DTV Transition Brings 'Madness and Mayhem' in England

Web site techradar.com published an article this week about a DTV transition gone bad. The article, Digital TV switch 'caused madness and mayhem' describes what happened in the Borders region of England when analog TV was shut off.

The title comes from a quote from Stuart Allan, joint partner of Border Video and TV Services in Galashiels.

"It has been madness and mayhem," Allan said. "If something isn't done to sort this confusion out, I dread to think what the switchover will be like in more densely populated areas."

The main problem, according to the article, was inadequate information provided to both retailers and consumers. Problems arose from the need to retune digital equipment due to interference following the switchover. Two channels switched to digital at different times, requiring two service calls to retune customers’ equipment.

While the U.S. DTV system allows consumers to easily rescan channels to find stations that switched channels, readjusting antennas if transmitter sites change, or changing out antennas to pick up TV channels on a new band (VHF, for example), isn't as easy. Education is critical. Ideally, the analog nightlight program will help reduce the confusion here on Feb. 17, allowing markets to avoid "madness and mayhem."

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.