House Republicans this week defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving an estimated 6.5 million U.S. households unprepared for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 switchover. Rod Kutemeier, Sunflower Broadband’s general manager, will chat with readers about the transition at 1:30 p.m. Friday on LJWorld.com.

l

Rod,
I’d like to know if you have plans to help people like “mdt” who cannot afford or choose not to subscribe to cable or satellite understand their options? I would like these folks to know that all they need is the converter box and a new antenna like the Omnidirectional one we got at the local electronics store. It costs under $100, is hanging in our attic in Old West Lawrence, and we get all of the network channels and PBS (KTWU and KCPT) clearer than ever! It’s fabulous.

Sigmund

“Rod Kutemeier: Sunflower doesn’t block these signals it is actually a limitation on the way these signals are sent from the network. The technoglogy is such that these stations have to be on a certain channel in order to connect to the VCR+ programming signal. I will find out more about this and see if we can resolve through another method for you.”

Thanks. I would appreciate knowing the “host” station (lots of times it is a PBS affiliate, but Macromedia has used the all the alphabet broadcasters in different markets). I believe I can force my tuner to look for the information from their host station. I know the signal works for COX in Topeka and various other cable providers in the KC area. If you need me to track down any information for your engineers I’ll be happy to do what I can.

And thanks again.

Moderator

Good afternoon. This is Dennis Anderson, managing editor of the Lawrence Journal-World. I will be moderating today’s chat with Rod Kutemeier, general manager of Sunflower Broadband, which provides cable, online and telephone service to Lawrence and other communities in northeast Kansas. Sunflower Broadband and the Lawrence Journal-World are sister companies. Welcome Rod.

Rod Kutemeier

Thank you Dennis. It is nice to be here.

Moderator

Your visit coincides with news this week that the U.S. House Republicans defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving an estimated 6.5 million U.S. households unprepared for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 switchover. We have several questions from readers related to the digital transition, and other matters. Let’s get started. Here is the first question.

isaacwiley

If I have a TV hooked up by cable (from Sunflower), but no box, will I still have a signal after the switch?

Rod Kutemeier

Yes. Sunflower has made the investments necessary to ensure that broadcast stations continue to be available through the wire coming from the wall and going into your TV. There is no need for a box on every TV.

Bassetlover

Here it is 30 days into the Channel 9/17 blackout and still no resolution. Be honest, do you ever see Sunflower customers enjoying these two channels again? The same happened in my mom’s hometown 90 miles from here with KMBC and four years later they still haven’t gotten Channel 9 back. My fear is the same thing will happen here. Why can’t you divulge what it will cost you to carry these two channels?

Rod Kutemeier

We hope to make an announcement later today announcing the return of KMBC/KCWE.

alm77

Will Channel 6 ever do an over-the-air broadcast? I would think this transition time would be the perfect opportunity to reach those not subscribing to Sunflower.

Rod Kutemeier

Not likely as Channel 6 is a cable only channel and will remain that way as a benefit to Sunflower Broadband customers. We are very proud of the service provided to our communities by Channel 6 and the many awards won by channel 6 over the years. Many cable companies have seen the success of our Channel 6 and over the years launched similar channels in their cable operations.

Moderator

What effect would Congress postponing the digital transition to June 12 have on customers locally?

Rod Kutemeier

There would not be any affect on Sunflower Broadband customers as we have already prepared on our side for the transition whenever it may happen. Citizens who currently receive their TV over-the-air through antennas on their house or on top of their TV would continue to see a picture without the need for a digital converter box. The last story I read there were some options placed in the bills in the event the Digital Transition is delayed stating stations could go forward and turn their signal to digital as planned. If this happens then citizens who are not customers of ethier cable or satellite would need to on a digital converter for those stations.

whatfredsaid

Is it true that Sunflower is not required to switch to digital unlike the over the air broadcasters who are being required by the government to do so?

Rod Kutemeier

Cable and Satellite companies area not the focus of this digital transition. it is aimed at reclaiming the bandwidth broadcaster’s analog transmissions currently consume.

mdt

I am too poor for cable. I have enjoyed being able to get 3-4 channels on my antennae. I cannot at this time afford to buy a new tv. Do you have any plans to offer a package that includes only the network channels and PBS for $10/month or some reasonable price?

Thank you.

Rod Kutemeier

We currently offer 25 channels including (almost) all of the local channels in both Topeka and Kansas City, and plan to offer ALL of the local channels very very soon, for $19.95 per month. No equipment is necessary and you can use the TV you bought in 1969 or one you bought in 2009 with this package. I would like to be able to charge only $10 for this Broadcast Basic product but in that first $19.95 level of service is where our costs for operating the cable TV business are. The price, beyond $19.95, of the Bronze TV and higher levels of service is mostly the costs of the programming seen on those levels of service.

hipper_than_hip

Hi Rod:

Could you update us on the status of IPTV for your Canopy subscribers?

Thank you.

Rod Kutemeier

We are very hopeful about the future options we may have for our rural Waverunner (Canopy) Customers who receive high speed internet from us today. Their is a lot of buzz right now about IPTV as it relates to 700 Mhz technology both of which we plan on being one of the first to offer.

Rustycleats

When I watch a program that announces that it is in “High-Definition” and then Sunflower converts it back to analogy, isn’t that false advertisement with fault caused by and on your system?

Rod Kutemeier

I am happy to report we do not interfere with the signal in any way as we are strictly prohibited from doing so by the programmers. I understand your concern as many of our high-end customers have contacted us about this over the years. My suggestion is when you see a program that is supposed to be high definition but instead appears to be “upconverted” note the date and time and contact the network directly. We are seeing less of this “upconverting” come through as programmers listen to their fans and start sending true HD through to their Cable and Satellite distributors.

SWGlassPit

At the risk of branding myself as a bit of a nerd here, does Sunflower plan to add NASA TV to its lineup any time soon? There is no cost for the programming, and to my knowledge, Sunflower already has the infrastructure to receive it. I think it would be a great educational resource to provide with little to no cost to the company.

Rod Kutemeier

We take our customers requests for channels very seriously at Sunflower even to go so far as to post a channel lineup survey each fall asking for suggestions on what channels to add. I am not aware whether there is a charge for NASA TV or not but with this channel like so many others that are free it is more a question of our total capacity to add all the channels we want to add. For example, right now we have much of our available capacity reserved for new High Definition channels which are on the horizon. I will check on NASA TV for you. I invite you and everyone to email any channel requests you have to talktous@sunflowerbroadband.com and look for this year’s channel lineup survey in the Fall.

Sigmund

Why does Sunflower block the free TV Guide (VCR+) type signals that are broadcast by various TV stations in the area?

Rod Kutemeier

Sunflower doesn’t block these signals it is actually a limitation on the way these signals are sent from the network. The technoglogy is such that these stations have to be on a certain channel in order to connect to the VCR+ programming signal. I will find out more about this and see if we can resolve through another method for you.

50YearResident

I have a new HDTV, will I still need the cable converter box to recieve the expanded basic (bronze) HD cable channels that are up in the 200 channel areas?

Rod Kutemeier

You do not need a digital converter box from Sunflower to see the local broadcast stations HD signals which are part of the Broadcast Basic portion of your Bronze TV. you can find a channel placement guide on our website here: http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/cable/channel_lineup.html for these channels. Currently, you may also find many of our Bronze level HD networks above that are also available for viewing if you have a newer HDTV with a digital “qam” tuner. I am sad to report though that most HD channels will or do require a digital converter box as we are required to encrypt these channels by the programmers who supply them. I say “sad” because we would love for our customers to be able to see this programming without us having to buy the expensive boxes. We would also prefer to sell or have someone else sell the boxes rather than rent them to our customers but that is a former practice we are no longer able to offer under the FCC digital set-top box guidelines. It all has to do with Encryption and digital rights management and I expect to hear more and more of these “inconveniences” as the entertainment industry works to secure their intelligent property.

Moderator

We’ve run out of time for this chat. I would like to thank Rod Kutemeier for joining us today, and to the readers for your questions.

Rod Kutemeier

Thank you everyone for the great questions. If I didn’t answer your question or if you want more information please email talktous@sunflowerbroadband.com and your questions will be forwarded to me.

Thank you Dennis.

rod.