I realize that it may be a case of YMMV; however I was using my own
example in making my theory.
Four of the six signals in my DMA are under the control of one person
(though technically have different owners for each license). One is
the dinosaur (as a former employee put it) in the market, with the 70%
share and the longest continually operating license, as well as the
only consistent signal which I can receive, OTA.
For months they've been running the standard DTV PSAs, mixing in the
standard issue & network spots with ready-for-voiceover spots and a
few goofy in-house spots (starring the head dummy, er, operations
manager). Interestingly, the in-house spots either refer viewers to a
USPS address ("comments may be sent to...") or an e-mail address. But
what is the first medium that most people will use to get action on a
particular issue? The telephone, of course. By conveniently omitting
a phone number from the in-house spots, I'm guessing the last thing
they want to receive is phone calls wondering where the signal is;
most likely because the bimbo they hire for minimum wage to answer the
phone doesn't have a clue and she's been told that the people who know
don't want incoming phone calls.
But I don't really need to do much surmising in that area. A week-and-
half ago, I noticed that the analog signal seemed to be missing around
4-5 PM on two consecutive days. On the second day, I called the
station, asked for engineering, and after a few rings, got voice
mail. I explained my concern, left my name & number; I'm still
waiting for a call back. Maybe it was a fluke or maybe my message got
trapped in voice mail jail, but I'm pretty sure that responding to
calls from viewers is a low priority at this operation.
Ergo, I'm guessing that it's simply cheaper in the long run to pay the
extra $40K in electric bills (and hope the gub'mint and the NAB take
care of the PR) than to save a few bucks immediately by switching to
digital-only before deadline, and have the headache and hassle of
trying to answer viewer inquiries. I'm also guessing that come June
17th, the automated attendant that normally answers the phone after
hours will be full-time, and callers who have issues will have to
press '1' for the DTV thank-you-for-sharing voice mailbox.
Sure, the O&Os will keep the analog signal running; no one in NYC
wants to hear how their station in Denver or Chicago dropped the
signal early, inconveniencing grandma from watching "Wheel of
Fortune". But mid-market stations that aren't media conglomerate-
owned and feel that enough people in their market either have cable or
might have already been coaxed into getting a converter box won't
necessarily have the same compunction. It is those that I would guess
would be the first to try to wiggle out of the four month extension.
_____
On Feb 8, 1:54 pm, "Kevin M." <[email protected]> wrote:
> From what I can tell, you have it backwards. The larger markets are
> typically O&Os, and thus have a larger till from which to draw from.
> They have the resources to extend the deadline and run concurrent
> analog and digital signals. The smaller market stations are typically
> affiliates, and their respective owners have little to no interest in
> increasing their operating budgets to cover the expense of extending
> the deadline.
>
> As for the smaller market staff being unable to "accurately answer
> technical questions," my brother (chief engineer of a set of stations
> in one of them fly-over states) would probably disagree. Setting
> family aside for the moment, the same engineering precepts which exist
> in a large market also exist in smaller markets, and the same
> knowledge-base and skill sets are required for both.
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