TV History in the Carolinas: DTV is Here

By: Tom Crabtree | News Channel 7
Published: September 09, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

As of 12 noon on Monday, September 8th, 2008, families in the Wilmington, North Carolina television market are part of television history.

Their community has gone digital.

Television stations in Wilmington volunteered to have their market become the nation's first to convert their broadcasts from analog to digital, ahead of the national conversion date, which is February 17th, 2009.

Wilmington is the nation's guinea pig, so to say.

It was a big event. National news media covered the flicking of the switch. So did several television stations from Japan, which goes digital in 2011.

If you'd like to read more about how Wilmington got ready for the DTV conversion, have a look at this article in the on-line version of the Wilmington Star News:

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20080908/ARTICLES/809080263/1004&title=World_watches_as_Wilmington_goes_digital

I've probably spoken to 20 or so church clubs and civic groups in our viewing area this year about the DTV conversion and how to be ready.

We have lots of information available at www.wspa.com.

The bottom line: if you receive your TV signal via rabbit ears or an outdoor antenna, and you have an older TV set, you need to decide which one of these options you prefer:

1. Purchase a converter box (converts the new digital signal back to analog so your old-style TV can see it)

2. -OR- sign up for cable or satellite service

3. -OR- purchase a new television set with a built-in digital tuner.

You won't need to replace your current TV unless you want to.

If you're not sure what to do to have your TV sets ready for the February 17th conversion from analog to digital, please feel free to contact News Channel 7. If those of us in the newsroom can't answer your question, we'll put you in touch with an engineer.

We'll make sure you have the information you need so you'll still have a TV picture next February.

And if your group wishes to book a member of the News Channel 7 staff to talk about DTV, get in touch with me at (864) 587-4462 or tcrabtree@wspa.com.

The conversion date is only about 5 months away.

Time to get crackin'!