©Mark
Ollig
Soon, many local TV stations in cities across the US
will begin changing their over-the-air broadcast channel frequencies.
Per a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order,
these changes are to be completed by July 2020.
According to the FCC, the reason for the change is to
open the digital airwaves for new high-speed wireless services.
A television broadcaster is required to provide its
viewers a 30-day notice before their frequency change occurs.
The FCC order changing channel frequencies might remind
you of 2009, when over-the-air broadcast channels switched from analog to
digital signaling, requiring many folks to buy converter boxes to use on their
analog television sets.
There will be no buying of converter boxes this time.
The upcoming over-the-air change will only require a rescan of your TV
channels.
If you watch free over-the-air television with an
antenna, you will need to rescan your TV set channel availability each time an
individual station moves its channel to a new frequency in order to continue
receiving the channel’s broadcast.
Note, the actual channel number on your TV will not
change, so channel 45 will remain channel 45 after the rescan updates its
broadcast frequency.
If you do not use over-the-air digital television
signals and are a subscriber to a cable or satellite TV service provider, you
do not need to perform the TV rescan. Your service provider will do this.
“Good-bye to analog broadcast TV” was a column I wrote
Oct. 23, 2006.
The Congress of the United States had passed a law
specifying Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, as the deadline for all television broadcast
stations to end over-the-air transmission of analog signals and convert to
digital television signaling.
Digital over-the-air broadcast television took over the
center seat, sending analog over-the-air broadcast television into retirement.
In the months ahead, TV channels will be changing their
over-the-air broadcast channel frequencies; however, not all at the same time,
so your TV may need to be rescanned more than once.
The FCC’s website provides an interactive TV reception
map where you can check the frequency change timeframe for the local channels
in your viewing area.
Your specific information can be seen by typing in your
street address including city and state, or only city and state, or your
viewing ZIP Code at this link: https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps.
I entered ZIP Code 55395 (Winsted). The results showed
a map, along with information on each over-the-air local station viewable for
55395, including call sign, network, and channel. The IA (Incentive Auction)
will show an “R” next to channels changing frequencies.
Note, the FCC will update the IA (R) information as it
becomes available.
The 55395 over-the-air stations, call sign, network,
and channel number showing “strong” digital signal coverage include:
KSTC-TV- IND 45 -R;
WCCO-TV- CBS 4;
KSTP-TV- ABC 5;
WUCW- CW 23;
WFTC- MY N 29;
KTCA-TV- PBS 2; and
KPXM-TV- ION 41 -R.
More information about each station, including new
channel frequency repack dates, will be seen when you click on its hyperlinked
call sign.
Channel 45 will be changing its channel frequency
between April 13, 2019 and June 21, 2019.
Channel 41 shows it changed its channel frequency
between March 23, 2018 and June 1, 2018.
Other 55395 over-the-air stations with “moderate”
coverages include: KTCI-TV PBS channel 17, KARE NBC channel 11, and KMSP-TV FOX
channel 9. These stations, as of this writing, have no updated channel
frequency changes.
There are also no changes (so far) for KEYC-TV CBS
channel 12 out of Mankato, which the FCC says has a “weak” over-the-air signal
in Winsted.
The FCC reminds us that all full-power television
stations in the US are broadcast in digital only.
For more information on how to rescan your over-the-air
TV channels, visit https://www.fcc.gov/rescan.
The National Association of Broadcasters webpage also
provides helpful information on the changes at http://tvanswers.org.
