What is digital television (DTV)?
Television is television.  The difference between what we have, analog television, and what is new, digital television, is in the way we transmit the picture to you.

Analog TV can be likened to an old phonograph record. It is capable of good quality, but it has to be treated carefully. If the speed of the record player changes, the speed of the music changes. If the record gets scratched or dirty, you hear things that were never on the record.

Digital TV is like a compact disc recording. If it works at all, it is perfect. It will sound perfect every time you play it because unlike the record, which relies upon an analog mechanical means to reproduce the music, the CD converts the music to numbers which cannot change once they are “written down”, and back again to music. Digital TV works much this same way. Your digital picture will be free of snow, sparkles, and ghosts. If you can receive it, you’ll get a perfect picture.

Is it true that DTV can transmit multiple channels?
Yes! This is one of the great things about DTV. While we are transmitting KMIZ in high definition, we can also transmit several other completely different standard definition channels using the same transmitter. KMIZ is operating as a cutting-edge broadcaster, one of the few in America, sending several channels out over the DTV transmitter.

Currently we are offering our KMIZ sister stations, KQFX (Fox38) and KZOU (UPN) along with the all new Show Me Weather Channel, another local product of KMIZ that provides local weather information 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. With DTV receiving equipment such as an HDTV set equipped with a DTV tuner or a DTV set-top tuner, you will be able to receive these additional channels.

Can I receive KMIZ Digital on cable?
KMIZ-DT channel 17.1 (ABC17’s digital over the air signal) and Fox38’s digital transmission are available on Mediacom cable in Columbia, Jefferson City and Holts Summit. Broadcasting programming in high definition (when provided in that format) viewers will find ABC17 and Fox38 available 24 hours a day to Mediacom’s customers. In the near future it is expected that the digital programming stream will be available on more cable and satellite systems.

So do I need a satellite dish to receive KMIZ digital?
No, you receive KMIZ-DT, KQFX, KZOU and the Show Me Weather Channel via a digital receiver and a regular antenna. No dishes of any type are necessary to pick up our digital broadcasts.

Requests For Satellite Waiver
Due to a change in the Federal Law regarding Satellite Home Viewers, KMIZ-DT, KQFX and KZOU can no longer accept subscriber requests for a "waiver" to receive ABC Network programs by Satellite from distant stations. Under the new regulations, all such "waiver" requests must now be made through subscribers' satellite provider:

"As of November 29th, 1999, the newly-enacted revision in the Satellite Home Viewer Act provides the Satellite industry with a revised method of legally qualifying eligible homes. Affected satellite subscribers should contact their satellite provider for more information about their eligibility. Upon receipt, the Satellite Provider will evaluate each request, and if it appears to have merit, they will forward it to us for our review and action."

To attempt to get a waiver, contact your satellite carrier as listed below.

NOTE:
Recently, we've found that some prospective satellite subscribers have been given the erroneous impression that they should contact KMIZ-DT, KQFX and KZOU (and/or other local stations) to receive a "waiver" to receive our station via satellite. It is important for Missouri viewers to understand that -- even with the recent passage of the new federal legislation authorizing "local-into-local" satellite delivery -- under current technology, the satellite providers do not have the satellite capacity to provide any local Missouri stations such as KMIZ-DT, KQFX and KZOU via satellite! Although they do carry several distant-city network stations from the east or west coast, by law these may only be made available in strictly limited areas of the U.S.

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