I dont understand the "make it look good" comment digital TV is either on or off.
I dont think many OTA TV stations will shut down due to "ratings" and just feed pay TV services like some local cable access channel. What about the emergency alert system?. After the analog TV shut down the OTA TV stations should adjust their RF power so they have the same viewership as before.
Also, Pay TV broadcast media is still a luxury for most people.
By "make it good" I was referring to them going thru the motions that they were an OTA entity. In fact, a large majority of their viewers don't see them OTA- they see them via cable or satellite. So there is an incentive to minimize money spent on sending out an OTA signal that relatively few of their customers see.
I don't think they will shut down either, not without a fight. Doubtful that an individual station could survive by peddling it's programming to cable and satcos. There are other venues for emergency alerts, especially since so few are actually reached OTA.
They are supposed to be reaching about the same number of viewers
today with that digital signal as their analog signal. Not saying they are, but they're "supposed" to be close.
The government has determined that only 15% of the households in the US get their TV via OTA only. And maybe roughly the same number have secondary TVs relying on OTA. So most people ARE paying for TV reception.
I, personally, hope the stations will in fact boost their signals beyond what they are today. I use OTA at least twice a week.