Rant: OPB and The Oregonian cluesless about HDTV transition

I live in Oregon as I have mentioned in previous postings here. My rant for
today is how our media leaders locally, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get it" about helping
folks with the transition from analog to digital television.

First, I will pick on The Oregonian. The newspaper ran a story several
weeks ago about how poorly the transition is going with most folks unaware
about losing reception on their legacy equipment in 2009. The article
talked about the political hot potatoe the issue was and what folks would
need to do. I felt the article was disingenous of the newspaper since they
are inadequately covering it in the paper. In the greater Portland Area we
have 16 Digital Broadcasters on the air. The newspaper does not give in its
daily listing a mention of even 1 of the signals. The paper is only
covering the analog broadcasts. Those stations that are broadcasting analog
do, for the most part, simulcast their signal with at least one of their
digital broadcast, usually HD. But, this is not always the case. You
cannot rely on the newspaper's listing of an analog broadcast to be accurate
for a digital one. The worst offender of this practice is our PBS
affiliate, KOPB channel 10. More often than not, what is listed in the
newspaper guide for their analog broadcast is not what is going out over
their SD or HD service. This is incredibly frustrating, because one would
love to set the DVR up to time shift their content, but you don't always get
what you want. You maybe setup to get Prime Suspect on Masterpiece Theatre,
but find out you've actually recorded BOBBAH and JAKERS: THE ADVENTURES OF
PIGGLEY WINKS! I am an annual donator to their station, since they offer
the best programming (and the best HD programming), but I hate their smarmy
ads about how great we are because we are "smart television" when they
engage in goofball antics like this.

Now, I'm pretty tech savvy, so I know and learn from usenet, etc., to avail
myself of online tools like TitanTv.com, etc. for more accurate programming
information. But, what is Joe Sixpack going to do when confronting the new
technology after the drop dead date. Also, newspaper's, including The
Oregonian, are whining about loss readership and loss ad revenue because of
both television and the internet. Truth be told, the newspaper is just no
longer relevent, especially with bone headed practices like this. You want
readership, then print the NEWS, for god's sake. You want your viewers to
find your programs at their regular scheduled date and time, then start
running them in digital at those same dates and times.

My displeasure with the affiliate is that those of us who are early adopters
of the new technology are also having to pay a premium because we have
largely dropped analog (and who wouldn't when you get great picture quality,
etc., with the new channels). However, we have to make the extra effort to
find what is on. A service like OPB which is dependent on donations you
would think make it as easy to find their stuff, not harder.

It's a sad state of affairs.

in Technicolor® wrote:
I live in Oregon as I have mentioned in previous postings here. My rant
for today is how our media leaders locally, OPB (Oregon Public
Broadcasting) and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get
it" about helping folks with the transition from analog to digital
television.

First, I will pick on The Oregonian. The newspaper ran a story several
weeks ago about how poorly the transition is going with most folks
unaware about losing reception on their legacy equipment in 2009. The
article talked about the political hot potatoe the issue was and what
folks would need to do. I felt the article was disingenous of the
newspaper since they are inadequately covering it in the paper. In the
greater Portland Area we have 16 Digital Broadcasters on the air. The
newspaper does not give in its daily listing a mention of even 1 of the
signals. The paper is only covering the analog broadcasts. Those
stations that are broadcasting analog do, for the most part, simulcast
their signal with at least one of their digital broadcast, usually HD.
But, this is not always the case. You cannot rely on the newspaper's
listing of an analog broadcast to be accurate for a digital one. The
worst offender of this practice is our PBS affiliate, KOPB channel 10.
More often than not, what is listed in the newspaper guide for their
analog broadcast is not what is going out over their SD or HD service.
This is incredibly frustrating, because one would love to set the DVR up
to time shift their content, but you don't always get what you want.
You maybe setup to get Prime Suspect on Masterpiece Theatre, but find
out you've actually recorded BOBBAH and JAKERS: THE ADVENTURES OF
PIGGLEY WINKS! I am an annual donator to their station, since they
offer the best programming (and the best HD programming), but I hate
their smarmy ads about how great we are because we are "smart
television" when they engage in goofball antics like this.

Now, I'm pretty tech savvy, so I know and learn from usenet, etc., to
avail myself of online tools like TitanTv.com, etc. for more accurate
programming information. But, what is Joe Sixpack going to do when
confronting the new technology after the drop dead date. Also,
newspaper's, including The Oregonian, are whining about loss readership
and loss ad revenue because of both television and the internet. Truth
be told, the newspaper is just no longer relevent, especially with bone
headed practices like this. You want readership, then print the NEWS,
for god's sake. You want your viewers to find your programs at their
regular scheduled date and time, then start running them in digital at
those same dates and times.

My displeasure with the affiliate is that those of us who are early
adopters of the new technology are also having to pay a premium because
we have largely dropped analog (and who wouldn't when you get great
picture quality, etc., with the new channels). However, we have to make
the extra effort to find what is on. A service like OPB which is
dependent on donations you would think make it as easy to find their
stuff, not harder.

It's a sad state of affairs.

I don't know about Oregon, but here in SE Virginia if the paper listed
everything on every channel the grid for just prime time would fill two
or three pages. There are so many viewers using on screen program guides
now the paper would never be able to sell enough advertisements to
support the cost of all that. Imagine the size of a complete grid for
the week long listing in the weekend paper. I suspect these issues have
contributed to the decline of the hard copy TV Guide magazine.

As more viewers acquire digital reception capability printed coverage of
local sub-channels will probably increase.

Broadcasters have each spent huge amounts of money purchasing,
installing and tuning new antennas, transmitters and switching equipment
for their digital channel. Many haven't been able to fund high
definition recording/playback equipment or the equipment that allows
them to add advisory/closing crawls to HD broadcasts. If a broadcaster
lacks HD playback equipment they are only able to broadcast the
network's feed in high definition. This may account for HD and SD
sub-channels having different content.

"in Technicolor®" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
I live in Oregon as I have mentioned in previous postings here. My rant
for today is how our media leaders locally, OPB (Oregon Public
Broadcasting) and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get it"
about helping folks with the transition from analog to digital television.

First, I will pick on The Oregonian. The newspaper ran a story several
weeks ago about how poorly the transition is going with most folks unaware
about losing reception on their legacy equipment in 2009. The article
talked about the political hot potatoe the issue was and what folks would
need to do. I felt the article was disingenous of the newspaper since
they are inadequately covering it in the paper. In the greater Portland
Area we have 16 Digital Broadcasters on the air. The newspaper does not
give in its daily listing a mention of even 1 of the signals. The paper
is only covering the analog broadcasts. Those stations that are
broadcasting analog do, for the most part, simulcast their signal with at
least one of their digital broadcast, usually HD. But, this is not always
the case. You cannot rely on the newspaper's listing of an analog
broadcast to be accurate for a digital one.

Funny thing is all these newspapers still put ST for stereo in their
listings as though anyone give a crap about stereo broadcasts. Why not dump
the ST designation and at least put HD by programs that are in fact being
broadcast or simulcast in HD?

"RobertVA" wrote in message
...

Broadcasters have each spent huge amounts of money purchasing, installing
and tuning new antennas, transmitters and switching equipment for their
digital channel. Many haven't been able to fund high definition
recording/playback equipment or the equipment that allows them to add
advisory/closing crawls to HD broadcasts. If a broadcaster lacks HD
playback equipment they are only able to broadcast the network's feed in
high definition. This may account for HD and SD sub-channels having
different content.

Agreed. And if that were the case here in Portland I would not only be more
forgiving and tolerant, but inclined to donate more to see them fill out
their digital equipment upgrades. Alas, that is not the what the station is
doing. They have more than adequate equipment (in fact, they originate some
HD programming). The station sometimes, like this evening, for example,
does an analog simulcast of NOVA on the HD transmitter at 8PM, the
traditional Tuesday time slot for NOVA.
However, they will also air the same program 3 hours earlier today on HDTV,
while the analog station runs 1/2 hour childrens programming. There are
also additional analog and HD showings of the same NOVA episode later in the
week at different times from each other. That's one thing I've always liked
about public television is that, generally, you get a "second chance" during
the same week to catch a program you might have missed the first time
around.

As far as newspapers are concern, I agree that their schedule would run to
multiple pages, but that is the price of change. Remember, several decades
ago, before satellite and cable took off, the entire days televisions took
only a few inches away from the comics pages since their were only 4
networks and maybe a couple of indepenent UHF or VHF pages. I'm presently
down to buying only the Friday and Sunday papers now since they have a
tendency to spread out the art and entertainment info between those two
editions. I find I am getting more hard reporting from the Willamette Week
and the Portland Tribune (both of which are free) than The Oregonian.

On Dec 17, 8:27 pm, in Technicolor(R) wrote:
I live in Oregon as I have mentioned in previous postings here. My rant for
today is how our media leaders locally, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get it" about helping
folks with the transition from analog to digital television.

Who look in the newspaper for programming? I can't remember the last
time I did that.

As far as informing the public, I think the FCC should mandate that
for 1 month after the cutoff date, the analog broadcasts run a PSA on
every analog channel telling those that have been living in a cave for
the last 5 years how to now get the "new" digital broadcast.

in Technicolor® wrote (in part):

The station sometimes, like this evening, for example,
does an analog simulcast of NOVA on the HD transmitter at 8PM, the
traditional Tuesday time slot for NOVA.
However, they will also air the same program 3 hours earlier today on HDTV,
while the analog station runs 1/2 hour childrens programming. There are
also additional analog and HD showings of the same NOVA episode later in the
week at different times from each other.

For that show at least, and for most or all of what they air in HD,
they're just carrying the PBS-HD feed. Nova is on PBS-HD Tuesdays at
8:00 PM and 11:00 PM Eastern, which translates to 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Pacific.

PBS affiliates have great latitude in what programs they carry and
when on their local stations. Those schedules are independent of the
PBS-HD schedule, although they often coincide during prime time.

Del Mibbler

"Larry Bud" wrote in message
...

Who look in the newspaper for programming? I can't remember the last
time I did that.

==============================
I do!
Every week!

It is the only way I decide what to watch each week.
I only get OTA.

Larry Bud wrote:
On Dec 17, 8:27 pm, in Technicolor(R) wrote:
I live in Oregon as I have mentioned in previous postings here. My rant for
today is how our media leaders locally, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get it" about helping
folks with the transition from analog to digital television.

Who look in the newspaper for programming? I can't remember the last
time I did that.

As far as informing the public, I think the FCC should mandate that
for 1 month after the cutoff date, the analog broadcasts run a PSA on
every analog channel telling those that have been living in a cave for
the last 5 years how to now get the "new" digital broadcast.

What should those stations do after 1 month? It costs money to
deliver TV signals. The FCC has already mandated a digital conversion.

Some people still don't understand the difference between Digital
and High Definition broadcasts.

Originally Posted by in Technicolor®

OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
and the local fishwrap, The Oregonian, don't seem to "get it" about helping
folks with the transition from analog to digital television. . .

You cannot rely on the newspaper's listing of an analog broadcast to be accurate for a digital one. . . The worst offender of this practice is our PBS
affiliate, KOPB channel 10. More often than not, what is listed in the
newspaper guide for their analog broadcast is not what is going out over
their SD or HD service. . .We early adopters ... have to make the extra effort to
find what is on. A service like OPB which is dependent on donations you
would think make it as easy to find their stuff, not harder. . . It's a sad state of affairs.

I work at OPB and am happy to have a chance to reply. OPB is actually doing a great deal, on many fronts, to help people through the upcoming switch from analog to digital (424 days away). We have hundreds of thousands of viewers who watch analog TV over the air, so I can guarantee you that we are strongly motivated to see that the greatest possible number of them have working TVs on Feb 18, 2009.

To that end, we're gearing up for a major educational campaign over the next 14 months, which will include, many on-air spots on both TV and Radio, flyers, mass mailings and e-mailings, speakers all over the state, presentations to groups in our studios, brochures, possible partnerships with retailers, expanded staff to work on digital issues, phone and e-mail support, expanded digital listings in various media, Web site education, alliances with groups of all kinds, converter box programs and lots more. We're prepared to do whatever makes sense to help our viewers make this switch.

As far as well can tell, we're WAY ahead of the curve on this issue compared to other stations and most other media. I do think that come Feb 17, 2008, a year from the switch, media coverage will ramp up considerably, as editors assign stories based on the minus one year anniversary, and as more people realize what the change will mean. Public awareness is still pretty low, rather confused, and unfocused. Since there is, I believe, no precedent whatsoever in the history of technology for the digital switch - devices in most everyone's homes suddenly being rendered inoperable, permanently, nationwide, by outside changes in the technology - it's not surprising that people have a hard time getting their minds around the problem.

Some will only be interested in switching in the easiest and least expensive way, via a converter box that will cost as little as $10 after a rebate. Others will buy new digital TVs; some will go all the way to HD. (The best HD signal is available over the air, byt the way, since almost all cable and satellite systems compress the signal, assuming they carry the HD channel in the first place). All these people will be going from their current single analog OPB channel to four digital channels, each with different programming. In almost every city in the country, IT IS ONLY PUBLIC TV that is taking early advantage of the efficiency of digital to offer viewers - for free - additional programming on additional channels. (The only real exceptions to this are some religious or shopping stations). Virtually all commercial stations offer only digital or HD simulcasts of their analog signal, so while the picture is somewhat or highly improved, the program choices remain the same.

OPB does only some simulcasting of programs on HD because many of our programs are still in standard definition, and while they can be upconverted to HD, the result is both expensive and inferior to true HD. We'd rather fill the HD channel with real HD than with mock HD, and we'd rather offer those viewers with access to digital more rather than fewer program choices. As time goes by, we will certainly do more simulcasting, but I imagine our interest in offering viewers choices will always be an important part of the mix.

Schedules for all our channels - OPB, OPB HD, OPB Create, and the Oregon Channel - are on our web site at opb.org. In addition, there is a good amount of information about the switch there, including a great PDF on digital TV at http://www.opb.org/television/extras/opb_digital_tv.pdf

Oregonian chooses what to list on their TV page based upon their budget and their editorial judgment. As the number of digital households moves closer to 100%, it's a pretty safe bet that they will list more digital and HD channels. We don't have control over their choices, though, just as they don't have control over our choices. In meantime, early adopters DO have to work a little harder - isn't that part of the job description, and part of what makes it interesting?

Originally Posted by Larry Bud

On Dec 17, 8:27 pm, in Technicolor(R) wrote:[color=blue][i]

As far as informing the public, I think the FCC should mandate that
for 1 month after the cutoff date, the analog broadcasts run a PSA on
every analog channel telling those that have been living in a cave for
the last 5 years how to now get the "new" digital broadcast.

Running ANYTHING on every analog channel for a minute or a month or a year after the cutoff date will do no good; after the cutoff date there will be no analog broadcasts by full power TV stations anywhere in the US, and very few people watching. The only stations - unless special waivers are granted by the FCC, not terribly likely - allowed to continue with analog after Feb 17, 2009 are low power broadcasters and rural translators. Since most of us are liable to become pretty sick of a good year's worth of PSA's BEFORE the cutoff date, it's rather unlikely that anyone who is still in the dark in their cave by then will ever hear a message afterwords - whether in analog or digital or Morse code. Believe me, there will be many, many messages on your TV, in analog, in standard def, and in HD. The FCC actually has proposed mandating PSA's; it looks more likely that NAB members will run more and better ones if left to do it themselves. It's not like TV stations don't have some interest in viewers' retaining the ability to watch TV broadcasts, even if the over-the-air audience is generally less desirable to them than cable and satellite viewers.