I don’t see the expense other than a larger power bill and engineers at both transmitters.
…which is quite a large expense. That’s like saying “I don’t see the expense in using a car after the initial purchase – other than the gas and maintenance.”
Someone (either in this thread or in the other thread in the Pit) also posted a cite where a Qualcomm executive talks about millions of dollars in losses for Qualcomm not being able to use the frequencies they bid and won on time.
power tubes are in the $35,000 to $45,000 range and the electricity ranges from $10,000 to $20,000 a month for the analog transmitters.
TV stations, like all other businesses, are laying people off. That was before this delay. These are real jobs not easily replaced. These stations invested money they didn’t have in a digital system mandated by the government. This money was borrowed from banks. They’re now runing dual transmitting systems which, as listed above, is an additional expense and it goes towards loans that are not supported by additional revenue.
I can’t help it if people didn’t apply for the coupons. They were readily available at the beginning of the program. Someone who was financially challenged could easily get them. All they had to do was ASK. For those remaining who are not financially challenged then it means they need to buy one, just as they would have had to do if they got a coupon. They can do it on Feb 17 just as easily as Jun 12.
All this was heavily promoted on TV with FREE PSA announcements. And by free I mean lost revenue from paying customers. The TV stations did their part and made business plans date that are not easily changed around a specific. When the switch is made there are stations who are moving to different frequencies from the ones they are transmitting on now. All that has to be coordinated. The government just FUBAR’d all of the planning involved in one economy-damaging vote.
All WV stations but one will transition on Feb 17
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=28735
So, what did Rockefeller accomplish? Surely other states are even more ready to transition than WV. What do the numbers look like in the major media markets?