More DTV idiocy

With hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, the FCC and NTIA are getting ready to assure lawmakers that everything is ok. Their job just got harder. NYT reports:

Nearly six million people with digital receivers may still lose TV signals when digital-only broadcasts begin next February, a new study says.

The study by Centris, a market research firm in Los Angeles, found gaps in broadcast signals that may leave an estimated 5.9 million TV sets unable to receive as many channels as they did before the changeover. It may affect even those who bought the government-approved converter boxes or a new digital TV. To keep broadcast reception, many viewers may have to buy new outdoor antennas, the study found.

Ok...so the FCC says 21 million people get their current (analog) signals Over The Air. Here's the problem. Analog signals fade out as they get farther away from the transmitter, can go through walls, and still look OK. With DTV, your signal doesn't fade, it drops. You either get a crystal clear picture, or nothing. So if you have don't have a great antenna on your roof, you could be screwed. Nice. Read on:

"For the people with rabbit-ear antennas, I would say at least 50 percent won't get the channels they were getting," Dr. Bendov said. "I would say a lot of people are going to be very unhappy."

Digital reception is more affected by hills, trees, buildings and other interference than analog has been. An analog TV picture degrades gradually, getting more snow or ghosting as a signal becomes weaker.

But digital TV is subject to the "cliff effect" -- the picture is excellent until the signal gets weak and the picture suddenly drops out.

The number of sets that the Centris study projects will fail varies from city to city, based largely on the landscape. In Las Vegas, which lies in a flat basin, the study estimates that 2.5 percent of over-the-air TVs would lose at lease one of five major networks. In Philadelphia, which has more hills, 5 percent of over-the-air TVs would lose reception, while in St. Louis, 10 percent would lose reception.

Centris says, based on the F.C.C.'s data, a digital signal would travel 60 to 75 miles in those three cities. However, Centris says its own model showed that the signals would degrade at 35 miles.