The switch to digital television, as told by a librarian

It's okay, you can trust me, I'm a librarian.

But, I have worn many hats. Did you know I have a college degree in television production? It's true! I also once had an illustrious career working at Target- selling TVs. Yes, TV was once my passion- before it morphed into libraries. Sort of an odd transition when you think about it.


So today (this morning), TV went all digital, kind of. Some channels changed over before today and some are actually still pumping out analog signals. I'm looking at you WJZY. (WJZY is purposely being held back in order to ease the transition for some viewers.)

Why did this happen?
The switch to "digital" TV signals was actually decided by Congress, 12 years ago. For real.

TV companies and cable are not behind this. You see, TV over the air takes up "bandwidth." Of which there is only so much to go around. Traditional over the air broadcasts are actually sent out via FM- just like a radio. Video was sent out over FM, while audio was made up of AM.

But there is only so much of that frequency to go around. And to be quit honest, it got full.

Congress regulates over the air frequencies. If you want a radio station, you have to get it from the government. (It didn't always used to be like that, but someone had to take control.)

More and more people wanted over the air frequencies for communications. Lots of communication devices want this magic air space. Cell phone companies especially.

So in 1996, Congress decided that the best way to free up some of this communication space was to change how television went out. Bold move. TV was hogging up a lot of this communication space, and wasn't really using it very well.

By forcing a switch to digital, the signal could be much stronger (thus higher in quality), and use less bandwidth.

What do I need?
These laws also provided for ways of making sure people did not lose TV. Since early 2007, it has been the law for TVs to have digital tuners.

So Devin, what is a tuner?

Think of this like a radio. If you want to listen to a station, you turn the dial to that station. But older TVs do not have a "dial" capable of turning to new digital signals. It would be like trying to turn your radio dial to station 200- but it stops at 108.

Digital tuners are just ways to tune to these different numbers. If your TV was purchased since 2007, it should have a DTV tuner built in (it does not have to be "HI-Def"). If not, you can buy DTV tuners. And regardless of income, you can apply for and get up to two DTV converting box coupons. The coupons are only for up to $40, but most boxes are only $40.

Connecting an antenna to a DTV box, then channel scanning will find digital channels, and get you all set.

How it benefits you!
If you get your TV over the air, you're in for a treat. The quality of DTV is significantly higher. Its even better than cable or satelite.

Thats right, NBC over the air is higher def, and higher in quality than that same NBC from cable- even Hi-Def cable. The signal from over the air is not compressed. Nothing can beat it.

And oddly, you may find you have more channels. Digital broadcasts allow for sub-channels. For instance, in Charlotte, you will find there are 4 UNC-TV channels. You may find there are weather sub-channels. And some sub channels give you options for best picture.

For instance, a channel may be "HD" or "DTV" on .1, but "SD" on .2 If you like your picture square, or have a square TV set, the "SD" (or standard definition) version may be best for you. If you have a wide screen TV or you prefer wide settings on a square set, the "DTV" setting is for you.


As much of a pain as it may seem now, changing TV signals was set in motion over a decade ago, and for the people's best interest. In the long run, the switch has many benefits.