Digital Trends
Remember when the United States was going to transition to digital television on February 17? Shortly after taking office the Obama administration pushed the date back to June 12, 2009 to give consumers more time to set hands on $40 vouchers aimed at defraying the cost of digital converter boxes for older analog sets—and maybe defray from injuries from people trying to climb up on roofs in the middle of ice storms to set up new antennas.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would delay the United States’ transition to digital television by four months, shifting the transition date from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009. The bill is now going to President Obama to be signed into law; the President has said he supports the delay due to concerns an estimates 20 million Americans (mainly poor, elderly, and rural homes) were not ready for the transition.
The United States Senate has passed a bill that would delay the U.S. nationwide conversion to digital television from a mandated cutoff on February 17, 2009, to a new deadline of June 12, 2009, in order to give consumers more time to make the switch and obtain $40 vouchers good toward the purchase of digital TV converter boxes for analog televisions.
Although the Senate’s passage of the bill doesn’t mean the DTV deadline has been changed, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to support the move, and the new Obama administration has already come out in favor of delaying the transition.
Congressional lawmakers are looking at a plan that would push the United States’ transition to digital television back from the widely-publicized February 17, 2009 cutoff date to June 12, 2009, in an effort to give Americans more time to prepare for the switch…and get ahold of $40 voucher coupons good towards the purchase of DTV converter boxes. However, many have noted that delaying the DTV transition could create considerable consumer confusion—since the February 17 date has been widely promoted for over two years—and television broadcasters may incur significant costs trying to delay or re-architect their transition plans in so short a time.
Research and ratings firm Nielsen has unveiled new estimates indicating some 6.5 million U.S. households—or about 5.7 percent of U.S. homes—aren’t ready for the digital television transition, scheduled (for the moment!) to take place on February 17, 2009. These numbers are actually an improvement over similar estimates released in December (which indicated from 7.8 million U.S. homes weren’t ready for the transition) but still represent a stunningly high number for a technology transition that has been increasingly publicized for over two years.
Speaking at last week’s CES show in Las Vegas, outgoing FCC chairman Kevin Martin said that delaying the United States’ February 17, 2009 transition to digital television could confuse consumers and, thereby, create higher costs for the transition going forward. Martin noted that all publicity and education materials about the transition—not just from the FCC but from the entire television industry—has been centered on the February 17, 2009 date.
However, Martin also said it’s important to make sure the government’s converter box voucher program is operating so consumers who rely on over-the-air television broadcasts can set hands on a converter before the switchover deadline.
For well over a year, broadcasters, media outlets, electronics manufacturers, consumer advocates, and the government have been pounding the U.S. public over the year with the announcement that February 17, 2009, would be the day analog television broadcasts switch off in the United States. After that date, consumers who rely on over-the-air broadcast television had better have a TV with a digital tuner or obtain a digital TV converter box, or their television will show nothing but snow, 24 hours a day.
Are you ready for the U.S. conversion to digital television, scheduled for February 17, 2009? At that point, terrestrial analog television broadcasts will go dark, meaning folks who rely on pulling in the television programming over the air will either need to get cable or satellite service, buy a digital TV, or get used to watchings a lot of static.
February 17, 2009, has been marked as the official shut-off date for traditional analog television broadcasts, which means anyone who pulls in their television the old-fashioned way—over the air, rather than via cable, fiber, satellite, or (gosh!) Internet technology—will be left in the dark. To ease the transition to digital television, the Department of Commerce has outlined its plan to subsidize the purchase of digital-to-analog converter boxes so folks who rely on terrestrial television broadcasts will still be able to tune into infomercials at two in the morning. (Oh, and important stuff like news, emergency declarations, and major network shows.)
Broadcasters need to figure out a business model that actually works for them in the new digital age and sell Americans what they really want – HDTV, advised Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)President and CEO Gary Shapiro in remarks delivered yesterday before the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) Annual Meeting. The meeting is being held in Washington, D.C. this week.
Shapiro delivered his remarks as congressional, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and industry officials debate how to define the end of the nation’s transition to digital television (DTV). Legislation to set a hard cut off date for analog broadcast is widely expected to be introduced in this current session of Congress.
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