U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, has announced that Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting Inc., which broadcasts WYIN-TV, Lakeshore Public Television in Merrillville, will received a $30,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help it meet guidelines for digital television (DTV) transition in 2009.

“It is important that people begin preparing for the DTV transition, which is less than one year away,” Visclosky said in a statement released on Tuesday. “This grant, which will help keep Lakeshore Public Television on the air, serves as a reminder that people using analog-only televisions will have to get converter boxes in order to receive digital signals.”

Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting will use the funding to purchase and install a new Program and System Information Protocol generator, the statement said. The generator creates supplemental information about each channel in the broadcast stream of a digital TV station, a process required by Federal Communications Commission guidelines for the DTV transition.

On Feb. 17, 2009, the statement said, all full-power broadcast television stations in the U.S. will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality as well as additional channels. However, viewers who rely on antennas, including outside antennas and rabbit ears, to receive over-the-air broadcast signals on analog-only TV sets will need to obtain digital-to-analog set-top converter boxes to watch over-the-air TV. All households are eligible to request up to two coupons, worth $40 each, to be used toward the purchase of up to two digital-to-analog converter boxes. Applications can be completed at www.dtv2009.gov

“People watching analog-only televisions should take advantage of the government’s coupon program and get converter boxes so that their screens do not go black next February,” Visclosky said.

Posted 4/18/2008