Question: OTA mandates

[bryan92]

I have read articles and FCC pages until Im blue in the face. Im still confused. I wanted to ask this...If a station is in the top 100 markets (Savannah,Ga), 98 to be exact. :), will they be required to be at a higher power by July of this year?

In other words, all stations are finally broadcasting in digital. Well, except for PBS ( I dont care about that right now). They have all been at a power that I cannot receive their signal, some for as long as two years. Stations kept saying this year (03) and the next (04). Anyway, is this their year?
If I didnt give enough info let me know. Thanks for any replies.

[boylehome]

I have read articles and FCC pages until Im blue in the face. Im still confused. I wanted to ask this...If a station is in the top 100 markets (Savannah,Ga), 98 to be exact. :), will they be required to be at a higher power by July of this year?

In other words, all stations are finally broadcasting in digital. Well, except for PBS ( I dont care about that right now). They have all been at a power that I cannot receive their signal, some for as long as two years. Stations kept saying this year (03) and the next (04). Anyway, is this their year?
If I didnt give enough info let me know. Thanks for any replies.
I believe that is the correct assumption. However, I also believe that there are some stipulations that may delay digital channels going to full power until Dec. 2009.

[Mike D-CO5]

From what I read at www.TvTechnology.com (http://www.tvtechnology.com/) website back in August of last year, July 2005 is the deadline for Abc, Cbs, Fox, and Nbc in the top 100 markets and July 2006 for the rest. IN addition , the Fcc also voted to require broadcasters to carry PSIP in their digital signals . Psip is a data stream carried in the DTV signal that tells receiving devices to act on certain commands, including channels identification , closed captioning, program gides and V-chip.

OF course this was last year when Michael Powel was the Fcc Chairman. Who knows what they have changed since then.;)

[bryan92]

Thanks, thats what I gathered from all the reading. Im not going to be dissapointed if it doesnt happen next month after the years of waiting.