DTV Delay Act

The digital transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of terrestrial television programming. According to David Rehr, then president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, this transition represented "the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced." For full-power TV stations, the transition went into effect on June 12, 2009, with stations ending regular programming on their analog signals no later than 11:59 p.m. local time that day.

Under the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, full-power broadcasting of analog television in the United States was initially planned to have ceased after February 17, 2009. To help U.S. consumers through the conversion, the Act also established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program.

The DTV Delay Act changed the mandatory analog cutoff date to June 12, 2009, although stations were permitted to cease analog transmissions before the new mandatory cutoff date. The legislation was enacted on February 4, 2009, and on February 11, 2009, US President Barack Obama signed it into law. The purpose of the extension was to help the millions of households who had not been able to get their coupons for converters because demand for coupons exceeded the funding provided for in the initial bill, leaving millions on a waiting list to receive coupons. Funding for extra coupons was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. By midnight on the original cut-off date of February 17, 2009, 641 stations representing 36 percent of U.S. full-power broadcasters were transmitting exclusively in digital.

Analog broadcasting did not cease entirely following the June 12, 2009 deadline: under the provisions of the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, approximately 120 full-power stations briefly maintained analog "nightlight" service, ending no later than July 12, 2009. In a separate category, low power television stations were permitted to continue analog broadcasts for several more years.

On July 15, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) posted the required transition deadlines for low-power television stations. Stations broadcasting on channels 52 to 69 were required to vacate those channels by December 31, 2011, and all analog television transmitters (primarily low-powered (LP), and Class-A low-powered (-CA) stations, and also broadcast translator (TX) repeaters in rural communities) were required to shut down by September 1, 2015. On April 24, 2015, it was announced that the conversion date for standard LPTVs and translators still broadcasting in analog had been suspended until further notice, due to economic problems that might have arisen from the then-upcoming spectrum auction, however, Class A low-powered stations were still required to convert by the original deadline date of September 1, 2015. After the auction's completion in 2017, the FCC announced on May 17 of that year that all analog low-power stations and transmitters must convert by July 13, 2021. The transition was eventually completed by January 10, 2022, after the State of Alaska was granted an extension to shut down their analog transmitters after a number of factors impacted their transition to digital television.

Congressional mandate

The Congressional deadline to transition to digital broadcasts was pushed back several times. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 with the original transition date of December 31, 2006. However, the transition to digital television was set back three times: first to December 31, 2008, then to February 17, 2009, and then finally to June 12, 2009.

All U.S. full-power analog TV broadcasts were required by law to end on June 12, 2009. Since March 1, 2007, all new television devices that receive signals over-the-air, including pocket-sized portable televisions, personal computer video capture card tuners, and DVD recorders, have been required to include digital ATSC tuners. Prior to this, the requirement was phased-in starting with larger screen sizes. Until the transition was completed, most U.S. broadcasters transmitted their signals in both analog and digital formats, though a few were already digital-only. Digital stations transmitted on another channel, which was assigned to each full-power broadcaster in a three-round digital channel election.

The transition from the analog NTSC format to the digital ATSC format was originally required to be completed on February 17, 2009, as set by Congress in the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. Following the analog switch-off, the FCC reallocated channels 52 through 69 (the 700 MHz band) for other communications traffic, completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s. These channels were auctioned off in early 2008, with the winning bidders taking possession of them in June 2009. Four channels from this portion of the broadcast spectrum (60, 61, 68, and 69) were held for reallocation to public safety communications (such as police, fire, and emergency rescue). Some of the remaining freed up frequencies will be used for advanced commercial wireless services for consumers, such as Qualcomm's planned use of former UHF channel 55 for its MediaFLO service.

For U.S. cable television, the FCC voted 5–0 on September 12, 2007 to require operators to make local broadcasts available to their users in analog. This requirement lasted until 2012, when the FCC reviewed the case again. This was necessary since many cable companies, including major ones such as Comcast, have been taking analog channels away from customers.

In 2007, a bill in the U.S. Congress called the DTV Border Fix Act was introduced. It would have allowed all television stations within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the Mexican border, in areas such as San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley, to keep their analog signals active for another five years. The bill passed the Senate but did not pass the House.

The SAFER Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in December 2008. The act has been called the "analog nightlight" act, and allows analog stations on channels that did not conflict with post-transition digital stations the option of leaving their analog transmitters on for an additional 30 days, but only to provide disaster information and information regarding the digital transition.

Due to a lack of Commerce Department funds to provide for additional converter box coupons, and on account of other potential problems, the Barack Obama transition team asked Congress in a January 8, 2009 letter to delay the end of analog TV. Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union, which wanted a delay, feared older people, those outside cities and the poor needed help. Speaking to a group of area residents as part of a nationwide campaign to persuade people to upgrade, FCC chair Kevin Martin said in Raleigh, North Carolina that a delay was "unlikely," and that it would be "unfair" to all those who made the effort to switch, and to those who bought the reallocated spectrum that was sold with the understanding analog broadcasts would end February 17, 2009. The delay passed Congress despite this prediction (see Extension of transition to June 12).

Transition testing

Wilmington, North Carolina test market

As part of a test by the FCC to iron out transition and reception concerns before the nationwide shutoff, all of the major commercial network stations in the Wilmington, North Carolina market ceased transmission of their analog signals on September 8, 2008, making it the first market in the nation to go digital-only. Wilmington was chosen as the test city in part because the area's digital channel positions would remain unchanged after the transition. Wilmington was also appropriate because it had no hills to cause reception problems and all of the stations would have UHF channels.

The low-power CBS affiliate WILM-LD signed on its new digital signal in time for the transition. The test excluded UNC-TV/ PBS station WUNJ, which kept their analog signal on, as they were the official conduit of emergency information in the area.

Viewers were notified of the change by months of public service announcements, town hall meetings, and local news coverage. Only 7% of viewers were affected by the loss of analog broadcasts, the remainder subscribing to cable or satellite services, but this produced 1,800 calls to the FCC for assistance. Officials were concerned by the implications of this for larger markets or those where reliance on over the air broadcasts exceeds 30%.

More disturbingly, while many calls from viewers were straightforward questions about installation of antennas and converters, or the need to scan for channels before being able to watch digital television, hundreds more were from viewers who had installed converters and UHF antennas correctly but had still lost existing channels. Most affected were full-power broadcasters which had been on low-VHF channels. WECT (NBC 6 Wilmington), a signal which in its analog form reached to the edge of Myrtle Beach, could no longer be received by many who had watched the station for years– a victim of a move to UHF 44 at a different transmitter site. WECT's coverage area had been substantially reduced; for many who were on the fringes of the analog NBC 6 signal, WECT was no more. However weeks before, new digital-only WMBF-TV, a new NBC affiliate, came to the air to serve Myrtle Beach with a city-grade signal; like WECT, WMBF was owned by Raycom Media at the time.

On November 7, 2008, the FCC issued an order allowing distributed transmission systems to be constructed by stations which otherwise cannot cover their original analog footprint with their new digital channels and facilities. While broadcasters may now apply for DTS facilities, this decision was made far too late to allow the extra transmitter sites to be constructed and operational before the original February 17, 2009 analog shutoff.

Impact

Digital TV encoding allows stations to offer higher definition video and better sound quality than analog, as well as allowing the option of programming multiple digital subchannels (multicasting). However, it provides these advantages at the cost of a severe limitation of broadcast range.

Digital signals do not have 'grade b' signal areas, and are either 'in perfectly' or 'not in at all'. Further, since most stations have elected to use UHF rather than older VHF channel allocations, their actual broadcast range is far less than previously. Viewers in major metropolitan areas will likely not notice problems; however, rural TV users have generally had most and in some events all of the stations they previously received with acceptable but not 'perfect' signals fall over the digital cliff (as the loss of signal has been described).

Lastly, many low-power broadcasters have been temporarily permitted to transmit in analog for several years.

Consumer awareness

Although Britain spent the equivalent of more than a billion dollars educating about 60 million people, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration had received $5 million a year before the original transition date of February 17, 2009, and the FCC had received $2.5 million and was scheduled to receive $20 million more later in the year, for 300 million people. This meant voluntary education campaigns would be needed. It was also noted that low-income