I’ve started an ongoing tally of engineers’ responses to my question, “When will you turn off your DTV transmitter?” It’s parsed in the sense I’m asking “when” would you turn off your OTA digital transmitter. Usually I first get a “You’ve got to be kidding” response. After some discussion, the answer becomes a bit more circumspect.
As of today, less than 3 percent U.S. households haven’t prepared for the DTV conversion. That means that these households have not purchased satellite or cable service, nor have they obtained a DTV converter box. This represents a 50 percent improvement over the number of households who were not prepared for the loss of analog television back in December. more…
The benefits of an energy audit
The last article reviewed the certainty of increased power bills. Upcoming new regulations regarding how power is generated could result in power bills increasing by almost 20 percent. In addition, corporations are receiving increased pressure to become better citizens and consumers of power and natural resources. more…
The Apple computer company has forced the public Web site BluWiki to remove a series of articles and discussions on user modifications for the iPod and iPhone products. Apple threatened legal action against the owner of the Web site, OdioWorks, unless the Web site removed certain pages, which discussed ways to modify the Apple products to they would operate with other (non-Apple) software.
Apple’s shutdown demand to the noncommercial and public Internet wiki was designed to force the Web site’s owners to remove any discussion on making iPods and iPhones compatible with media management software such as WinAmp and Songbird. However, this action was called a violation of the users’ First Amendment rights, according to an April 27 lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). more…
Ask any engineer how much power it takes to operate the TV station, and you’ll probably get what it costs to operate the transmitter. Dig deeper and ask what it costs to operate the studios, and you’ll probably get a blank stare.
What most engineers don’t realize is that there’s an even larger power hog in the broadcast and content producer space. Today’s video production facilities require huge amounts of power from the nation’s electrical grid. If there’s a positive side to these facts, it’s that such power consumption is continuous. Broadcasters draw the same power from the electrical grid 24 hours per day. The consumption doesn’t drop at 5 p.m. and stay low all night, again peaking at 8 a.m. the next morning. more…
As if broadcasters don’t already have enough to worry about, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 supporting the FCC’s sanctions against Fox for a pair of live Billboard Music Award broadcasts containing the swear words s*** and f***. The obvious words were uttered respectively by Cher and Nicole Richie way back in 2002 and 2003.
Those broadcasters over the age of 40 may remember the famous 1978 case where the FCC charged the Pacifica Foundation with indecency because George Carlin spoke his famous “Seven Dirty Words” in a radio broadcast. The case ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in support of the commission, saying that the FCC could sanction the station. more…
In the first three parts of this series, we examined some of the key components in broadcast centers related to efficient operation. While the goal was to emphasize “green,” the practical results are to save money. Being green and being efficient are not divergent principles. more…
KickApps, a provider of on-demand social media, video player and widget platforms, announced an agreement with Hearst-Argyle Television to power user-generated content (UGC) and social-media functionality on the company’s nationwide network of television station Web sites. KickApps will provide the infrastructure and front-end, enabling the company’s Web sites to create and manage hyperlocal Web experiences with social, interactive, dynamic, distributed and data-informed features. more…
The previous column introduced you to the cooling requirements of some broadcast spaces. Now we’ll look at the most important television space — the machine room. This is the heart of all content production centers. If this room goes down, so does all production and transmission. more…
As part of the FCC’s nationwide DTV transition assistance effort, hundreds of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members will be part of a $90 million project to help viewers get their DTV boxes running. AmeriCorps NCCC members will focus on groups the FCC has targeted for special attention, including low-income individuals, minority communities, non-English speaking consumers, senior citizens, consumers with disabilities and individuals living in rural areas or tribal lands. more…
The previous column reviewed the basis for this series of articles called “It’s not easy being green.” We continue now with a discussion of a video facility’s most important operating spaces, the master control room (MCR) and the machine room. more…
I’ve started an ongoing tally of engineers’ responses to my question, “When will you turn off your DTV transmitter?” It’s parsed in the sense I’m asking “when” would you turn off your OTA digital transmitter. Usually I first get a “You’ve got to be kidding” response. After some discussion, the answer becomes a bit more circumspect.
