GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – If it seems like your TV abruptly stops working sometime this weekend, it’s actually a planned change that is being rolled out across the country.
The FCC is warning those who watch over-the-air television with an antenna that they may soon have to rescan their television sets in order to continue receiving local TV channels.
In fact, more than 1,000 TV stations are changing frequencies across the U.S., according to Jean Kiddoo, Chair of the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force.
“We are reorganizing them a bit,” she says. “About half the stations nationwide are being assigned new frequencies in a more efficient TV spectrum band.”
Officials say that around 72 million Americans nationwide still receive their local channels using a TV antenna.
“We determined that the airwaves that were assigned to broadcast TV services back in the 1930s were not being used as efficiently as we could use them today with digital technology,” Kiddoo explains.
Consumers in twenty-six TV markets nationwide may have to rescan their TVs’, including those living in the Badger State.
“That means that TV’s across the country, including in Wisconsin and the Green Bay-area, are going to be changing frequencies,” she explains. “They’re not going to be changing channels.”
The difference, according to Kiddoo, is that after rescanning viewers will still be able to find channels in the same spot as before.
Officials explain that the specific type of antenna doesn’t matter in this case.
“Viewers who watch TV with an over-the-air antenna, either a rooftop or an indoor antenna, will need to rescan their TV’s to find the new frequencies in these airwaves,” she says.
TV channels will be changing frequencies at different times in many markets, but it’s expected that changes could be coming to the Green Bay-area as early as this weekend.
Rescanning a TV set is relatively simple as viewers just need to find “auto tune,” program,” or “rescan” in the “setup” menu.
Viewers can find additional information on the change here.
