Last night, I noticed the now-familiar message about the conversion to Digital Television on the local NBC affiliate had changed. Not in the way I expected, though.

The message used to read^[a]:

WSAZ – TV in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia will cease analog service on February 17, 2009. WSAZ continues to provide digital television service and will do so up to and after February 17, 2009.

…

Emphasis mine.

When the scroll started yesterday, I expected that the date would be changed to the new June date. Instead, it read:

WSAZ – TV in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia will cease analog service on February 17, 2009, a date prior to the nation’s new June 12, 2009 DTV transition date. WSAZ continues to provide digital television service and will do so up to and after February 17, 2009.

…

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of television stations are following this model. They were forced to plan for the February 17th date, and less than a month before the date arrived, the date was changed. Given that this change would probably reduce their costs (they’re already broadcasting in analog and digital, turning off the digital transmitter saves electricity costs if nothing else), I absolutely understand why they’d make the switch as planned, rather than waiting.

Of course, if they didn’t wait, they’d probably have to recalculate projections for expenses over the next few months, which they could probably use to try to get the Obama administration to send them some cash — it’s not like they’re showing any qualms about throwing money around like it’s nothing.

1. This is a guess, but it’s likely pretty accurate. I have no way to get the original message now, but I can’t imagine it changed a lot. [↩]