Posted on 06/18/2009 5:49:02 AM PDT by abb
Suppose someone pulled the plug and a couple of million people didn't care. That may be what the TV industry is discovering nearly a week after the U.S. broadcast industry converted from analog to digital broadcasting. Days after their analog TV signals went dark, 2.2% of U.S. households still haven't bothered to hook up to digital reception, according to estimates released Wednesday by Nielsen Co.
Even more troubling, the estimates are based on households in Nielsen's national and local TV ratings panels, which means that more than 2% of Nielsen's panel is reporting zero TV usage in the days following the conversion.
The broadcast industry had expected that the vast majority of analog hold-outs would scramble to convert to digital at the 11th hour, or after their TV sets went dark, but that does not appear to be the case, as a survey of the nation's TV stations by the National Association of Broadcasters reports only "moderate" call volume from viewers to local stations seeking help of information about receiving their digital broadcast signals.
"The call volume is considerably low given that the transition impacts an estimated 14 million over-the-air households in markets with at least one station going all-digital," the NAB said in late Friday, the day analog broadcast signals ceased to transmit.
Moreover, most of the calls received by local broadcasters were among those that had already prepared for the digital transition, but simply needed assistance in scanning digital channels with their new equipment.
"A relatively small percentage of viewers so far have needed assistance given the large number of broadcast-only households affected during the today's transition," noted Jonathan Collegio, vice president for digital television at NAB. "Importantly, much of the assistance sought by viewers has been on the relatively minor issue of scanning and re-scanning converter boxes and digital TV sets."
The NAB has not released new data on the number of households that have gone dark, but the new Nielsen data suggests millions of TV viewers either don't care, or are still perplexed about how to hook up to digital broadcast despite billions of dollars invested by the broadcast TV industry and the U.S. government to help educate them.
Awful? The movies you get are your choice!
That's easy. If you can't figure out how to work your new phone or TV, just ask your kids.
The real question ...
Where can I find Dr Who episodes?
The old ones as well as the new .... ?
After all , that is the one real purpose of video media.
Good reminder. We’ve been doing that some, but really need a dedicated computer for it (laptop just doesn’t cut it when shuffling cables is required to watch something).
I know, most of what I chose were lousy.
I did see a few good ones, but not enough were good.
I don’t miss it.
I suspect giving up TV is like quitting smoking - at first it’s a shock - but after a while you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Hint: most union members are NOT liberal elites - most blacks aren't liberal elites and ZERO conservatives are liberal elites. Those numbers add up...
I can tell you that it’s “don’t care” at our house.
We thought about getting a new television then decided to keep the analog sets and get converter boxes.
My husband watches television more than I do, but neither of us watch it frequently, so we kept putting off getting the converter boxes and antenna.
Now that the switch has been made we have discovered that we don’t miss it and haven’t made a move to restore it.
I don’t see it happening this summer...maybe this fall...maybe not at all.
I think they just over estimated the number of people who would be affected. I think they’ve been running with the assumption that anybody without cable or satellite that didn’t get one of the vouchers would not have handled things themselves. Government tends to over estimate it’s importance like that.
It’s not a two way system. Over the air digital is exactly the same as over the air analog in that respect: one way and one way only. Cable has always been somewhat two way if you have a box (which you usually need for premium channels, which is where the two way comes in) but is one way if you’re hooked straight into the TV. Satellite is similar to cable.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/hottype/090618/
Future of Media: The Young Turk Edition
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003985598
Boston Guild Leader: Union Will ‘Adapt and Change’
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003985649
New Zogby Poll: Few Republicans Choose Newspapers as a Trustworthy Source
This does not bode well for advertising in this media so you will likely continue to see a downward spiral in the quality of people who view television and increasingly, sponsors will opt for other media so that they can target more affluent consumers.
This cannot happen soon enough as I think the programmers of television have already sunk to the lowest common denominator. After a while, even the Taco Bells and Budweisers of the world will find this remaining audience not worth their advertising dollars.
Not exactly. Satellite is "two-way" if the receiver is hooked to the phone line, thereby allowing the receiver to "phone home", telling the satellite company what pay-per-view and porno movies you've been buying.
DISH Network in particular always stresses to the customer to keep their receiver hooked to a standard phone line. That's utter bullcrap. You can actually get by without the phone line because if you ever decided to buy a pay-per-view movie you can do it online.
Both DirecTV and DISH Network have "customer portals" on their respective websites, which allows customers to order pay-per-view, pay their bills, upgrade and downgrade programming or get technical questions answered by other knowledgeable customers.
I've had DISH Network since 1998 and I don't have my recievers hooked to a phone line and I have had no problems whatsoever.
Yeah, that’s why I went with similar, I know there’s some parts the same and some different but I got to that point of the post I started feeling lazy and punted. That’s one of the nice things here, anything I’m too lazy to type somebody else will, and better than I would have.
They only send you what you want to see.
Tv is basic for many for the variety ... sports, cooking, travel, religious programs, weather, news, ... Sorta like the radio is still going after all these years. Wrestling is still going strong (who knows why) as is NASCAR, Some of these people have a lot of money, buy lots of beer, smoke cigarettes, use laundry detergent, buy Automobiles, P C's, etc.
Many of the recent movies are not worth renting ...stupid inanity or bias.
You may be sounding the death call too soon.
I know, I decided few were worth seeing.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/metamorphosis-for-the-globe/
Metamorphosis for the Globe?
If you want some decent classical music to listen to on-line, try this station:
24/7 Classical Music - No commercials, no NPR elitist pretensions. Just music.
http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/ask-tara-is-gannett-about-to-cut-4500.html
Ask Tara | Is Gannett about to cut 4,500 jobs?
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/BT-CO-20090618-711636-kIyVDAtMEM5TzEtODIxMDgwWj.html
Gannett CEO’s Medical Leave Raises Concerns About Company
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/18/obama-takes-on-fox-news-loses/
Obama takes on Fox News, loses
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