DTV: Do You Want the Good News First?

The local rep for the LCCR for DTV issues passed on the news today that all Portland stations are postponing their transition from full-power analog to full-power digital until June. That's the good news, sort of, and is a full one-eighty-degree reversal from last week's news, confirming what an O-blogger said earlier today.

Less good news? Well,

• This will cost some TV stations more, for those TV stations who leased a temporary DTV transmitter, as they have to lease the temporary gear longer. TV stations are already hurtin' because advertising's down; this will hurt more.
  
• All stations will be paying more for power in the four months until the delayed cutover date, as DTV is more power-efficient.
• The companies who bought rights to the spectrum which cutover would release will probably demand a rebate from the feds, and the feds will probably give it to them;
• Their new services, which would deliver more digital services to sell, won't be generating revenue while Portland TV is still analog. And,
• Public safety radio operators who need the rest of that freed-up spectrum must delay their plans to increase police, fire and public safety radio system reliability.