BANGOR, MAINE: WLBZ-TV, the NBC affiliate servingNorthern Maine, continues to deal with post-DTV transition signal issues. The station moved from the UHF to the VHF band Sept. 11 in an attempt to reach more of the households that lost the station signal after the DTV transition, the Bangor Daily News said.
“We’re going to end up with a net gain [in viewers]. But we’re hearing from those with problems now,” station president and general manager, Judy Horan told the News.
WLBZ is advising viewers to double rescan tuners and check antennas if they continue having reception problems.
“You must have a VHF/UHF antenna,” the WLBZ Web site reminds. “Rabbit ears, which look like rods, are needed to pick up channels 2-13. Look at the instructions or the box the antenna came in and make sure that it can VHF channels 2 through 13. Not every antenna is capable of tuning in low VHF channels 2-6.”
The site advises folks on how to configure and place antennas, and notes that some marketed as HDTV antennas don’t necessarily work on VHF channel designations.
Around 18 percent of the market--26,000 households--rely on over-the-air television, the News said. Horan estimated that around 2 percent lost access to WLBZ following the transition--on par with the FCC estimate of signal loss across all markets.
