It’s that time of year again when many of us make New Year’s resolutions, some of which we keep, most of which we don’t. Researchers say about 60 percent of us make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent are successful in achieving them. Regardless of the success rate in keeping our 2020 resolutions, the mere act of going through a mental checklist for the new year is a good exercise in planning ahead.
If you use an antenna to enjoy watching your local TV stations, here’s something to put on your resolution checklist that’s free and ensures you get to keep watching your favorite shows. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is requiring certain TV stations throughout the country to move frequencies in order to make room for new wireless services. If a station in your city moves frequencies, you’ll need to rescan your TV or converter box to keep getting your local TV channels.
The station moves are happening behind the scenes, and the actual channel numbers you see on your TV will not change. After you rescan your TV, you may even find channels that you didn’t know you were missing.
Remember that if you have cable or satellite TV, you won’t need to do anything after the station moves frequencies. Your service provider will take care of this for you.
TV Rescan Made Easy
While it may seem complicated, it’s relatively easy and fast to do a TV rescan.
- Select Scan or Autotune from your TV remote or converter box control menu to start the scanning process.
- Your TV will do the rest.
There’s no excuse not to keep this New Year’s resolution. The secret is to pay attention to if and when stations in your city are part of the planned frequency moves. Keep in mind your city may have different stations moving at different times, so you may have to rescan more than once. Timing is important since you have to perform your TV rescan AFTER your TV station moves frequencies, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for the precise date your station transitions.
Five Tips to Keep Your Antenna TV Strong
Here are five antenna TV tips to make sure you don’t miss out when it’s time for a TV rescan:
- Find out if and when your local TV stations are moving frequencies by visiting TVAnswers.org.
- Sign up to receive TV rescan alerts so that you know the exact day stations in your city are moving and when you need to do a TV rescan.
- Stay tuned to this blog to keep up to date on when stations in your area are moving frequencies.
- Ask friends and family if they need help with their own TV rescan.
- Stay tuned to your favorite local TV stations for rescan updates.
The TV rescan process usually takes only a few minutes to complete. If you rescan your TV and you’re not getting a good picture, it could be because the station is operating at reduced power in order to complete its transition. The station itself will be able to confirm if they are operating at reduced power for a period of time.
We can all agree that keeping New Year’s resolutions isn’t always easy. Make sure that while you’re enjoying those foods you promised to give up or making excuses for not hitting the gym that you at least have access to your local TV stations that deliver the shows you love and the emergency updates that keep you safe. Just think how accomplished you’ll feel when you successfully rescan your TV and, even better, help someone you care about do the same. You will have kept your own New Year’s resolution and add “helping others” to your list of feel-good actions for the new year.
Cheers to a happy, prosperous and entertaining new year. May your TV signals be strong and your resolutions be easy to keep.