Posted on 01/24/2008 10:17:13 AM PST by Lorianne
WHILE people like to complain that there is nothing to watch on television, about 21 million American households may find that literally true in February 2009. On the 17th of that month, most TV stations will quit broadcasting analog TV signals over the air, and older sets will go blank.
But remarkably, half of the country does not realize a changeover is coming, according to a survey by the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing.
And despite advertising that proposes cable TV as the remedy for a dark screen, cable viewers with older sets — 40 million of them, according to the Federal Communications Commission — will be given a reprieve but not immunity. Three years after the over-the-air change, cable customers with analog sets could see the same blank screen. (By that time, most analog sets would be ancient.) The picture isn’t entirely bleak for old sets. There are simple steps consumers with old TVs can take to ensure that “American Idol” is still on their screen next February.
But consumers ready to make the transition may have a hard time learning how to prepare. After seeing ads about the conversion on television, Dale Hazelton, a former creative director at a direct response marketing firm living in New Hampton, N.Y., decided he wanted to keep watching free over-the-air TV. So he replaced his 20-year-old analog TV with a digital L.C.D. screen and bought a rooftop antenna that could receive over-the-air digital signals, all for about $700.
Mr. Hazelton’s antenna pulls in more than twice as many New York metro area stations as he used to get, all of them with a digital picture and 5.1 surround sound. The picture quality? “It’s unbelievable,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Never fear... Joe Taxpayer will be springing for your converter box.
TV is the root of all evil, that and the Canadians, and the roving bands of insane Greek Fishermen laying waste to coastal towns in the Mediterranean sea.
Yet another worry averted by the simple expedient of not watching TV at all....
BTW, are the writers still striking? I still haven’t noticed except when they mention it on the news.
Finally, digital TV becomes a gubment benefit like so much yellow cheese.
As the switch to DTV is all but inevitable, and we all have Grammies and Grampers as well other friends of techno-daze, articles such as this need be downloaded, copied, faxed, distributed to help them understand what is happening, and not be left out in the televisionless bliss I am enjoying by not watching the damned things. A personal choice most certainly, but I have to participate as my wife still insists upon watching NCIS, Shark, Ghost somethingerother, The Unit, a couple of others, and she enjoys yelling obsceneties at the Readers during the Leftist Propaganda...er...er News Hour.
I for one have copied this article to send to friends as it is a reminder, it’s enlightening to the techno-dummies amongst us (self included), and even though it’s the NYT, it seems to NOT CONTAIN ANY LEFTIST SLANT.
Considering that the government is making private property useless (or severely diminished in use) by government mandate, I would consider this a "taking" that requires compensation.
And I say this as someone who has no need for a converter box.
As compared to how many who were aware of the coming of Color TV when that happened?
Perhaps so few are aware because so few are watching.
I don’t know what kind of TV I have, but I have DISH satellite service.
Does that affect me? Just curious, if you know.
Read down towards the bottom of the article where that seems to be addressed.
Actually, I read the procedes from the sale of the analog bands is funding the converter box coupon program. So, it’s free money don’t ya know!!
Does that affect me? Just curious, if you know.
As stated in the article, satellite TV subscribers are already digital. The satellite converter box hooked to your TV already does, for SATELLITE signals, what the converters they are talking about here are going to do for "over the air" signals. Having said that, your TV (assuming it is an older analog TV), will no longer work with "over the air" broadcasts, unless you get said converter. No big deal though, as long as you stay with satellite or cable.
bttt
Thank you, I appreciate your answer.
You must have an “ATSC tuner” in your TV set to receive digital channels directly over the air without a converter box. Based on the age of your TV sets, I suspect that you do not have such a tuner built in. If that’s the case, then you will need to get a converter box for each set to receive local digital signals directly. A lot of TV sets, even high-end ones like my Sony 36” XBR direct view CRT TV, may have been advertised as “digital-ready”, meaning that they have certain types of internal circuitry for handling “wired” digital TV signals, however they did not include a digital “over-the-air” tuner.
You have the high-end stuff and I have the low-end. I have a tv at my river lot that doesn’t use a remote. You actually have to turn a knob on the tv to change the channel. lol
Thanks a lot for the information.
Cost 1.5 Billion.
Offset by the estimated 15 Billion from auction of the soon to be unused spectrum.
Joe Taxpayer will make out quite nicely for his investment.
This is a non issue.
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