Well, the FCC informed our attorney on Saturday, that due to a legal technicality, WMTV has to sign off its analog signal 24 hours earlier than expected, at the end of the day today (Feb. 16).  So here we go.

WISC, WKOW and WBUW will be shutting down their analog signals tomorrow during the day.  WHA and WMSN will stay on in analog for the time being.

It's been a bumpy road, and it could have been handled better by the government and consumer electronics manufacturers and dealers.  We have done our best to follow each rule that was handed down to us, many of which were incredibly expensive.  There was no coupon program for the TV stations that had to make the changes.

The vast majority of antenna viewers are enjoying beautiful reception and extra free channels.  It's unfortunate that some people are having trouble receiving all the digital channels due to antenna issues or poor converter box design.  And it's not just channel 15.1 that is suffering.  Some viewers have trouble receiving one or more of the other stations too.  It's troubling from my point of view in that all the Madison stations are meeting and even exceeding FCC requirements, but from the viewer's standpoint, it's our fault when there's no picture.  WMTV will be spending even more money this year to strengthen our digital signal AGAIN to make up for deficiencies on the receiving end.

We can't afford to run two transmitters any longer.  When Congress, in effect, snapped its fingers and said you can now stay on until June 12th, it once again delved into an area that a legislative body has no place being, changing technical regulations.  I could talk for hours on how this should have occurred, what went wrong, and why viewers are having problems today.  But I'd just sound like a geek, and it wouldn't fix Joe Viewer's reception problem tomorrow morning.

So, for better or worse, we're gritting our teeth and pressing the OFF button on our Comark S-series TV transmitter tonight, after nearly 24 years of service.  Farewell, analog.