Conversion To Digital TV May Cause Consternation
Many Americans express the view that government is out of touch with the people. There is a great deal of evidence to substantiate that premise.
An example is the federally mandated national changeover to digital television now less than a year away. This is something that has been in the works several years but word has been slow getting down to people who will be impacted as far as having a clear understanding of what will be involved.
The federal government has allowed $5 million in public education funding to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the Federal Communications Commission has requested $1.5 million for the same purpose. Taxpayers might wonder if their money is being well spent.
Congress mandated the conversion to all-digital television broadcasting, also known as the digital television transition, because it will free up badly needed frequencies for public safety communications such as police, fire and emergency rescue, according to the FCC.
Joy Sims, spokesperson for NCTA, said that organization's goal right now "is to educate customers."
That is proving to be a formidable task, and there still is major confusion among consumers about the transition to high-definition digital television, a recent survey of Consumer Reports National Research Center found.
A majority of people seem to have heard about the changeover, but remain in the dark about details. Among respondents in the survey, 74 percent of those who said they were aware of the upcoming transition still have serious misconceptions about its impact.
Even with all of the spending and effort, the survey found more than one-third (36 percent) of Americans in households with TVs were unaware of the government-mandated transition to digital broadcasting slated for February 2009.
Among those who are aware of the transition, more than half (58 percent) believe all TVs will need a digital converter box to function, 48 percent believe only digital televisions will work after 2009, and nearly one-quarter (24 percent) believe they will need to throw away all of their analog television sets.
Reports of the death of older television sets are unfounded, Sims explained.
By themselves or with an old-style antenna, the analog sets won't be usable after the Feb. 17, 2009, conversion date. But converter boxes will enable older sets to receive and use the digital signals by converting them to analog, Sims says. The boxes will retail for $50 to $70 each, and all such television sets will need one.
Televisions using cable or satellite signals will not need the converter boxes, Sims explained, because the service providers will handle conversion of the signal.
Converter boxes became available this spring. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2008, U.S. households have been able to request up to two coupons valued at $40 each from NTIA, to apply toward purchase of set-top converter boxes.
Older televisions will continue to work with cable or satellite services or with the aid of conversion boxes, but analog televisions stopped going into production for the U.S. market nearly a year ago.
As of March 1, 2007, all television receivers shipped in interstate commerce or imported into the U.S. were required to include a digital tuner, the FCC said. Additionally, effective May 25, 2007, FCC required sellers of television receiving equipment that does not include a digital tuner to disclose at the point of sale such devices include only an analog tuner.
Digital is a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, as well as more programming options through multiple broadcast streams. That obviously doesn't help if your TV set won't pick it up.
Even with all the promotional time and money being spent to get out a clear message on the changeover, there likely will be a surprising number of analog TV owners upset when their sets don't work after Feb. 17.
A lot of people still appear to be asking if this congressional mandate was really necessary.
