No matter who makes it to the Super Bowl this year, you should be able to clearly tell one player from another.

KNBN, the local NBC affiliate that will air the game Feb. 1, will switch from an analog signal to a digital signal in two weeks, more than a month before the government's Feb. 17 conversion deadline.

"We will be strictly digital on Jan. 12," Jodi Digmann, the station's chief financial officer, confirmed Wednesday.

The federal government is requiring all full-power television stations in the country to begin broadcasting in digital Feb. 17 at midnight. Digital broadcasting provides a clearer picture and more channels. The switch also will free up airwaves for use by emergency service providers, according to the government Web site, www.dtv2009.gov.

Like most stations in smaller markets, KNBN will not be recording and broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, which the site defines as a type of digital signal that produces a higher-quality picture. Doing so would require cameras and other equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Digmann said.

However, viewers with high-definition televisions will be able to watch network programs filmed in high definition, including the Super Bowl. Those with older TVs hooked to a digital-to-analog converter box can watch the same programs, but the pictures won't be the same high quality as on a high-definition TV, according to the Web site.

The transition to digital is not cheap. Russ Livermore, an engineer with KEVN FOX, said the transmitters needed to broadcast in digital cost between $500,000 and $1.2 million.

"It was very, very costly for the whole television industry," he said, although stations had about 10 years to prepare for it. "In the long run, it's nice because the power consumption, the power use is going to be a lot less. And it takes a lot less to put our signal out there."

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com