Aliens Lose in Switch to Digital TV

Space.com ^ | 18 June 2009 | Seth Shostak

[tricky_k_1972]

First we cancel I love Lucy, then it was Wagon Train and then Battlestar Galactica, now we go and scr3w them out of their favorite shows all together. Their pissed and they want payback (or a coupon for 50% off about a million converter boxes, to be shipped overnight of course).

[VRWCmember]

What happened to the historical transmissions?

[cripplecreek]

I remember what happened when this exact thing took place on futurama.

Lur was not happy at all.

[KarlInOhio]

At 50 light-years distance, a nosy alien could find that signal peak in a hundred-hour search using an antenna the size of Texas.

Especially with millions of pimply, anti-social alien geeks running their equivalent of the SETI@home program on their computers.

(and yes, I have it running on my computer at home).

[rod1]

Oh no... I hope the Anunnaki are not too upset about this when Niberu returns.

[C210N]

When they are sitting at their sets and then... in an instant, no more signal, they’ll first get up and adjust their sets, to no avail of course. Then they’ll use some appendage, too much a leap to assume an arm or leg here, and whack it. When it does not respond, they’ll just assume we nuked ourselves. Then, they’ll tune in some other M-class stations.

[SpaceBar]

it’s Earth! on FOGNL

[Hessian]

They’ll be getting six months worth of annoying spots and crawls about getting a converter box just like everyone else.

[Vaquero]

kickin' back watchin the boob tube

[vladimir998]

“Aliens Lose in Switch to Digital TV”

Oh, Shut Up!

[Vaquero]

any species advanced enough for space travel of 'any consequence' has not used analog for centuries, nay, millennium.

[mysterio]

The signal will barely travel from the capital of my state to the town I live in. Space monsters aren’t tuning in to the price is right.

[hugorand]

So that’s why I can’t pull in anything on my radio’s TV band.

[Snickering Hound]

Canceling "Manimal" was a big, big, mistake...

[Vaquero]

Aliens,noticeably agitated, mill around in front of the 7-11 waiting for work so they can buy their conversion boxes

[devane617]

Ummm...Space girls...:

[donna]

They’re dead Jim.

[mikey_hates_everything]

So aliens are advanced enough to receive and decode PAL, SECAM,and NTSC, but they’ll never figure out 8VSB, CODFM, and MPEG2/MPEG4? Not to worry, they’ll still be getting the analog signals for years anyway.

[BerryDingle]

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not
attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling
transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring
up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we
will tune it to a whisper. We will control the
horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the
image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft
blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour,
sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear.
We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set.
You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are
about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to...
The Outer Limits.

[stevie_d_64]

Well, I figure the aliens watching our broadcasts will think we went ahead and nuked ourselves...

They’ll stop sending their own to investigate us, so any future sightings can be debunked...

Nothing to see here people, move along...Move along...