government plot," said Gary McNair, general manager of Wilmington's NBC affiliate, WECT. "We get e-mails to that effect all the time."

In one way, the conspiracy theorists are right. It's the government that sets broadcast standards and mandated that on Feb. 17 all television stations in the United States transmit their programs only digitally. Since the development of television in the 1940s, signals have been sent in an analog format, like radio.

Digital signals provide a crisper picture and better sound and eliminate static. They also take up less space on the broadcast spectrum, freeing up frequencies for other uses, including emergency services and personal communication devices. When the government finishes auctioning off the old television bands, it expects to reap billions of dollars from technology companies eager to exploit the frontier.

For people with cable or satellite TV, the change will have no effect. Their providers will translate the signals into whatever their sets now accept.

But people in the rabbit-ear crowd, who get signals over the air by antenna, will need to get a digital television or a converter box from an electronics store for their old sets. Prices range from about $50 to $100. Coupons worth $40 off are available from the government.

Wilmington -- the 135th- largest of the 210 television markets in the nation -- was chosen to be the guinea pig for the new technology because all the stations there were already broadcasting digital signals.

Representatives from the Federal Communications Commission have been in town for months, helping to inform viewers about the switch in town meetings and at festivals and fairs.

Promotion for the switchover has been so heavy that some complain they've been saturated with information.

"I hope this paper will print the names of any individuals who claim not to be aware when the change is made," Charles Bradley wrote to the Wilmington Star-News. "I would like to find what rock they have been hiding under."

Andy Combs, general manager of Wilmington's ABC affiliate, WWAY, agrees. "People are tired of hearing about it," he says.

For his station, the switch-over brings certain benefits. Manufacturers have quit making replacement parts for the old analog transmitters, and every breakdown launches a treasure hunt for old components. Also, by cutting off the analog signal, WWAY expects to save more than $40,000 a year on its power bill.

Wilmington broadcasters will leave their old transmitters on for a month, and those who tune in will see a slide that says, "If you are viewing this message, this television set has not yet been upgraded to digital." The message then instructs viewers where to go for information.

How big a deal will the switch-over be?

"Y2K," says Dan Ullmer, chief engineer for WECT in Wilmington, referring to the groundless fears in 1999 that computers wouldn't function when the year flipped to 2000. "If people are ignoring this, it's because they want to, not because they don't know about it."