The countdown clock for the digital television transition is now under the three month mark, and Erie Television is apparently ready on the supply-side of the equation.

In fact, two of Erie’s five full-power licensees are in the situation right now so that on February 17, 2009, they will simply turn off their analog transmitter. Both WFXP and WSEE are already broadcasting their full-power digital signals. You can follow viewers’ reviews on the quality of those signals on the AVS Forum.

The other two commercial stations, WICU and WJET are broadcasting in low power and will go to full power on Feb.17th when their analog transmitters are shut-off. According to station officials, WICU will also relocate channels from 16.3 to 12.1 on Transition Day.

Erie’s PBS station, WQLN is currently only broadcasting in digital but on an auxiliary antenna. The station’s transmission line and antenna coupler suffered damage due a severe windstorm on Sept. 15th. The station expects to be back to full power albeit digital only in the next few weeks.

In addition to the transmission plants being readied for the transition, all of Erie’s stations have installed equipment to “pass-through” High Definition programming from their network sources onto their viewers. Right now all except WICU are broadcasting HDTV at times over-the-air, with the NBC affiliate passing their HD programming onto Time Warner Cable. Obviously the next level that will come after the transition is the build-out of a high definition studio and news operation for each station.

Basically, the real “x-factor” for the television stations will be handling the public relations situation at the time of the analog turnoff. If the Wilmington NC beta test is any indication, the stations will need to be prepared for hundreds of confused viewers. In a letter from Congressmen Ed Markey and John Dingell to the FCC, results from the Wilmington test have brought up blind spots that will need to be addressed in every market at the time of the conversion:

• viewers need to rescan their converter boxes upon the conversion
• viewers will need to diagnose whether or not a new antenna will correct an inability to receive local channels
• an explanation of the digital signal contour and how it differs from the analog one and the fact that service coverage loss could occur

As we get closer to the conversion, a step-by-step tutorial for over-the-air viewers on how to rescan, and adjust or replace their antennas to pick up the new signals is going to be needed.

Meanwhile, it might be time for the TV folks to brush up on their customer service best practices…if the Wilmington call count is any indication, they will need all the help they can get.