An estimated 77 million Americans who rely on an antenna to watch local broadcast television will need to “rescan” their TV sets or converter boxes after their local stations change channels as stations are repacked into a smaller portion of spectrum. Some viewers will need to rescan more than once, as their favorite local TV station moves to a temporary channel and then to its permanent channel.
Lyn Plantinga, General Manager of The NewsChannel 5 Network (WTVF) in Nashville, TN, told lawmakers on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee last week the message needs to be delivered many times before it sinks in. Her station went through a public education process when WTVF transitioned from analog to digital transmission. “It’s like changing the wheels on your car while rolling down the highway because you have to keep our signal on the air,” she said.
To begin the public education process, NAB on Wednesday launched the TVAnswers.org website. In English and Spanish, it will inform viewers how they can continue to receive their local TV stations during the channel repack.
The site will explain why the transition is happening, when stations in their market are changing channels, and what they need to do to continue to receive over-the-air television signals. No new equipment is needed, and those who receive television programming via cable or satellite don’t need to take action.
NAB will roll out more tools for TV stations in the coming weeks, including talking points, sample scripts and crawls and automated phone messages. Early next year, NAB plans to release customizable spots for stations to air, as well as a video to help viewers understand how to rescan their TV set.
Published September 14, 2017
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