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drdr said:

Well, this is pretty technical. Here are some highlights:

"In particular, the Commission adopted rules
establishing a standardized method for measuring the strength of analog television signals on-site at
individual locations. And finally, it endorsed a method for predicting the strength of such signals that
could be used in place of actually taking measurements."

"The rules also provide for a neutral and independent entity to evaluate the
qualifications of potential testers to conduct on-site signal strength measurements in cases where a
network television station denies a subscriber's request for a waiver of the ILLR prediction that the
viewer is "served.""

"For DTV, the Commission assumes that the receiving
antenna is located outdoors at a height of 9 meters above ground."

"Under both the analog Grade B and digital noise-limited F(50,90) service standards, an acceptable
television picture and sound service is available at 50% of the locations for 90% of the time at locations
on the outer edge of a station's service area."

They also quote some dubious arguments from NAB about outdoor VHF antennas and towers being equivalent to small satellite dishes. The complexity of installing a 30 foot tower seems slightly greater than putting a 20" DBS dish on the roof, but then I don't work for the federal government.

"Additionally,
NAB asserts that satellite dish antennas can only be used outdoors, usually atop a roof, and, therefore, it
would be "egregiously discriminatory" for the Commission to conclude that while satellite subscribers are
expected to rely on a rooftop antenna for their satellite reception, they cannot be expected to do the same
to pick up over-the-air signals."

The problem remains for those on the fringe of the "service area". If you are at the edge of the grade B contour, you apparently are expected to put up a high antenna with good gain. Even then, you may be out of luck in terms of reliable reception. The ILLR model is far from perfect and will not accurately predict reception at many locations. There is no substitute for measuring the actual signal received over time.

But I agree, if you are outside the digital grade B contour, then you should still be eligible for digital DNS. Whether this means you get HD DNS, I have no idea. Many people conflate digital with HDTV. The FCC doesn't seem to care whether stations are broadcasting SD or HD on their digital channel as long as they stay within their assigned frequencies. I would guess that this means that you can get digital DNS. Whether the DBS providers retransmit this as HD or SD would have to be negiotated between the provider and the distant network station. This is just guesswork on my part, though.

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drdr said:

Many local stations have full power analog signals and low power digital signals, so maybe they could lose viewers to DNS because of this.

On the other hand, I could imaging a dispute involving DNS availability and retransmission agreements with local stations (you can't have our analog signal if you provide digital DNS in our market?)

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