Six months from now, on February 17, 2009, television will change. Whether black & white or color, big screen or small, we’ve all watched television the same way for the past 60 years. Sure, the technology has changed: better TV’s, crisper cameras, new weather computers – but we’ve broadcasted all those things, all this time, using analog technology; six months from now, all that changes, when United States television switches to the new digital TV format.

What does this mean for you? Well if you’re one of the 25,000 households in our area who simply use an antenna to watch us over-the-air, or you’re one of the estimated 88,000 Central Coast households that are hooked up to cable or satellite service, but also have a secondary TV in perhaps your kitchen or bedroom that uses rabbit ears to get our KSBW signal, you must take action or else THIS is what you’ll see when you wake up on February 18th next year:

If you have satellite service or cable, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll continue to see KSBW on your TV just fine. But if your TV uses an antenna, you must do one of two things:

To use your old TV, you need to get a DTV converter box like this one. The boxes cost anywhere from $40 to $80. The federal government will give you up to two $40 coupons to offset the cost; one coupon for each box you buy. Your other alternative is to buy a new digital TV with a built-in digital tuner.

For detailed information you can go to DTVanswers.com, go to our website KSBW.com for a link, or call toll-free 1-888-DTV-2009.

The U.S. Congress mandated this 2009 switch to digital TV back in 2005, but our TV industry has been working on this issue since the mid-1980s. DTV, whether over the air directly, or with a converter box, will give you better pictures and additional services, like KSBW Weather Plus, our 24/7 local weather channel that’s broadcast on digital channel 8-2. If your TV set is HDTV, you’ll get remarkably better pictures and sound when you watch our NBC prime time line-up, the Tonight Show, or the Today Show. KSBW broadcasts in High Definition and in the coming years, more and more programming will be in HD.

Many of you may find this whole DTV conversion to be a hassle, but we hope the long-term benefit outweighs the short-term inconvenience.