Million of households unprepared for digital TV
By Michal Lev-Ram
Couch potatoes, listen up: If you’re still using an analog TV, you might find static instead of “American Idol” on your screen come Feb. 18, 2009. That’s when the Federal Communications Commission plans to end a half-century of analog broadcasting.
This is the final step in switching to digital television broadcasting, which takes up less bandwidth and allows for high-definition pictures. With the government’s auction of the old analog TV spectrum now completed — companies like Verizon Wireless (VZ) and AT&T (T) bid billions of dollars those airwaves, which are well-suited for mobile broadband — attention is focusing on the 11.4 million U.S. households that Nielsen estimates are not ready for the big switch to digital television.
The only way consumers can keep their old televisions is by paying for cable or satellite service or buying a converter box, which receives and converts digital signals into a format that analog TVs can display. To make sure these analog-only households aren’t stuck without programming next February, the government has launched a coupon program to make the transition to digital smoother. Qualifying families can apply for up to two, $40 coupons to be used toward purchasing converter boxes.
Todd Sedmak, a spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the government group overseeing the coupons program, says companies in the broadcasting, cable and consumer electronics industries have committed to spending over $1 billion to educate consumers about the upcoming change.
“Many resources are being tapped to inform the public,” says Sedmak, who adds that more than 4.5 million households have already requested about 8.5 million coupons. To date though, the government has only mailed about 2 million coupons.
Critics say despite the efforts to educate, getting the word out to over 11 million people — many of them living in rural locations — will be difficult. They also argue that converter boxes are not readily available and that that the coupons are good for only three months. Best Buy (BBY) carries only one model, retailing for $60, that is covered by the coupon.
What’s more, the upcoming switch could affect some groups more than others. According to a recent Nielsen study, adults over 55 are better prepared than younger households, while Hispanics and African-American households will be more affected than whites and Asians.
Eric Rossi, head of Nielsen’s digital transition preparedness team, said in a recent report: “The change to all-digital broadcasting is the most significant change in the history of television.”
RE: Article:
“Million of households unprepared for digital TV”
That’s fine, as the networks are unprepared to broadcast anything entertaining.
sorry I left out people who get the converter and get only locals
Well Ive looked at a few comments but be clear only cable and sat customers with set top boxes will get signal no box no signal and all cable and sat companies are going to charge you for the box
Not everybody DOES have cable or satellite service and/or an HD-ready TV. My family got 2 of the gift cards (worth $40 each off the $49.87 that Wal-Mart is charging for the cheapest one in our area) and are using both card coupons. If there’s anyone “out there” like us, I’d suggest you try to grab them up from the government site while they’re still available. I’ll give you the link below. You can also call them at 1-888-DTV-2009.
Without all those big broadcasters transmitting analog on those frequencies, now our analog TVs will be able to receive more small pirate TV stations, with less interference!
It is so easy to avoid a major issues, if one really exists, by simply scheduling 3 or 4 times during the day and evening when broadcast stations stop for 10 sec. there broadcast and those who lose their signal will KNOW they need to do something before the end of the year. The FCC could mandate this, much like they do the emergency testing system test. Duh. To simple; the government couldn’t figure out how to do this.
Thanks for all the comments. I should have clarified that the 11.4 million households mentioned in the story not only have analog TVs but DO NOT currently have cable or satellite service. Obviously, if they wanted to or could afford monthly subscription to cable or satellite service, they would have done so already. So the switch to digital will definitely affect them — short of being forced to sign up for cable or satellite subscriptions, the only way for these 11.4 million households to keep watching TV on their analog set is to purchase a converter box. I made a slight change (see above) that I hope will clarify this point better.
I believe that your story is inacurate. Existing analog TV sets will continue to receive viewable TV signals if they Continue to receive, or purchase, cable television service.
Please correct your article. Old TVs will work just fine if they connect to cable or satellite. They do not need to buy a digital converter.
Come on, you can do better than this. It’s an interesting story, and yes, the FCC & NTIA need to do better — but there’s plenty of time and NOT EVERYBODY needs to do something. Far from it. Cable subs are largely fine (and coupon-subsidized boxes won’t help them anyway) and all satellite subs are fine, too. Don’t dumb this down.
BTW, why dont you start writing about room air conditioners and how it can save a godawful lot of electricity as oompared to central air conditioning systems snaking under houses? Why isnt Al Gore discussing about central air conditioning as the world champion of global warming… All he goad at is coal fired powerplants that will keep on chugging as long as we keep on running our central air conditioners instead of using room air conditoiners mounted on our windows. We dont need to cool our whole houses just rooms, right?? Cooling TV rooms is what we reallly need not our bedrooms and living rooms and basements, huh?
How much electricity does those converter boxes consume? Just look at the back of the box and you will find it… and report to us so we can weigh whether it is worth keeping the old analog TV or buy a new digital TV that consume less electricity especially the LCD type flat screens . They are cheap already…YOu are writing like there is still no global warming going on… Before you write, count the watts or kilowatts …ok?
How can you say “”ONLY WAY” is to buy, when ALL current Cable subscribers will be fine… the ONLY people affected will be Rabbit ear watchers. You need to clarify this poorly written article
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Consider all the battery operated TV’s that are used when the power goes out and emergency info is needed. These sets will be useless as you will still nedd power to operate the converter box, if you have one.