Early Switch to Digital TV in Wilmington Provides Preview of February Transition
Feature Story by Jheanelle Wilkins - 9/23/2008
The early switch to digital television in Wilmington, N.C., provided an useful snapshot of the nation's progress in preparing for this major transition without leaving any groups behind.
With the flip of a switch on September 8, Wilmington became the first city to change completely from analog to digital television broadcasting.
In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin said the test will give insight as to what methods are effective in creating awareness and also provide a preview of the "technical and engineering" difficulties involved in order to learn from them.
Wilmington's five TV stations switched to digital television signals at noon, affecting the 7.4 percent of Wilmington residents who rely solely on over-the-air signals.
The remainder of the country will complete the digital television (DTV) transition on February 17, 2009.
Since Wilmington was announced in May as a testing ground for the national DTV transition, the FCC, local stations, and various organizations have collaborated to promote public awareness and provide consumer education on DTV.
Although the Wilmington test was mostly successful, it highlighted some unresolved issues. Despite more than 400 outreach events, some Wilmington residents were still unprepared for the transition. One station reported nearly 82 calls by 5:30 pm on the day of the switch, while a local call center received at least 75, according to Broadcasting & Cable.
"We got a lot more calls than we thought we would," Andrea Good from the Wilmington fire department, told Ars Technica, a technology news website. The fire department ran a help line for seniors and people with disabilities, and is also going to people's homes to help them with converter box problems.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, there were more than 1,000 calls made from Wilmington residents to the FCC and local call centers.
The majority of calls were from residents who had a converter box, but were having technical difficulties receiving digital signals. Some residents needed new antennas in order to receive digital signals, while others needed to scan for digital channels. Others had problems setting up their digital converter boxes.
According to Harry Jessell of TVNewsday, if the percentage of callers in Wilmington was replicated in the wider United States during the full transition in February, this would translate to about 1.7 million Americans lacking access to television.
The Wilmington test took place right as Hurricane Hanna was scheduled to make landfall in the Carolinas, which was a reminder of the role television plays in alerting people to potential disasters.
Civil rights groups have expressed concern about the federal resources allocated to the digital television transition, which they have argued have not been targeted to the most vulnerable communities, including minorities, seniors, people with disabilities, and people on fixed incomes. Martin estimated that between $100,000 and $125,000 was used in four months for outreach in Wilmington alone.
"[T]he financial and human resources spent in the Wilmington area to best prepare its residents for the pilot transition will not be replicated in every vulnerable community," said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, in a statement. "The government should work closely with Wilmington to flag particular areas of concern that can be shared with local community organizations. With this information, community organizers can better mobilize public education efforts in the most vulnerable markets to make sure as few Americans as possible are left in the dark come February 17, 2009."
