by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
There’s probably only one constant in the world of television programming. Everything changes, and right soon.
Ch. 7, Jacksonville’s public broadcasting station, spent nearly a year — along with “$7 million and counting” — putting up a new tower to accommodate the most recent round of changes. In the process, the station expects to bring the sharpest pictures possible into local homes.
To make it happen, there are now 33 tons of antenna hanging at the top of a new 1,000-foot tower.
All that innovation, time and expense was invested to meet the mandated conversion from analog to digital programming, said Michael Boylan, president and CEO of Ch. 7
The broadcaster now operates Ch. 7, still in an analog format; the new channel, DT 38, which features digital service; and FM-89.9 radio.
“In addition to the tower and antenna, you also need transmitters to broadcast the material,” Boylan said. “So we also bought an analog/digital transmitter for Ch. 7. Our plan is ultimately to go to a digital Ch. 7.”
Ch. 7 co-owned the old tower with the company that is now Clear Channel Communications. They struck a deal with a third business, TowerCom, to build a new tower on Ch. 7’s property, 45 feet from the old structure.
Because the towers were so close, the radio and television stations had to go off the air frequently during construction because of the danger that a worker might get “zapped,” Boylan said.
The station met the federally mandated deadline by going on the air with “standard” digital broadcasting on May 1. High-definition broadcasting should begin in November.
“The whole purpose of this is the government wants the bandwidth back that we use for analog,” said Boylan. “The government sees the opportunity to use that additional bandwidth for resale for a variety of wireless services.”
Ch. 7 also sees the change as an opportunity to provide more options to customers.
Boylan compares the transmission process to a pipe. Stations are now using a large analog pipe, down which a lot of information is pushed to create one channel. The smaller digital pipe can handle more information and split it off in different directions.
“Basically, the [analog] technology we use to broadcast television is nearly 100 years old,” said Boylan. “The new video compression technology allows us to provide more services with less bandwidth.
“Now we’re entering the realm of what they call multi-casting, which allows us to provide a variety of services as opposed to a single stream of television.”
All these revolutionary changes also mean consumers will have to decide what price they want to pay for all this new information, captured with almost lifelike sharpness.
“Five years ago, the cost [of a television set] was around $40,000,” Boylan said. “The price is coming down . . . exponentially. Today, you can pick something up in the neighborhood of $7,000 to $10,000.
“It all depends on how much information you want it to receive.”
It is the price of progress that broadcasters wrestle with all the time.
The tendency of new technology to be dated almost as soon as it hits the market “has, historically, been the issue in our business,” said Boylan. “We always have to be focused on capital improvements because the technology doesn’t stand still.
“Our changeover is three-to-five years, and, oftentimes, that’s ahead of the rest of the curve.”
The station has made a commitment to the State to provide the Florida Knowledge Network once the conversion is “fully ramped up.” The network is a 12-hour stream of programming, provided by the Department of Education, that will be accessible in classrooms.
“In our conventional, our linear world, that means one hour of programming after another going out one at a time,” said Boylan. “What [analog] ultimately means is that stream will be used for video on demand and data downloading, those kinds of things.”
Analog will also give the station a way to offer the Florida Channel, sort of the State’s version of C-Span.
Boylan envisions a Citizens Channel, which would be a mix of the Florida Channel blended with local program coverage.
“In addition to Duval County, that would include coverage of what’s happening in St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties,” he said. “We wouldn’t necessarily be covering everybody’s county commission meetings. But we would provide them an outlet for dissemination and discussion of programs and issues.
“We have one spigot now. We’re going to have four or five spigots.”