[Jeffhs]

Since at least two of the local TV stations in Cleveland will be transitioning to digital at ten o'clock in the morning on June 12, I don't know if I'll see the event live as I expect to be sleeping at that hour. However, I could (probably will) set my VCR to tape the transition of one of the stations, although I don't expect to see much except a runner at the top or bottom of the picture informing viewers that the station is terminating analog programming, as one station here in northeastern Ohio did when it switched to 100-percent digital a couple months ago. I won't notice the difference, regardless, as I have Time Warner cable, which is already using the digital signals from every local station (direct feeds from the stations to the cable headend, not picking up signals with antennas) and converting them to NTSC analog for folks such as myself with older sets.

I do wonder, however, what the local TV newscasts will look like after the transition. The NBC station in Cleveland has already dropped its "Channel 3 News" brand (did so some time ago) for its noon, six, seven and 11 p.m. newscasts, now showing a screen just before the newscasts which has a huge, 3-D animated "HD" with a small NBC peacock between the letters, followed by a huge numeral 3 with the NBC peacock next to it and "wkyc-hd" in huge lower-case letters below the whole thing. Channels 5, 8 and 19, however, still have their original branding: "NewsChannel 5" for channel 5, "FOX8 News" for channel 8, and "19 Action News" for channel 19. Whether these will change after the transition is anyone's guess, although I think it would be in the public interest to do away with these brands that show the station's analog channel--after all, those numbers won't mean anything after the analog signals sign off. With all signals being transmitted digitally from June 12 going forward, the stations' channel positions will be expressed as a number followed by a decimal point, e. g. WKYC-DT 17.1 (the channel on which WKYC-TV in Cleveland will be operating when its analog signal signs off). Subchannels, if any, will be expressed by the number immediately to the right of the decimal point.

Speaking of subchannels, I don't think many of Cleveland's major TV stations are, at this point in time, even carrying anything much other than a simulcast of their main signal on their digital subcarriers. I do know that channel 5, the ABC affiliate for this area, does not have any alternate programming (yet) on any of its subchannels; however, channel 43, the MyTV affiliate, is supposedly carrying THIStv on one of its digital channels. I'm not sure about 25, 55, or 61, although channel 23, now an ION-TV affiliate, which does not have any digital subcarriers to my knowledge, will convert to digital "on the fly" on 6.12, if it hasn't already done so.

Finally: I feel sorry for antique-TV collectors such as Doug (drh4683), as his TVs will display nothing but snow after 06.12 unless he subscribes to cable or satellite (with many outlets, as he must have 100 TVs or more in his house). Putting that many splitters on one cable line, moreover, will cause signal losses galore, with the sets nearest the head of the line getting the best picture while those at or near the end of the distribution system will probably get the worst reception. This may not actually happen with cable, but I do know it can (and often does) occur with MATV distribution systems using antennas if the amplifiers fail or are inadequate to begin with.