Why is Hawaii moving to digital TV early?
Actually, the broadcasters in Hawai’i requested to move the DTV transition date forward. Currently, most analog broadcasts on Maui are transmitted from equipment located at the top of Haleakala. The Department of Defense and the University of Hawai’i had requested that broadcasters relocate their transmission equipment because of interference with astronomical equipment also located on Haleakala. It had always been the broadcasters’ plan to, upon the DTV transition date, broadcast only in digital at a new antenna farm lower down the mountain at Ulupalakua. Upon the switch, the equipment on Haleakala would be removed. The Hawaiian petrel – a threatened bird species – nests upon Haleakala beginning in March. Broadcasters needed to make the change to digital early in order to take down existing mountaintop transmission equipment before the petrels arrive. It was decided that if Maui had to make the DTV transition early, it would make sense to have the entire state do the same to prevent p
