SYRACUSE -- (AP) Television stations around the country will replace their analog broadcasts for a few minutes Thursday with reminders that those broadcasts will disappear completely in three weeks.
The stations have to turn off their analog broadcasts on June 12 as part of a nationwide mandate to move to more efficient digital signals. For Thursday's "soft test", analog broadcasts will be interrupted for a short time once in the morning, once just after noon, at once in the early evening for most stations.
Households that have all their sets hooked up to cable or satellite feeds will be unaffected by the analog shutdown - which already happened on many stations in February.
WSTM NBC-3 and WTVH CBS-5 are taking part in these DTV signal tests on Thursday. The tests are scheduled to take place at 7:25 AM, 12:25 PM, and 6:25 PM. The stations' analog signals will be turned off for a 1-2 minute duration so viewers can make sure that their television sets are ready for digital television.
In addition, WSTM and WTVH will be airing a special program this weekend dedicated to the DTV transition. The show airs on WSTM NBC-3 on Saturday at 2:30 pm, and again on WTVH CBS-5 on Sunday at 2:30pm.
