DTV: Stations Try to Fill Digital Subchannels

The country's switchover from analog to digital broadcast signals brings with it a need for stations to program the digital subchannels created in the bandwidth space formerly occupied by their analog signals. Fortunately for stations, there are a lot of choices on the programming menu. Many stations have already opted for weather reports, movies and classic television shows to occupy the additional programming real estate created with digital subchannels, which take up much less space than analog channels. Some station groups already are carrying fresh content on their digital tiers. Digital subchannels offer stations the opportunity to wring additional revenue from existing assets. Given the slumping economy, broadcasters are eager to extract revenue wherever they can, and new channels represent more advertising inventory to sell. On the flip side, most subchannels aren't profitable yet, and they're one more thing for already busy station managers to manage.