Some TV viewers in South Florida could go dark if they don’t do this ‘easy’ rescan
A technical change for TV viewers could lead to some confusion for PBS viewers in South Florida on Friday.
Happily, the work-around is “very easy and the TV does most of the work for viewers,” a spokeswoman for the National Association of Broadcasters announced.
On Friday, three stations in the Miami area are changing their frequencies. But not their channel numbers, so don’t worry, you don’t have to learn a whole new grid.
The three affected stations are WPBT 2, a PBS affiliate, and its low-power stations WURH-CD and WXEL.
This is all part of a frequency change nearly 1,000 stations across the country must undergo between now and the spring of 2020 to make room for wireless broadband services as part of the “FCC’s spectrum repack,” according to the National Association of Broadcasters.
If you have cable or are a satellite subscriber you can stop reading — though we love when you stick around. This won’t affect you.
But if you watch TV for free using an antenna — remember those, Mom and Dad? — you will need to go through a rescan process. This is the part the spokeswoman says is easy.
Head over to TVAnswers.Org for directions and instructional videos on how to do this rescan.
“Rescanning is when your TV finds all of the available channels in your area. Because stations must move at different times, you may need to rescan your TV more than once. No new devices, equipment or services are needed to rescan,” the TVAnswers.Org site says.
The process does seem rather easy. To rescan your antenna TV select Scan or Autotune from your TV or its remote or the converter box control menu. When you press that selection, the TV automatically starts the scanning process.
“Your TV will do the rest. This process usually takes a few minutes to complete,” TVAnswers.Org insists.
We’ve done it before with our old analog sets and it was not a bother. But you’ll have to do it Friday to continue viewing these stations.
And keep the instructions handy because several other South Florida stations are in line for the rescan process in the next few months.
These include:
▪ WSFL-TV (The CW) on March 5.
▪ WSVN (Fox) on April 8.
▪ WHFT-TV (Trinity Broadcasting Network on April 12.
▪ WLRN-TV (PBS). Now through April 12.
Apparently, the number of people who cut the cords and bypass cable and satellite to watch TV through antenna reception is quite large. More than 72 million people across the country rely on over-the-air TV, according to the National Association of Broadcasters.
These groups include millennials (they go for retro vinyl LPs, too), minority groups, rural communities and seniors, the NAB says.
“They could lose service if they’re not prepared for this change.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2019 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Some TV viewers in South Florida could go dark if they don’t do this ‘easy’ rescan."
