Another difference in the new world of digital television broadcasting: VHF is no longer king of the bands. For years the preferred position on the analog dial, the inherent characteristics of VHF are now found to be limiting many stations' coverage. And then there's the upcoming issue of its insufficiencies for mobile DTV.

If TV stations want to attract audiences younger than 50, they need to stop delivering the news as if from atop a mountain. Get rid of all the trappings of omnipotence.The Internet has leveled (or at least lowered) the playing field and viewers no longer want to be talked down to. They have a lot more options now when they want information.

The government, broadcasters, cable and the consumer electronics industry all deserve congratuations for the success of today's move from analog TV transmission to digital. The move, while offering sharper, prettier pictures, does so much more. And the biggest advantage may be yet to come: mobile broadcasting.

Broadcasters are making a dangerous mistake by promoting the DTV switch and not explaining and promoting the advantages of getting their new digital television over the air. I've seen plenty of broadcasting-produced DTV awareness spots that explain how OTA viewers can remain OTA viewers by buying new TV or converter box, but I've never seen a compelling ad explaining why I should hassle with new gear and stick with OTA reception instead of just calling up my local cable operator.

With the growing selection and popularity of Web venues like Hulu, stations should be worrying about the eventual dilution or loss of first-run programming from network affiliates. While that may be a ways off, now is when the affils should  demand that every new affiliation agreement gives them the inviolable right to the first showing of every program the networks produce.

Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps spoke to the faithful at a conference sponsored by Free Press, a Washington-based group that believes the government can create a better world by managing the media. Hah. "Regulate Press" would be a better name since that's its real agenda. Here's the Copps speach with my take on why he's all wrong.

With the ouster of David Rehr this week, NAB must now find a new leader. I hope it has learned something from the unsuccessful Rehr tenure and will search carefully to find that someone who, regardless of party, can build relationship with those handful of key players, plot political strategy and rally the industry when needed.

At its meeting at NAB, the group decides it needs to do something to fight the migration of programming — especially sports — from broadcasting to cable. It is devising legislative language to attach to the SHVERA bill, planning a grassroots campaign and offering $30,000 in prizes to the stations that can come up with the best PSAs for the campaign.

I think we may finally be getting to the bottom of the economic slide. What is needed now is for broadcasters to take advantage of the many good ideas out there and aggressively go after online opportunities, mobile and retans. But they must resist the temptation for quicker and easier fixs and cut too deep into staff and operations or they will make it impossible to bounce back.

Rather than make low-power and full-power stations bear an additional burden of filing biennial reports on ownership in an effort to increase minority participation, the FCC should ask for data from sources that already compile it. And the commission should investigate its owned failed minority ownership policies of the past so it doesn't go astray again.

The tensions between networks and affiliates were brought to the fore today by the news that Ed Ansin told NBC that he's not going to run the new Jay Leno show at 10 p.m. on his WHDH Boston, preferring to air local news. And NBC lost no time in threatening to yank his affiliation. Both sides need to calm down.

One of the Obama administration's goals is to increase the number of minority and women owners of TV and radio stations. A laudable idea, but one that the FCC has tried before with limited success. The problem is not so much in getting stations into their hands, but keeping them once the minority owners decide they want to sell and cash out.

TV stations' future success is tied to mobile broadcasting. And the biggest allure of such a service, beyond the obvious convenience, is that it will be available to consumers for free. But broadcasters need to get busy and equip their stations to air mobile signals, acquire (or confirm they have) the mobile rights to network programming, put in place a good system for measuring mobile viewership and convince cell phones manufacturers to install chips that can receive their mobile signals.

The latest effect of the worsening financial crisis was brought home to the broadcast TV community this week with the merging of station operations by Barrington and Granite in Syracuse and Peoria. The result will be a boost to the bottom line, but at the cost of the loss of two independent news operations and the jobs of about 70 employees.

TV stations have a chance to build toward future revenue by aggressively working to fill the gap left by dead or dying newspapers with strong, innovative hyper-local Web sites. While station budgets are tight and getting tighter, here are some things that can be done that don't take dollars to help prepare for the eventual advertising upturn when the economy recovers.

Steadily declining viewership has led Fox and Greg Meidel to come up with a Plan C for MyNetworkTV that seems to make sense for it and its beleagured affiliates—proven off-net syndicated fare. And now that Feb. 18 has come and gone and the Earth is still spinning on its axis, maybe the Obama administration's rush to push back the digital transition wasn't really that critical after all.

Billy Mays may not be selling TV cameras for $19.99, but "less expensive" is what the buyers coming to the NAB Show's exhibit floor in April will be looking for. And the equipment manufacturers are doing their best to offer products that will entice them with lower stickers or added features.

When it comes to finding someone to fill the vacant Republican seat, here's a crazy idea: Instead of someone with a Capitol Hill background, choose a business person who has actually done some hiring and firing, made a payroll in tough times, sweated a big sale, produced goods or services, acquired another company, got a loan to expand operations or survive a downturn and struggled to untangle and comply with federal regulations. And if you're going to select a business person, why not a broadcaster?

The just-concluded NATPE convention reflected a clear picture of the state of the TV broadcasting business: plummeting revenue, layoffs and cuts in service. Rick Feldman and the association have some work to do to see the show survive, but it can. Broadcasters still need a place where they can shop for programming, compare notes and plot together on how they can reinvent themselves. But such a place has to be right-sized for the times and perhaps moved up on the calendar.

Television stations need to work together to find a way to get their 24-hour-a-day channels of news and entertainment that have defined them for the past 60 years available to the proliferating second and third screens. How about forming an Open Web Video Coalition whose first job would be to sort through the technology and come up with a foolproof way of keeping streamed TV station signals from slopping over into other markets?