BetaCAM is not BetaMAX. One is a low res consumer format, mostly surpassed by VHS. The other is still something the station acccepts.

I have a wire recorder. Still worked last time I tried it. Cord has deteriorated to "Danger - Will Robinson!"

IOT efficiency - 72% (HPA only)
Solid State amp - approx 30% (Class AB)

Power bill for TV station transmitter output 23kW TPO in 8VSB Digital operation - $7500 / month.
Power bill for TV station transmitter in solid state - "Priceless"

Well - I am on the air with a TV transmitter - It uses an IOT - which is a vacuum tube. So is the protection - a Thyratron.

This may take some investigation - but if the the digital system they are moving to, includes Clear QAM, you can just buy Digital TV sets that are so equipped. No pay channels will come up, no PPV or special subscription channels, just the basic channels in digital. BrightHouse has a similar system here, with agreements to carry SD versions of the off air broadcast stations, and most non-pay cable services - Discovery, History, USA, etc. are available.

However, if they are moving to a server based system, with boxes that request the channel to be fed - as does FIOS in our market, you are stuck with trying to make them stick with the franchise agreement. It depends on the terms, perhaps it has run out, and never renewed. In the day - I worked for a major cable operator, and the franchise agreements included public access channels, local origination, and community and government facilities, with equipment provided by the cable operator. Also included, was something called "lifeline basic" - off air broadcast channels provided over the cable for a nominal fee, to a boxless cable ready tv.

Check the franchise agreement - there may be something that requires them to provide these services, even if they have to provide the boxes at their cost to do so.

Just picked up a Zune to use - I liked the screen. Tried to use it with WME2004. No Dice. http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/howto/start/oper atingsystems.htm/ If I want to use the MS portable media player with my MS media edition, I need to purchase a full price WME2005 and diddle it onto a previous install. Guess it's good Costco has a return policy.