Success Expected in Wilmington’s Early Analog Cutoff
Executives involved expect success in the Sept. 8 analog cutoff by Wilmington, N.C., stations CD Aug 28 p1). The five stations involved have aired dozens of stories on the cutoff, showing public service announcements at least 1,000 times, broadcast executives said. Representatives of consumer electronics stores we spoke with said they had plenty of digital converter boxes in stock. Some retailers in the area had shortages soon after the FCC announced that Wilmington would make the transition early (CD May 14 p4). It’s the only market doing that.
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Cable and satellite-TV providers are educating subscribers and gearing up to receive digital signals to pass on to customers, they said. FCC officials continue to visit. Chairman Kevin Martin was expected by industry officials as a speaker Thursday night at a DTV expo run by Raycom’s WECT. Cable operators, an antenna maker, RadioShack and the NAB also were to be represented, said WECT General Manager Gary McNair. A similar CEA event held July 19 drew several hundred people to a Wilmington Circuit City store, an association spokeswoman said. An NAB spokeswoman said her group arranged a “DTV expo” at Union Missionary Baptist Church, described by a broadcast executive as helping to train people to hook up digital converters in seniors’ houses.
“For the most part this is going well,” said the NAB spokeswoman. “There are some obvious challenges to getting consumers ready,” because most Wilmington-area viewers receive stations from markets not making the switch until Feb. 17, she added. But “awareness is high.” (See separate report in this issue.)
WECT and Southeastern Media Holdings’ WSFX-TV air three DTV stories a week, often multiple times, McNair said. WECT provides news to WSFX via a shared services agreement. Each outlet airs perhaps a dozen PSAs daily, said McNair. WECT also runs ads from Time Warner Cable reminding over-the-air viewers they get digital signals by subscribing, and the cable company runs WECT’s PSAs, he said. “I'm optimistic about September 8, but if things don’t turn out really good, I just don’t know what we could have done more,” added McNair. “We will certainly have learned something either way.”
Most Wilmington stations air at least six PSAs daily and probably run news coverage on it at least once a day, said John Greene, vice president of WILM-owner Capitol Broadcasting, who’s helping coordinate the switch. A one- minute simulated cutoff of analog signals Aug. 19 prompted two calls total to broadcasters and the FCC, an indication that most viewers know what’s happening, he added. “It’s still going real smoothly. We might get shocked in some way, but I don’t think so.” To be sure viewers are aware, the five stations will interrupt regular programming for five minutes starting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2 to urge over-the-air viewers to buy converters or take other action to get digital signals, Greene said. “The recognition of the switch is pretty high,” he said. “The real question is cable and satellite are supposed to be ready.”
Three of the four major pay-TV companies operating in the area are in good shape, they said. Charter, which gets analog broadcast signals by fiber feed, will switch to digital before Sept. 8, a spokeswoman said. “Our main focus has been to make sure that everybody we serve in that area around Wilmington understands that no one is falling off the digital cliff,” since programming won’t be interrupted by the switch, she said. A Time Warner Cable official declined to comment.
DirecTV and Dish Network already get Wilmington broadcasters’ digital signals, officials of those companies said. Dish officials have visited Wilmington “many times over the last few months, attending numerous community events, meetings with community leaders and developing our own events,” a spokeswoman said. DirecTV called most of its area subscribers to tell them of the cutoff and remind them that their satellite-connected TVs won’t be affected, a spokeswoman said.
CE officials are ready, too, they said. Wilmington has “been a really good test market” because “everyone is working really well together” from the industries involved, said a CEA spokeswoman. “That’s the lesson that we hope we can pass onto cities around the country” -- that cooperation is crucial, she said. Wilmington “is going to be a complete success, and it’s going to be a great example of what we'll see in February,” she added. And “Wilmington has plenty of converter boxes.” Broadcast executives said most stores seem to have them. “Early on I was a little bit disappointed, but it’s been pretty good lately,” said Greene, noting that in the past two months he’s found no stores out of stock.
Two RadioShack stores, one of which briefly had no boxes, have about 40 each. “I've got plenty,” said Chris Gravette, owner of an outlet in Ocean Isle Beach. Box sales have picked up as the cutoff nears, said Gravette and Richard Beauchamp, manager of the Surf City store. “People seem to have gotten the word,” Beauchamp said. “I've noticed that there’s been a lot less questioning of what’s happening and the time frame.”