At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting. This means your old TV set which uses the analog NTSC system will no longer be able to display TV programming transmitted from the U.S.A. This will not immediately effect folks in Mexico or the U.S.A. who use satellite or cable services, who plan to make the transition in 10 years. Nor will it apparently effect the reception of over-the-air broadcasts from Mexican stations because they will not transition from analog to digital transmissions at the same time Stateside stations do.
Channels 28 and 29 are presently transmitting broadcast HDTV TV signals from Tijuana I am told, apparently with good picture quality. Channels 12 and 57 transmit digitally, although not in"true" HD. I do not have any verified information as to which format channels these channels are using, possibly some variant of SDTV or EDTV.
Chart showing English language TV channels in San Diego/Tijuana (taken from URL: http://www.buyinghdtv.com/html/san_diego_local_channels.html). Note that all these channels are UHF:
| Local Broadcaster | Network Affiliation | Analog Channel | Digital Channel | Digital Format | |
| KGTV | ABC | 10 | 25 | 720p |
|
| KFMB | CBS | 8 | 55 | 1080i |
|
| KNSD | NBC | 7/39 | 40* | 1080i | Mt. San Miguel ( |
| XETV | FOX | 6 | 23 | 720p | |
| KPBS | PBS | 15 | 30** | 720p | Mt. San Miguel ( |
| KSWB | WB | 69 | 19 | 1080i | Mt. San Miguel ( |
| KUSI | Independent | 51 | 18 | 480p | Mt. San Miguel ( |
For those of you desirous of keeping your old analog set for over-the-air reception, a converter will be required to change the digital signals into a signal the analog set can process correctly. Since the digital signals will be transmitted on different frequencies, it is suggested that an antenna that is correctly tuned to the new frequencies be used; you may, or may not, be able to receive clear digital signals using an antenna tuned for analog signals. You can keep the old antenna to watch Mexican analog transmissions, or you can obtain an antenna that is tuned to both the digital and analog transmission frequencies.
Coupons are available for U.S. residents (2 per household) that can provide a free converter box or allow the discounted purchase of one.
If you bought your TV set after March 1, 2007, you may not need to purchase a converter box, as it may have one built into it.
As of March 1, 2007, all television receivers shipped in interstate commerce or imported into the United States must contain a digital tuner. In addition, effective May 25, 2007, the Commission required sellers of television receiving equipment that does not include a digital tuner to disclose at the point-of-sale that such devices include only an analog tuner, and therefore will require a digital-to-analog converter box to process over-the-air broadcast HDTV signals after the transition date.
Expanded information may be found at URL: https://www.dtv2009.gov/
and http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html
