LEWISTON -- The Maine Public Broadcasting Network will make the transition to the digital television era over a month before the federally-mandated February deadline by turning off all five of its analog TV transmitters across the state at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 11.

Most TV stations, including MPBN's, have had digital broadcasting technology in place concurrently with analog for some time, but on February 17, 2009, broadcasters nationwide must shut down their analog transmitters and convert solely to digital. The early switch makes sense for reasons ranging from the technical to the practical, according to Joe Riley, MPBN's Vice-President for Television.

First, while three of MPBN's five TV stations will retain the same channel number after the switch, two of them – WCBB-DTV in Litchfield, currently located on digital channel 17 and serving the Lewiston-Auburn and Portland markets, and WMEM-DTV in Mars Hill, which serves Aroostook County and is currently found on digital channel 20 – will  both move to Channel 10 after MPBN completes the analog shut-off.

"By converting early, MPBN hopes to avoid adding to the confusion by not changing channel locations on the same day the rest of the nation moves into the digital TV era," says Riley. "Come February 17, everyone will have presumably already found us at the new channel locations in southern Maine and Aroostook County."

The February 17 national deadline for the DTV transition also falls one day before the start of the Maine Principals' Association High School Invitational Basketball Tournament. MPBN's broadcasts of games earn the network its highest TV ratings of the year, and MPBN wants to ensure to the greatest extent possible that its audience has already made the conversion before the start of the tournament.

"It makes sense to not change channel locations on two of our five stations the day before the start of our most-watched broadcasts," says Riley.  An added benefit of digital TV is the ability to broadcast multiple channels, meaning "over the air" viewers of MPBN are able to switch back and forth between simultaneous games in Bangor and Augusta (something early adopters of DTV have known for years).

On January 11, MPBN will have extra personnel staffing the phone lines in its Audience Services department to answer questions and help viewers make the transition as smoothly as possible. MPBN's toll-free number is 800-884-1717.