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U.S. DTV News & Discussion

155K views 600 replies 141 participants last post by  Robbers Bhell 
#1 ·
FCC Cites Dell For Failure To Label TV Sets
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Dell.com has joined the list of online TV sales Web sites cited by the FCC for failure to label analog-only TV sets.

As of May 25, sets without digital tuners must be clearly marked, either on the set or in close proximity, with the warning that the set will not receive over-the-air broadcasts after February 2009 unless equipped with a converter box.
http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=152842
 
#55 ·
"people out there really do live under rocks"

CTAM '08: Communication Needed on DTV Transition

Kim Cannon of Time Warner Cable's Wilmington, N.C., system says many people "really do live under rocks"

by Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/10/2008 12:32:00 PM

BOSTON--You can’t over-communicate the message when it comes to the digital television transition, say executives who have made the jump or experimented with a drop of analog, for a portion of “people out there really do live under rocks.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6613142.html

Sadly I suspect that we'll have similar situations in Canada no matter what level of press bombardment of the topic.
 
#57 ·
U.S. Out of funding for DTV switch

The US program is out of money it seems


Six weeks from today, TV signals will turn digital, but a program intended to ease the transition, is out of cash.
The government set aside $1.3 billion to provide $40 coupons to help people pay for the converter boxes. But less than two months before the switch, the program is out of money.
If you applied for a coupon before December 31st you should be in the clear, and recieve it about four weeks after your application date.


http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/37183794.html
 
#58 ·
#61 ·
i got my coupons last year but they expired fast ..... if you have one check the date....you only get about 3 months to spend the 2 cards.....

i wonder how long they will issue coupons.....when word gets out about how good the picture over the air has and how many channels you can get for free people might give it a shot...i get about 15 in the utica / syracuse area and after feb i hope to get about 20 or more once my cm4221 arrives
 
#68 ·
OTA is much bigger in the US than it is in Canada. Americans have not embraced cable/satellite as much as we have up here. The switch to digital will have a much bigger impact in the States including a political fallout. Obama's request underlines this fact.

My prediction: The switch will be delayed from six months to one year.
 
#69 ·
The PSAs have been playing for months. Anyone that isn't ready by now needs more motivation. Turning off analog will certainly motivate them.
True. Many grannies just hit the mute button as soon as a commercial break starts and don't pay any attention to the ads. Some will still be taken by surprise but within a few weeks everyone will have switched over.

As for OTA being much bigger in the States, it is true when you compare it to English Canada, but in Quebec OTA is just as (if not more) popular. I think a CRTC report mentioned that 25% rely on OTA in the Montreal region.
 
#70 ·
Obama wants to delay analogue shutdown in USA

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/obama-recommends-delay-in-digital-tv-switch/

Six weeks before the nation’s television stations are scheduled to convert to digital transmission, an aide to President-elect Barack Obama is asking Congress to consider a delay.
Just what we need to muddy the waters... NOT!. As a Canadian, I don't get a vote, but I hope the shutdown goes through as scheduled. Otherwise, we're all going to be bombarded with another round of PSA's when the next deadline is due.
 
#73 · (Edited by Moderator)
Converters boxes and coupons :)

An hilarious column about digital converter boxes and the coupons (in the US) for them.

Lots of us here have been watching and paid for out of our own pockets for digital for several years now but it seems as it's come as quite a shock to some below the line :)

http://www.boblonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=2540&go=4
 
#74 ·
That request by Obama to delay the analog shutdown date is a bad idea.

1 - The TV stations, and the government have been running an extensive publicity campaign about the transition date. People have had plenty of time to arrange their situation. If they haven't acted on it by now, it's fair to say that they probably won't act on it with an extension.

2 - If they ran out of money to issue more coupons, this is just a bad oversight on the part of the government. They should have offered only 1 coupon per household not 2. If you can afford to have 2 TV's in your home, you can afford to spend $40 out of your pocket for a converter box. A single coupon per home would have done the job, and would have allowed at least minimum access to DTV broadcasts. Now, it's too late. If coupons issued are not used, and expire, then that money can still be used to reissue more coupons. But, this time they should send only 1 coupon per house. Besides, if you can't afford to spend $40 on a converter box, I doubt very much that TV is the top item on your mind.

3 - Delaying the Analog cut off will hurt OTA stations. At present, most or all of them are running two transmitters. The Analog transmitters are electricity hogs. So, it's really best that the February 17th cut off date is respected.

4 - Some stations and markets have already shutdown their analog transmitters before February 17th. Just this past week, Jan. 11, Maine PBS shutdown all their analog transmitters, and are only on air in digital. On Jan. 15, the analog shutdown happens in Hawaii. That is a couple of days from now. There is a market in North Carolina that shutdown analog back in September 2007. The shutdown is on the way, and any delays will only make a mess of the thing.

5 - The channel spectrum for Channels 52-69 have probably already been auctioned off for other uses. Any delays will probably effect new services, and thus cost money to companies that got some of those frequencies for other use.

No extensions, no delays. The sooner the analog shutdown happens, the sooner people that haven't purchased a converter box will do so if TV is that important to them. If TV is not important to them, then they'll never act on getting a converter box anyway. Why hold up the transition for such people. BTW, TV is a luxury. TV is not a right. The coupons are a nice gesture on the part of the US government. They didn't really have to offer them. Buying a $40 converter box to get years of free over the air TV is not a make or break situation. You all know how fast $40 can be spent on other useless items.
 
#75 ·
I agree that they should stick with the well advertised cut-off date. They should also just add funding to the coupon program, they are making many times the cost of the coupon program by selling the freed up bandwidth. That money should be used first & foremost to reduce or eliminate all costs to the citizens being forced to buy boxes they don't want & wouldn't need otherwise.

Keep in mind that anyone wanting to continue recording OTA programing with their VCRs will need two boxes. I'll be retiring a couple of battery TVs because it's just not worth $50-60 to get boxes for them, they only get used during power outages.Owning multiple TVs doesn't mean you are made of money, some small battery TV's originally sold for about the price of these boxes.

Dave
 
#76 ·
What started as a technical transition and opportunity for the U.S. government to make money from a spectrum auction has turned into a matter of social policy. In an environment of economic hardship and massive layoffs, the coupons are much more important than they were just a few months ago. A delay will cost money but minimize the number of people who loose their jobs and access to television at the same time. If the government handled the coupon program flawlessly then the burden of responsibility could be laid at the feet of those who failed to get a converter. With the government's failure to fund enough coupons, a delay is justifyable to correct the situation.

With the new U.S. administration, the U.S. networks and the Consumers Union all in favour of a delay, the chances have to be pretty good that the delay will happen. Not delaying the analog shutdown would be called a failure of the new government to act in the interests of the ordinary people. The consequences of delay are limited to loss of use for the purchasers of the spectrum, additional costs for broadcasters to run the analog transmitters for a few more months and some inconvenience. Corporations want to be perceived as socially responsible, so they will accept the situation and ask for financial compensation.

The question is how long, 3 months or more? The summer would make sense because television viewing is typically lower in the summer months and conditions are better for anyone needing to perform outside antenna work.
 
#77 ·
Hawaii takes closely watched digital TV plunge

Hawaii was the first state to make the complete switch to all-digital TV Jan. 15, doing so without any major technological hitches, but with thousands of residents still unprepared for the analog shutdown
Hawaii has made the full switch from NTSC to ATSC digital transmission. All of the broadcasters there made the switch today - a month early - because they want to get some of the old analogue towers dismantled before the breeding season for some birds. So Hawaii is 100% Digital...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlGcM0ZxYV5dDtZR_9xfCPZnkFaAD95NS6GG0

http://homemediamagazine.com/news/hawaii-embarks-upon-dtv-transition-14344
 
#78 · (Edited)
I sincerely hope you are incorrect about a delay. Like converting to the metric system, this is a major hurdle we need to get behind us. We didn't force the conversion to the metric system & look where it got us. Most folks in the US probably have paid for tools in both the metric & SAE versions, it would have been so much better to just drop the hammer & go metric way back when.

The government should make ample resources available to help folks that are suddenly without TV after the cutoff, but extending the deadline will only mean that the same folks who are now not ready will still not be ready then. The only folks who haven't heard of this transition are those that never watch TV. There is no way anyone who views an hour or two a day is not aware. Two or three more months of DTV commercials every twenty minutes & I'll toss my set out the window.

Get it over with & deal with the remaining problems as they show up....

Dave
 
#79 ·
According to USA today, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the incoming chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has proposed a bill that would delay the transition to June 12. The House of Representatives called for an additional $650 million in funding for the DTV switch. Mark your calendars...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-01-15-digital-tv-switch-june_N.htm
 
#80 · (Edited by Moderator)
And just before June 12 the date will be changed again. Once a deadline is changed it loses its force. I once had a boss who said flatly that if you missed a deadline that was it. You're dead. In this case a few more people will have their converters by June but there will still be many who won't and they will excuse themselves by saying that they didn't take the deadline seriously because of the earlier change(s). This is the slippery slope that allowing a delay always causes.
 
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