Why You Need To Re-Scan Your TV

Those of you who watch your TV courtesy of an outdoor antenna have been seeing the messages about re-scanning your TV to keep receiving your favorite channels. There are still quite a few who use antennas. Around 20% of the U.S. still use antennas and in Minnesota it's even more common with an estimated 22% in the Twin Cities relying on antennas.

You'll recall a decade ago when TV stations went digital. The FCC auctioned off frequencies for mobile phones and wireless carriers. Digital technology enabled TV stations to not need as wide a spectrum to broadcast. As a result you saw quite a few stations now have room to broadcast sub carriers or a second or even up to seven different stations. At least seven is the highest number I'm aware of. In the spring of 2017 the FCC auctioned off more of the TV spectrum for around 20 billion dollars. Among those buying spectrum space include T Mobile and A T and T.

Starting this fall through spring of 2020 some 1,000 TV stations or so will be adjusting their frequency. The answer to your biggest question is that your TV station will still be the same channel number but it will represent a different frequency. If you use cable or satellite you don't need to do anything. For those using antennas go to this link to find out when you will need to re-scan and how to do so.Stations are not changing all at once so you may very well need to scan more than once.