Why Your TV Reception Sucks…

FCC rules discourage local television broadcasters from providing quality TV signal reception, forcing most to use expensive cable & satellite TV providers.
Eureka, CA, February 24, 2009 – I was perusing KIEM-TV’s website earlier tonight when I ran across an interesting link to their policy on granting waivers to satellite television viewers (specifically DirecTV viewers) for [...]

U.S. Senate Votes To Delay DTV Transition

The United States Senate voted unanimously today to extend the deadline for U.S. TV stations to covert their broadcast signals from analog to digital (DTV) until June 12, 2009.

The bill still needs to be approved by the U.S. Congress before it is signed into law by President Obama. Both the President and Congress have indicated their willingness to see the law passed. The original deadline for the transition to digital television was February 17th.

Great Article On DTV Transition

Eureka, CA – It’s not very often that I see articles in the mainstream media where the reporter has an actual grasp of technical issues, or even bothers to spend time seriously researching the subject that they are writing about, for that matter.
That being said, there is an excellent story written by a reporter for [...]

Face Time With the FCC

Eureka, CA – According to today’s Times-Standard, a representative from the Federal Communications Commission will be in Eureka on Thursday, January 15th, to demonstrate how to install a “digital conversion” box and “… help people complete the applications necessary to get a coupon that will provide $40 toward the purchase of a converter box”.
As [...]

Rural TV Viewers May Soon Be In The Dark

As we expected, TV viewers in rural parts of Humboldt County may very well be left in the dark after the switch is made to digital television (DTV) in February 2009. The Times-Standard reported this week that viewers in the Orleans area may lose access to KIEM-TV, the area’s only NBC affiliate, when analog transmissions cease and DTV is made mandatory. The problem? Reception in that area is currently only available via a low-powered analog translator, which relies upon solar power and batteries to broadcast a signal. The only way to keep translator service available would be for the station to install a new DTV translator or convert the station’s main signal from digital back to analog in order to be rebroadcast. The station’s current solar system does not produce enough electricity for either option though.

DirecTV Disables HDTV DVRs and Receivers. Oops!

DirecTV accidentally turns subscriber HD DVRs and receivers into zombies. HDTV subscribers must reset receivers in able to view digital HD programming. Official announcement from DirecTV to customers on HD DVR problem and how to fix it.

KEET-TV ADDS DTV TRANSLATOR

KEET TV pours foundation for a new digital DTV transmitter tower located in Smith River, CA. Will broadcast KEET’s PBS programming to Del Norte County.

Eureka Television Group owner Chester Smith dies

Chester Smith, country music singer, radio broadcaster, television empire-builder and owner of Eureka Television Group, died Friday at the age of 78.

Eureka! We found a DTV converter box

We finally found a source for a decent CECB digital-to-analog converter box for DTV this past week. Even nicer was the fact that we were able to buy it for only about $13 out of our pocket.

List of LPTV Stations and Translators

A list of translators and low-power (LPTV) television stations in Northern California. Includes TV channels for digital and analog TV broadcasters.

Shortage of DTV Converters Continues

Few things are more frustrating than being bombarded with comercials urging you to rush out and buy a product, only to find out later that no stores have the item in stock. No, I’m not talking about the new Apple Iphone. I’m talking about the new DTV converters individuals will need in order to continue watching over-the-air television after February 2009.

Review: DirecTV HDTV Video On Demand Service

Review of DirecTV’s new Video On Demand (VOD) service, available to DirecTV customers with HDTV satellite TV and DVR receivers. Downloads using broadband.

Update On HDTV and DTV Service in Humboldt County

The Eureka Reporter ran an interesting story in yesterday’s edition about the state of HDTV and DTV service in Humboldt County, along with some generic information on the switchover to digital.

Buying DTV Converters Online

Buying DTV Converters Online. As we’ve mentioned here before, there aren’t many websites that can actually process the “free” $40 government coupons when buying a DTV (CECB) converter online.

Humboldt Online Privacy Policy

Our privacy policy is quite simple. We do not collect any personal information from our website visitors. Therefore, we do not make any personal information on our website visitors available to any third parties. We do retain generic statistical information for internal use (i.e. number of website hits, referring pages, links to our website, etc.), [...]