Jeanne Hopkins, vice president for communications and government relations at Boston PBS station , told the Industry Standard that broadcasting both analog and digital at the same time takes a lot out of the budget. "It's essentially electricity costs," Hopkins explained. She estimates that it will cost her station about US$100,000 to broadcast two channels in analog through June. That's in addition to the digital broadcasting expenses.

Nevertheless, WGBH plans to broadcast its main station, Channel 2, in both digital and analog up through the June deadline. But its second UHF channel, WGBX 44, will probably cease analog broadcasting sometime sooner because of its "aging transmitter."

Hopkins isn't too worried about its audience being unprepared when the analog signal ceases. "We're doing our best ...The awareness is really very high," she said.

What about viewers who know about the transition, do what they're told, and then ? "We're not anticipating that as a problem. The coverage on our digital service is pretty much the same and in some areas better." Hopkins admitted that "now and again you hear about anomalies, but we're hoping that [lack of a signal] won't be an issue."