The End of Analog Broadcasting - United States [Part One]

8th March, 2024

It’s never easy to say goodbye.

And I’m still having a hard time doing it. Just two weeks ago, we passed fifteen years since the first broadcasters in the United States switched off their analog signals for good. By June 2009, the remaining full-power signals went with them. Entering the digital age brought many benefits. High definition video, a system that would lead the way to the new ATSC 3.0 standard that we’re getting these days, and digital subchannels. But with innovation came loss in tradition and a push away from terrestrial television.

Today, we take a look at the digital television transition in the United States from the very beginning of digital television until the final analog signals got switched off just two years ago. (No, really.) I’ll cover my adoptive home later when I get to the UK side of things. (I’ll get to you eventually, Digit Al.)

The Birth of a Digital(-Only) World: (All Others Be Damned)

NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, was one of the early pioneers of high-definition television. The MUSE (or Hi-Vision) analog system was first broadcast in December 1988. At the time, it supported a 1125 line interlaced (with only 1035 lines visible), 60fps signal, creating a high-definition picture. Although MUSE was high-definition, it did have a few drawbacks. Ghosting was common on fast-moving images until the MUSE-III refinement was put into effect in 1995. However, most people know about the MUSE standard today from the Hi-Vision LaserDiscs that were released in the first half of the 1990s. MUSE stuck around until September 2007 when NHK’s BS Hi-Vision satellite channel ceased broadcasting, but other broadcast standards were being developed alongside it.

Here's one of the Sony televisions that supported Hi-Vision. Circa 1996.

Here's an archive from NHK describing Hi-Vision a bit more.

Until the arrival of the MPEG digital video format, finding out a way around the problem of high-definition television was tricky. Further advancements in compression technology allowed for the 1990 decision by the Federal Communications Commission here in the states. The FCC laid out a few proposals for this future digital television format. First, it would have to provide a high-definition picture, doubling the resolution of the existing analog signal. Second, the signal from a broadcaster was to be simulcast on analog and on the new standard, which would prove to be ironic going forward. The final decision allowed for variety within what scanning formats or aspect ratios were to be used. With this hearing, the industry had free reign on creating the new digital standard. Eventually, it was decided that both interlaced and progressive scan video would be used, with the common reductions going forward being 720p and 1080i. MPEG-2 was then agreed upon as the worldwide standard for digital television broadcasting and the rest is history.

The American satellite provider DirecTV launched in June 1994 as the first digital satellite service, with many other providers following in their footsteps leading into the early 2000s. Digital cable followed suit and, in 1998, the ill-fated ONdigital (later ITV Digital) terrestrial service launched in the UK. (We’ll get to you eventually. The rest of the world world must hear of Monkey.)

So where does that leave terrestrial television in the US? The FCC approved the creation of digital television (DTV) following the standards put forward by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) in December 1996.

This is kinda what the difference is like... But with more digital artifacting and a complete lack of a picture on the right. (Shoutout to South Dakota Public Broadcasting for this one!)

These standards would include “layers”, allowing for digital subchannels (For example, 2-1 has your NBC affiliate, 2-2 has a minor broadcaster like MeTV, and so on), high-definition television, video and audio compression, and faster transmission with greater clarity all around. WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina became the first digital broadcaster in the country, securing the first HDTV license in June 1996 and it began broadcasting the HD signal on UHF channel 32 as WRAL-HD on July 23, 1996. WRAL-HD carried the nation’s first HD live sports program (September 1997), first HD newscast (October 2000), and CBS’ first HD programming (1999). By 1999, the FCC required all affiliates in the top thirty television markets to carry digital programming alongside their current analog signal.

The Great Switchover:

By now, you may have noticed that things are moving fast. In 1998, the FCC pushed 1 May 2002 as the final date for all major commercial broadcasters in the country to start transmitting a digital signal, something that most stations could not make. (Funnily enough, this day was also the end date for ITV Digital in the UK.) With all the smaller independent stations still flourishing in the late nineties, it would’ve been nearly impossible. By the time of the deadline, only around 24% of broadcasters had a digital signal. Most consumers found the conversion expensive and daunting. To watch television, all you would have to do is find a set and an antenna and that’s it. Digital added another few steps in that plan, steps that were incredibly expensive when services first began. The FCC also laid out a plan that would convert the country to digital by 2006.

This did not happen. The events of September 11 destroyed many of the transmitters in New York that were on top of the World Trade Center and digital TV was suddenly the furthest thing on the government’s mind. But talks surrounding the switchover commenced later in the decade and, at last, the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 was signed into action, giving broadcasters a firm deadline of 17 February 2009. By that date, any major full-power station still broadcasting in analog would have to switch over to digital and officially end their analog transmissions - permanently.

But digital television was still far too expensive for the average consumer. Most households didn’t want to upgrade their television sets and many cable and satellite providers took advantage of the switchover to paint a narrative that the only way to watch television was to do it with one of their receivers. To see a digital signal on an analog television, consumers would need to purchase a digital TV converter box. Thankfully, there was a workaround to paying high costs just to watch The Young and the Restless again. Under the act, each household was entitled to two $40 coupons to use on the purchase of one of these converter boxes, provided they signed up before the 31 March, 2009 deadline.

If you were lucky, this could help you.

But what about your new TV? Would you have to buy anything else just to watch your beloved American Idol or fill-in-the-blank Writer’s Strike-era reality slop programming? Never fear, because all new televisions (and devices which could receive a television signal, like mobile phones) sold in the United States after 1 March, 2007 had to include a digital tuner. So no need for a converter box.

Since this is the digital switchover we’re talking about, not everyone was entirely ready yet. Brought into law just days before the original switchover date, the DTV Delay Act, one of the first acts signed in by newly-appointed President Obama, amended the original 2005 act and pushed the digital switchover to its final date: June 12, 2009.

So how did the stations wave goodbye to analog? We’ll find out in the next part, where we go over the first end date until the final switchover in 2022. (Yes, really.) But, for now, remember that time marches on and progress marches alongside it. What’s here to stay today may not be so certain tomorrow and television is no exception. When things get uncertain and you have to keep delaying things for nearly twenty years, take a breather and remember to keep looking up.

- Lcd101