# Numbers assigned to digital TV channels

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816 "2014-02-20T20:00:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816/21 "2014-02-20T23:53:25Z")

</div>

about 1/3 that of FM radio.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816/22 "2014-02-21T00:41:01Z")

</div>

It’s true, analog TV audio is FM. Before the digital switchover, if you had an analog TV station broadcasting on channel 6, you could pick up the audio on 87.7 MHz on any FM radio. It is no longer possible now that TV stations have switched to digital.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816/23 "2014-02-21T01:01:20Z")

</div>

> [@cochrane](#):
>
> It’s true, analog TV audio is FM. Before the digital switchover, if you had an analog TV station broadcasting on channel 6, you could pick up the audio on 87.7 MHz on any FM radio. It is no longer possible now that TV stations have switched to digital.

The FCC still allows low power TV stations to use analog. A [dozen or so LP TV stations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Channel_6_radio_stations) around the country have been set up specifically to take advantage of the fact that many (most?) FM radios can go down to 87.7. Although technically licensed as TV stations, they act as if they are radio stations, but to satisfy FCC requirements they broadcast still pictures or weather/news text feeds on the video portion of their frequency.

For example, [listen to WGWG-LP in Chicago](http://tunein.com/radio/The-Game-877-s100380/) (87.7 and analog TV channel 6).

The FCC plans to end analog LP TV in September 2015.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816/24 "2014-02-21T01:16:09Z")

</div>

> [@johnpost](#):
>
> about 1/3 that of FM radio.

Thanks.  
He may have been speaking about television receivers that scrimped on the audio circuitry and provided a tiny speaker.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numbers-assigned-to-digital-tv-channels/681816.md?page=1)