TV translators moving into digital age - maybe

Technical upgrades dovetailing with the digital conversion will allow translators to continue relaying programs from full-power stations, the kind typically affiliated with a major network, and there are government grants to cover at least some of the cost. Low-power television, which the Federal Communications Commission established in 1982 as a pathway for locally oriented TV in small communities, must eventually switch to digital broadcasting but there is no deadline. For translators, the low-powered conversion will mean more adaptation down the line. Some of the country's 4,700 translators are going dark rather than change. About half the size of a microwave oven and often attached to towers, translators were authorized by the FCC in 1956. They receive a transmitted signal, convert the frequency, then relay the signal to TV viewers, who often are in remote places.