Feds Helping TV Stations Lost In Digital Switch

NEW YORK (AP) - The federal government is lending a helping hand to some TV stations that have gotten lost in the digital shuffle.

When the nation switched over to digital broadcasts last month, the stations went missing from many households in larger cities. The reason: they were being broadcast through UHF signals, and now the VHF band is being used for digital broadcast. The UHF signals can be received easily through small, indoor antennas. But many antennas sold as “digital” actually receive only UHF signals.

In some cases, the FCC has sent engineers to look into the problem and the agency has also given permission to some stations to increase the strength of their signals.

Most of the affected stations are in large cities, like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Dallas.