Digital pioneer KCTS gets static over switch; Comcast update

It's time for an update on a few of the digital-TV transitions that are driving people nuts lately.

Like the problems people are having with KCTS 9, more than a week after the switch to digital over-the-air broadcasts. Judging by comments I've received and read, they are especially upset about difficulties in receiving the Seattle PBS affiliate.

Maybe it's because they feel some ownership of the public station, so it's particularly frustrating if it doesn't come in.

Or maybe it's because KCTS underwent an especially complicated digital transition, adding a wrinkle to the big DTV switch June 12.

KCTS was a digital pioneer. In 1999 it became the first PBS station to broadcast digitally along with its analog broadcasts.

But KCTS made a few changes last year that affected what happened when it — and the rest of the major stations — went all-digital on the 12th.

KCTS decided last year it would switch from UHF to VHF broadcasts when the digital transition took effect. Locally, KCPQ 13 and KSTW 11 also switched to VHF, which requires less power.

By going to VHF, KCTS was able to use a new transistorized transmitter that requires less maintenance than the previous tube amplifiers.

This was a curveball for some people who had been receiving KCTS digital signals just fine then lost reception after June 12. They thought they were all set, but the signal reached different areas after it switched to VHF channel 9.

Thoroughly rescanning digital converters and TVs may fix the situation for some, while others need aggressive antenna tinkering to get KCTS again. Some are having no luck at all. KCTS and the Federal Communications Commission said they don't yet know how many people are stuck.

One issue is that some people bought antennas labeled VHF/UHF but they weren't truly for VHF, according to KCTS engineering director Jabran Soubeih.

On his KCTS.org blog, Soubeih has been posting extensive tips. My favorite: "If you are on Capitol Hill and live really close to the transmitter tower, you may find a straightened paper clip to work best as an antenna."

Soubeih defended the VHF decision.

"All of the analysis we had at the time showed it was desirable for digital transition," he said in an interview.

Soubeih and KCTS Chief Executive Moss Bresnahan said it's too early to say what will happen next, because people are still sorting out their converters and antennas.

But it sounds as though KCTS could end up making some engineering changes, such as adding repeaters to fill coverage gaps.

"We're taking a look at every call we receive; we're analyzing what the problem might be," Bresnahan said. "We're going to go out and actually measure our signal in places where we're getting reports. We'll take what steps are necessary to make sure the people who want to see us can see us."

Broadcast tower

The FCC's Seattle director, Kris McGowan, said she heard a number of complaints about KCTS and KOMO 4 when she was working in a DTV call center June 12. KOMO General Manager Jim Clayton said the station's steel broadcast tower can obstruct the signal, so the transmitter is being moved to the top of the tower.

Other reception challenges may require rooftop antennas or simply may be unavoidable because of the region's topography.

"This area's always had issues like that," said McGowan, a Bellevue resident. "I live 14 miles from downtown Seattle and I've never had free over-the-air service. I can't get one station. I've never been able to get any stations."

Reception problems aren't too surprising to industry insiders. Areas likely to have problems were mapped last year by Centris, a Pennsylvania research firm that works for cable- and satellite-TV companies.

Over-the-air dwindling

For those pay-TV companies, the June 12 switch and the confusion and complications it created for consumers presented one of their last big opportunities to scoop up lots of new customers, said Centris President Bill Beaumont.

Those companies used Centris reports to target ads and subscription offers to consumers likely to have difficulty getting free digital signals, said Beaumont. He believes over-the-air (OTA) broadcasting is dwindling anyway.

"Over time this number of OTA households will continue to decrease and go to other ways of getting their signal," he said.

Comcast's change

Broadcast channels aren't the only ones switching to digital, of course. Comcast is continuing to convert channels 30 to 70 to digital, forcing "expanded basic" customers to use a converter device with every TV. Its conversion has been under way in the suburbs and will happen in Seattle in October, according to Tony Perez, the city's director of cable communications.

Customers of Broadstripe, a smaller cable company that's the provider in some areas of Seattle, won't have to use any sort of a digital converter for now. Broadstripe told Perez it will send signals in both digital and analog formats for at least three years.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com.