KSDX-LP Back On The Air (Feb 2, 2008)

KSDX-LP, broadcasting on channel 29 as a low power station, causes co-channel interference with XHTIT-DT from Tijuana and adjacent channel interference with XHJK-DT 28 and KPBS-DT 30 depending on where you are situated.

Shouldn't KSDX be moved to another open channel given that channel 29 has been alloted to Tijuana per agreement?

XETV-TD (Feb 2, 2008)

XETV plans to keep its analog channel 6 for the time being well after the February 17, 2009, deadline for U.S.-based analog television channels to cease broadcasting because XETV is a Mexico-licensed operation and Mexico's law allows analog TV broadcasts, so the Fox affilliate will have an advantage over the other major network affilliates of ABC and CBS, and the network-owned NBC stations who are forced to turn off their analog signals after the Feb 17, 2009 date. Fox programs will continue to be available to San Diegans on analog channel 6 without the need for fans of Fox to buy a digital TV receiver or digital to analog converter box.

There's no word whether the CBS, ABC, and NBC stations in San Diego plan to appeal to the FCC for an extension to continue broadcasting their analog signals in San Diego so that they can remain competetive with XETV's Fox station.

KFMB-DT Moving to Channel 7? (Feb 2, 2008)

MediaFLO plans to use channel 55 in San Diego.

From Wikipedia: MediaFLO is Qualcomm's latest technology to broadcast data to portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Broadcast data will include multiple real-time audio and video streams, individual, non-realtime video and audio "clips", as well as IP Datacast application data such as stock market quotes, sports scores, and weather reports. The "F-L-O" in MediaFLO stands for Forward Link Only, meaning that the data transmission path is one-way, from the tower to the device. The MediaFLO system transmits data on a frequency separate from the frequencies used by current cellular networks. In the United States, the MediaFLO system will use frequency spectrum 716-722MHz, which was previously allocated to UHF TV Channel 55.

That will impact reception of KABC channel 7 from Los Angeles.

From Holl_ands as posted in hdtv.forsandiego.com:

As part of the so-called "700 MHz" bandwidth auction, Qualcomm was granted use of CH55 NATION-WIDE for new MediaFlo services.

Qualcomm has also been allowed to negotiate with current CH55 users (e.g. KFMB-DT and several others) to begin MediaFlo services on CH55 in advance of Feb2009.

The article above states that CH7 will be temporarily used for DTV until CH8 changes from analog to DTV.

Hence CH55 MediaFlo services could be activated in San Diego.

And maybe Qualcomm will shut down CH53 experimental Xmtr on Black Mountain (overloading Preamps in Rancho Penasquitos), thereby releasing CH53 for a NEW-DT station in Tecate, MX.

The Digital Switchover Confusion (Feb 2, 2008)

Consumers confused – and often just plain wrong – about digital TV transition

Much of what consumers are learning about the looming shift to digital broadcasting is just plain wrong and could end up costing them money, according to a survey.

Some people think they need to buy new equipment when they don't, according to a Consumers Union survey, and others say they don't plan on taking any steps to deal with the change when they should.

"Confusion about the digital television transition will cost consumers a lot of money for equipment they may not want or need," Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for the Consumers Union, said Wednesday.

Starting Feb. 18, 2009, full-power television stations in the U.S. will turn off their old-technology analog signals and broadcast only in a digital format, potentially leaving millions of televisions displaying nothing but snow.

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, says 36 percent of respondents in its survey were unaware of the transition - a big number, but much lower than what has been reported in studies from a year ago.

The great majority of consumers - anyone whose television is hooked up to a cable or satellite service or owns a digital set - will not be affected. Anyone who owns an older television that gets its signal via antenna, however, will need a converter box, which the government will help pay for.

Read the rest of the story at the link above.

To order coupons: http://www.dtv2009.gov