C-Band Analog Discontinuance?

[SAC 441]

Much of the coming attention by TV broadcasters is the end of the analog
terrestrial signals coming in February 2009.I was noticing though that
there are still a few major broadcasters utilizing analog transmissions
over C-Band satellite spectrum. Although there are so few of us left
(C-Band "big dish" users),no mention of a "hard" cut-off date is
mentioned for these signals.Or are they,and I just missed it somewhere?
Or,theoretically can programmers like the Weather Channel keep going
analog for as long as they want to?

[UCLAN]

SAC 441 wrote:

The latter. The FCC has no control over this. TWC is already digital for
their HD feed. The migration from analog to digital is up to the individual
programmer. Some see no need. Others do.

[Patrick Martin]

I made a comment about BUD users out there about a year ago. Someone
stated that there are not many who sub to programming, but there are
thousands that watch the free to air stuff on DVB. That is very popular.
Some use dedicated dishes aimed at a single bird. True, analog C Band is
on its way out. It has for years, but digital TVRO is alive an well. I
will always have my BUD. People that do not have 4DTV or DVB are missing
out on a lot of goodies. Free goodies..

73,

Patrick

[SAC 441]

I just found it odd that with all the angst about the
analog terrestrial cutoff next year in February that even though C-Band
analog sources are dwindling,
analog C-Band theoretically could still go on forever despite the land
based cutoff.There are still quite a few VC2+ sources still around.

[tkc]

Still using C Band VCII tnt tbs cnn
Anyone know when these will quit?

Also watch Clear Channels C Span EWTN PBS
Anyone know when these will quit?

To Boot
My Terrestial is CBS and NBC very snowy from UHF rooftop ant...

Gonna be a dark world soon.
Arghhhhh

[UCLAN]

tkc wrote:

> Gonna be a dark world soon.

Why?

[Sal M. Onella]

"tkc" <tomki...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:920ba04d-579e-42be...@1g2000pre.googlegroups.com...

< snip >

Still using C Band VCII tnt tbs cnn
Anyone know when these will quit?

Also watch Clear Channels C Span EWTN PBS
Anyone know when these will quit?

To Boot
My Terrestial is CBS and NBC very snowy from UHF rooftop ant...

Gonna be a dark world soon.

=========================================
Maybe not. Digital signals have better range than analog because the
threshold for digital lock is much less than is required for a good analog
picture. Most good 8VSB tuners will lock at 16 dB above the noise, but you
need about 40 dB carrier-to-noise for a good, clean analog picture. Since
dB's are logarithmic, that's a difference of over 200 times in signal
strength.

You may be in better shape than you think. See group alt.video.digital-tv
for an ongoing discussion of the march toward Transition Day.

If I may add this: The transition of broadcast TV (from towers and
mountaintops) has *** NOTHING *** to do with satellite services, clear or
VCII. The services may choose to drop analog or transition to DigiCipher,
but it's not the government's idea this time around.

[alt]

Diminishing Analog C-band transmissions are more due to economics.
Transponder space is expensive and while the demand for it is going up,
the available capacity isn't. Does it make economic sense to use 8MHz for
an analog broadcast when that same broadcast encoded as MPEG 2 can take
up less than 2MHz and can be combined with a dozen or so more channels to
save on the carrier spacing about 512kHz?

My opinion, as stated above, is that it is all about them money. If they
can do the same job in much less space, then they will.

[Stephen Smith]

The FCC analog mandate for 2009 only effects television broadcasting on
normal television. This decision has no effect on satellite communications
what-so-ever. The two are totally different and I don't see any changes
happening in this arena.

"SAC 441" <SAC...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:20178-488...@storefull-3253.bay.webtv.net...