Thirteen stations in the largest TV market in the nation, the New York DMA, will run a two-minute simulated shutdown of their analog signals next Tuesday, Oct. 28.
At 5:59 p.m., the stations will switch their analog broadcasts to slates or other programming explaining why the analog viewers aren’t getting TV, and what they can do to keep getting it after the real full-power analog shutoff next February.
“The New York broadcasters have made an enormous commitment to ensure that consumers are ready for the transition,” Saul Shapiro, president of the Metropolitan Television Alliance, said in a statement. MTA is establishing a consumer hotline for the test.
The announcement of the New York test was made by Ion Media Networks, NBC-Universal (parent of Telemundo) and members of the Association of Public Television Stations.
-WABC – TV (ABC, Channel 7)
-WCBS – TV (CBS, Channel 2)
-WFUT – TV (Univision, Channel 68)
-WLIW – TV (PBS, Channel 21)
-WNBC – TV (NBC, Channel 4)
-WNET – TV (PBS, Channel 13)
-WNJU – TV (Telemundo, Channel 47)
-WNYE – TV (NYC Media, Channel 25)
-WNYW – TV (Fox, Channel 5)
-WPIX – TV (TheCW, Channel 11)
-WPXN – TV (ION Television, Channel 31)
-WWOR – TV (MyNetworkTV, Channel 9)
-WXTV – TV (Univision, Channel 41)
Ion said it organized the testing campaign in response to a request made by FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
Read more about early analog test shut-offs in the Nov. 5 issue of TV Technology.
