A case study detailing the process used to convert WLVT-TV from an analog to a digital station.

摘要

The new millennium will bring about major changes in the way the American public will live. One significant change will be the way Americans view television. The FCC has issued a mandate for all broadcast stations to convert their analog facilities into digital facilities. This thesis examines how one public television station, WLVT-TV, is preparing for this advancement in broadcast technology. Between November of 1999 and September of 2000, monthly meetings were held between the researcher and WLVT's President and CEO, James Baum, to discuss WLVT's digital conversion plan and what decisions wire being made to meet the deadlines outlined in the plan.;WLVT was one of only two public televisions stations in the sample that was transmitting a digital signal during the timeline of the thesis. Analysis of the data yielded only two significant relationships. First, eight (80 percent) of the ten respondents (43 percent of the sample) who answered "yes" to collaboration with a commercial station also answered that they were sharing the transmission site with that station.;The survey revealed that WLVT's decisions were similar to the decisions being made at the other public television stations. For example, like WLVT, it appeared that the majority of funding is coming from the stations' local capital campaigns, not from the federal and state levels. Also, the majority of the stations do plan to broadcast a high-definition signal and all of the stations plan to multicast in standard-definition and offer datacasting services at some point in time.;A number of issues treated in the thesis, deal with the transition to digital television in the nation as a whole. Because these issues are pending, they are still being debated and discussed. These include the COFDM vs. 8-VSB debate, whether or not cable systems will be required to carry both analog and digital channels, and what will happen in the March 2001 spectrum auction. Regardless of the open ended issues, Baum will continue to make the decisions necessary to prepare for WLVT-TV's complete digital conversion and will do so well beyond the timeline of this thesis.;This thesis also compared WLVT-TV with other public television stations within the same budget category by means of a survey. There were 35 surveys sent out. These actually represented 27 entities because there were groups of stations within the sample, such as state educational networks. Stations were asked questions regarding funding, personnel, programming, and transmission decisions. The survey was also coded to find significant relationships.