Just sent my note off to ceo. Again.
I wonder about 2/09, though. Three thoughts on this. I'm not sure how it works:
1. D*, E*, and Comcast are all sending a digital signal for KCPQ to their subscribers (assuming that by 2/09 there won't be any analog cable left). Therefore, those carriers will be excited to get a digital signal from KCPQ as it will make their retransmission easier. At that point, therefore, they won't have an analog signal at all and Dish will have to send us the digital one from KCPQ - the digital HD signal we all want.
2. D*, E*, and Comcast are already converting an analog signal from KCPQ and so they'd want KCPQ (and all local affiliates) to keep making one available to them. That way they don't have to do anything in order to retransmit the signal over their digital networks and they still get to send SD (low bandwidth 480i) to everyone.
3. On 2/09, KCPQ starts sending out an SD digital signal (480p, I would assume) OTA, and that's what gets picked up by D*, E*, and Comcast. Then we still don't get HD.
Someone must have thought of what's going to happen for non-OTA retransmission when the OTA signal goes digital. I just wonder if we as consumers of non-OTA signals will see anything b/c of the switch.