4 (San Francisco) stations drop analog signal

[Mark Holtz]

From SF Gate:

4 Bay Area stations drop analog signalFour Bay Area television stations will cease analog transmissions Tuesday, almost four months ahead of the June 12 deadline for broadcasters to go all-digital.

The four stations - KCNS (Channel 38), KOFY (Channel 20), KICU (Channel 36) and KFTY (Channel 50) - will no longer be available to consumers with older TV sets that rely on over-the-air signals.FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/16/BUDD15TP5Q.DTL)

[boylehome]

I think that SF is pretty opulent. The TV stations there are probably passing out free DTV converters!

[lwilli201]

All independent stations.

[elaclair]

All independent stations.

Been away from the Bay Area for a while....are any of those stations still owned by James Gabbert? I remember he always tried to stay "cutting edge" with his stations.....

[redfiver]

I think that SF is pretty opulent. The TV stations there are probably passing out free DTV converters!

those are all independent stations that get very low ratings. I'm sure they don't have the cash to hand out free DTV converters. And, because of the geography, there are many people who can't get OTA signal anyway. I can get all of these stations OTA, but they aren't in HD via OTA, so I always picked them up from DirecTV anyway.

[sum_random_dork]

Been away from the Bay Area for a while....are any of those stations still owned by James Gabbert? I remember he always tried to stay "cutting edge" with his stations.....

Jim Gabert has sold his "TV20" station, the current owner I think is Granite Broadcasting. They were doing ok until the demise of The CW, they just recently went back to "Your TV20" and bringing back the famous dogs in their ads. KGO is producing a 9pm newcast and placing it on TV20. Jim Gabert use to show up every once in a while on KGO radio as a guest host but I haven't heard him in a while.