Digital Television Transition Joint BroadcasterCable Information Exchange

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Digital Television TransitionJoint
Broadcaster/Cable Information Exchange

• May 27, 2008

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Agenda

• Overview of the transition
• Information that cable providers need from
  broadcasters - discussion
• Information that broadcasters need from cable
  providers - discussion
• Lunch box lunches provided courtesy of
  Time-Warner
• Breakout meetings

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D-Day February 17th, 2009

• Last day of analog broadcasting Tuesday,
  2/17/09
• Full-power analog transmitters all over the US
  will go dark for the last time at midnight
• Low-power stations and translators can continue
  to broadcast in analog for the time being
• Analog televisions not connected to cable or
  DBS, or connected to a digital converter box,
  will lose all reception from full-power stations

266 Days and counting
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How Viewers Get TV

• Greenville Market 74 Cable (Cable World 2001)
• Columbia Market 61 Cable (Cable World 2001)
• Charleston Market 69 Cable (Cable World 2001)
• National Average Cable Penetration 58 (NCTA
  2007)
• DBS Penetration Approximately 15
• Over the air Estimated 15 to 25 of
  households
• Most homes, even with cable or DBS, also have at
  least one over-the-air TV

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The Day After Cable Carriage

• On the 18th, digital Must Carry rules take
  effect for all full-power stations who were
  entitled to must-carry before
• Cable providers will down-convert each local
  broadcasters primary program service, convert
  it to analog and place it on their lower tier
  (for at least 3 years).
• Cable providers will also carry local stations
  primary service on their digital tier (in HD
  if transmitted in HD), and hopefully multicast SD
  services as well.
• PTV has agreements with NCTA and other cable
  associations to carry up to four programming
  services from one PTV station in each market.

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The Day After Cable Carriage

• It is absolutely critical that broadcasters and
  cable providers exchange information ASAP to
  ensure a smooth transition
• This is not a broadcasters concern onlycable
  operators phones will ring as well as
  broadcasters phones on the 18th if we dont all
  get it right
• Cable engineers and broadcast engineers need to
  be in close contact now more than ever
• This is a good opportunity to form relationships
  that will be advantageous to both industries for
  years to come

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Suggested Timeline from NCTA

• June 15, 2008 Start internal transition
  planning and begin contacting broadcasters for
  coordination and planning.
• August 1, 2008 Coordination with broadcasters
  completed. Equipment needs and negotiations
  with vendors begun.
• August 30, 2008 Equipment orders placed.
• December 1, 2008 Equipment installed and
  tested
• January 1, 2009 Final planning and
  coordination with broadcasters completed

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (1)

• Administrative Information
• Station call letters
• Community of license
• Licensee name
• Network affiliation
• Station address information
• General Manager contact info
• Engineering contact info
• Chief Engineer (Office and cell)
• Transmitter Engineer (Office and cell)
• Master Control / Operations
• Location of transmitter (coordinates)

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (2)

• Transition Plan
• Date / time of termination of analog operations
• Midnight _at_ 2/17 or other?
• Stations can terminate up to 30 days early with
  public notification (FCC approval not required)
• Stations can terminate after November 16, 2008
  with FCC approval and public notification
• Any plans for test periods prior to transition
  date?
• Wilmington test noon on September 8th
• Be aware there may be a technical need to reduce
  or terminate current digital transmissions
  before the transition date, or that operations
  may commence early on post-transition digital
  channel

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (3)

• Delivery to Cable Head End
• Delivery method after transition date
• Off-Air
• Transmitter location, ERP, antenna height,
  antenna pattern
• Any changes from current?
• Backup transmitter? Location?
• Fiber
• Does fiber exist currently? If not, when
  planned?
• Type of transport ASI, SDI, Gig-E, RF, ?
• Other
• Microwave, translator, ?

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (4)

• Delivery to Cable Head End
• Are there any changes planned in the current
  analog or digital delivery method BEFORE the
  transition date?
• Are there any changes planned in the current
  digital delivery method AFTER the transition
  date?
• If delivery is off-air, any signal level or
  antenna pattern changes planned?
• Move side mounted digital antennas to top of
  tower, etc.
• Can stay on temporary side-mounted antenna for
  up to 6 months if 85 of assigned coverage area
  is served, 3-4 months if not.
• Can the digital signal be used for the primary
  cable feed early?
• Newer digital transmitters may be more reliable
• May mitigate interference problems

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (5)

• Channels
• What will final digital channel be?
• Staying on current DTV channel (1178 stations
  60)
• Moving back to analog channel (517 stations
  27)
• Moving to a new channel (117 stations 6)
• Flash-cut (7 - mostly low-power translators)
• If changing from current digital channel, when
  will that occur?
• Stations can stay on an in-core temporary
  digital channel for up to one year (2/17/2010)
• If signal delivery is off-air, how will the
  signal level and antenna pattern be changed by
  the channel change?

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (6)

• Digital Content and Formats
• What will the service lineup be after transition
  date?
• Is it different from current? If so, date of
  change?
• Will the lineup change during the day? How?
• Which service will be considered the Primary?
• What mode SD or HD? 1080i, 720p, 480i?
  Aspect Ratio?
• If HD, will you provide an SD version for the
  lower tier? How?
• What format for down-conversion?
• Letterbox
• Center cut
• AFD
• Multicast services
• What mode SD or HD? 1080i, 720p, 480i? Aspect
  Ratio?

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (7)

• Technical Details
• PIDs and/or PSIs for each service component
• Video, primary audio, secondary audio, etc.
• Dolby Digital audio
• What mode for each service 2.0 or 5.1?
• Dialnorm value for each service
• SAP / DVS how to map
• Closed captioning

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (8)

• EAS
• Does station have the ability to originate local
  EAS alerts or do all alerts come from a central
  location?
• If needed would station sign a non-interrupt
  agreement?

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What Cable Needs From Broadcasters (9)
Discussionother ideas
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What Broadcasters Need From Cable (1)

• Administrative Information
• Name of MSO and corporate contact info for
  person responsible for transition
• Local cable operator contact info
• Local engineering contact info

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What Broadcasters Need From Cable (2)

• Technical Information for Off-Air pickup
• Locations of head end and receive sites
• Type of antenna and height used for off-air
  reception
• Is antenna dedicated or shared to receive other
  stations?
• Areas served by each head end and receive site
• Contact info for each head end and receive site

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What Broadcasters Need From Cable (3)

• Technical Details
• Channel placement lower tier, digital tier
• Can you enable PID-locking on your receiver?
• Bandwidth How is it handled?
• Is the bandwidth of HD reduced?
• Are the multiplexes from broadcasters mixed in a
  stat-mux pool or kept independent?
• PSIP / EPG
• Is the broadcasters EPG passed through to the
  cable EPG?
• How are new rules for dynamic EPG to be handled?
  How often is EPG updated?
• Reconstruction of VBI data on analog tier?
• Closed captioning
• XDS data including V-Chip

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What Broadcasters Need From Cable (4)
Discussionother ideas
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Information Resources

• Station Transition Details
• FCC Form 387 (DTV Transition Status Report)
• Required to have been filed by all stations by
  February 19, 2008
• http//fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/st
  a-sear.htm
• Enter call sign and select Submit Station
  Search
• BDTRCT indicates commercial stations
• BDTRET indicates non-commercial stations
• FCC Table of Allotments
• Master List of all stations required to make the
  transition
• Appendix B, DTV Table of Allotments Information
  to FCC 08-72, Memorandum Opinion and Order on
  Reconsideration of the 7th Report and Order and
  8th Report and Order, released March 21, 2008.
• http//hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/
  FCC-08-72A2.xls

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Time Warner Stations
WACH Columbia WHHI Hilton Head WLTX
Columbia WJWJ - Beaufort WIS Columbia WCBD -
Charleston WOLO Columbia WCSC -
Charleston WRLK Columbia WTAT -
Charleston WZRB Columbia WITV -
Charleston WNXG Columbia WCIV -
Charleston WBTW Florence WMMP -
Charleston WWMB Florence WRJA - Sumter WJPM
Florence WKTC - Sumter WPDE Florence WTGS -
Hardeeville WFXB Myrtle Beach WGSI Murrels
Inlet WHMC Conway WMYT Rock Hill
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Charter Stations
WSPA Spartanburg WRET Spartanburg WYCW
Asheville WLOS - Asheville WYFF Greenville WHNS
Greenville WNTV Greenville WGGS
Greenville WMYA Anderson WRLK Columbia WIS
Columbia WOLO Columbia WLTX Columbia
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Questions / Comments / Discussion