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Don't Have Cable or Satellite? You May Need Converter Soon

Posted on: Monday, 10 March 2008, 18:00 CDT

Don't panic, but one year from today, millions of television sets will be as obsolete as an 8-track tape.

Yours may be one of them.

Don't throw away that electronic Edsel, though. If you subscribe to cable or have a satellite dish, your old TV will work just fine as the nation crosses over the digital divide.

If, however, you receive television with an antenna, you need to take action. Do nothing, and you'll be watching nothing come Feb. 17, 2009.

Most local TV stations already broadcast in digital alongside an analog transmission. A year from today, the federal government requires stations to shut down their analog transmitters and give those frequencies back.

Since March 2007, every new TV set has included a digital receiver. But if you have an older set, you'll need to get a converter box to decode those digital signals.

Again, don't panic. The government is spending up to $1.5 billion to provide each household with two $40 coupons for converter boxes, which should cost $50 to $70 each. If you have a converter box or a TV with a digital tuner, over-theair television will still be free.

"There's a huge amount of confusion," said Neal Miller, owner of Total Theater on North Academy Boulevard. "I think it's important that people know that they're not going to be forced to do it. To go out and buy a television that's high definition is a serious investment."

While most people subscribe to cable or satellite, there are still a lot of folks out there with rabbit ears. A 2005 Government Accountability Office survey found that 21 million Americans get their TV over the air, compared with 64 million cable subscribers and 22 million satellite subscribers.

Studies by the Association of Public Television Stations have shown that senior citizens are much more likely to get their TV over the air, which is a concern, since those viewers are less likely to be comfortable switching technologies.

"A lot of people who are going to be affected by this are not people that come into a Best Buy all that often," said Brian Lucas, a spokesman for electronics retailer Best Buy. "We don't want people to come into the store and think they need to get an HDTV."

Cable and satellite companies are stressing that their subscribers don't have to lift a finger.

"We do want our customers to know that they will be essentially unaffected," said Mark Ewell, director of sales and marketing for Falcon Broadband. "It's going to work today, it's going to work next year."

Confused? Concerned? You're not alone. A Consumers Union survey found that 74 percent of those polled misunderstood how the transition will work and that 36 percent knew nothing at all about the switch.

Even the people who sell this stuff have been slow to master the details. Last fall, the Colorado Public Interest Research Group sent secret shoppers to electronics stores in Denver and Colorado Springs to ask about digital TVs and the transition. In Colorado, nearly all (94 percent) of the salespeople provided some inaccurate information about the transition, and a fifth didn't even know the Feb. 17, 2009, date for the transition.

Retailers need to do a better job educating their staffs and customers, said Grady Nesbitt, CoPIRG's citizen outreach director.

"I myself was unaware of this until we conducted the survey in September," he said. "Those 22 million Americans who are relying on over-theair broadcasting will literally be in the dark in February of '09."

Best Buy's Lucas said the timing of the CoPIRG study threw the results off, since even the government didn't know then how the coupon program would work.

"It's misleading to put that information out now," he said. "It's a completely different environment."

Here in Colorado Springs, local broadcasters are sweating the possibility of losing a fifth of their audience if viewers don't make the switch in time.

"Any time that 20 percent of your audience is in jeopardy or in play, it definitely catches your attention," said Tim Merritt, KKTV/ Channel 11's general manager.

Merritt and his counterparts are speaking to groups at senior centers and other venues, trying to get as many viewers as possible up to speed on the transition.

"There's more awareness out there than I thought there would be," said Steve Dant, general manager for KXRM/Channel 21. "They know something's coming, (but) they don't understand some of the details of how it affects them."

Broadcasters are also worried that the government may run out of coupons for converter boxes. That $1.5 billion is only enough to subsidize 33.5 million converter boxes, of which 11.3 million are reserved for homes without cable or satellite service. Many homes with cable or satellite also have a TV in the basement or bedroom that isn't hooked up. In all, 73 million analog television sets are going to need converter boxes, according to the National Association of Broadcasters. Four million coupons have already been requested.

"I don't know if there's going to be enough to go around," KKTV station manager Emily Edwards said.

The road to digital television has been long and rocky. Congress launched the program in 1996 and the first TV stations began broadcasting in digital the same year. The original target date for the transition was 2006, but the deadline slid by three years.

Once the TV stations shut down those analog frequencies, they won't go to waste. Some will be used by emergency responders, while others will be auctioned to cell phone companies or other wireless services. Those auctions could raise from $10 billion to $50 billion for the federal government.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the transition, plans to mail the first coupons for converter boxes on Tuesday. If all goes well, 365 days from now, everyone who needs a box will have one. Until then, retailers, broadcasters and government officials will keep beating the digital drum.

"It's like anything else," Total Theater's Miller said, "people have to hear it two or three times before it sinks in."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0275 or awineke@gazette.com

GETTING READY FOR DIGITAL TELEVISION

On Feb. 17, 2009, television stations will stop broadcasting analog signals. What to do to prepare: c If you subscribe to cable or satellite TV, you don't need to do anything. - If you own a TV with a digital tuner, you don't need to do anything. - If you get your TV off an antenna and own an older television, you'll need a converter box. Converter boxes are available at most electronics stores and major retailers (Radio Shack, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and many others) and cost $50 to $70. Each household is eligible to get two $40 coupons to use toward converter boxes. To get a coupon, go to www.dtv2009.gov or call 1-888-388-2009. DIGITAL OR HDTV?

You might have heard of highdefinition TV and wonder how that figures into this digital stuff. The short answer: All high- definition TV is digital, but not all digital TV is high- definition.

Nearly all network primetime programs are broadcast in high definition, but local news, some syndicated programs and most cable programming are still in regular definition, even when it arrives via a digital signal.

To watch high-definition TV, you need to buy a high-definition TV -- watching a high-definition program on a standard-definition TV won't look any different than on an ordinary TV. Retailers sell standard-definition TVs with digital tuners, so you need to understand what you're buying.

Some HDTVs are labeled "HD ready." That means they have to be connected to an external HD receiver, like a cable or satellite box (both of which require a special box and an HD subscription), to display high definition. HDTVs labeled "HD built in" have an HD tuner, meaning they can receive HDTV over the air.

If you get your TV off an antenna, the good news is that digital signals usually produce a cleaner, clearer picture whether or not they're high-definition. That often means better reception on the plains or Palmer Divide. SAYING GOODBYE

With digital TVs becoming the new standard, there are going to be millions of analog TVs given away, thrown away or recycled.

Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs spokeswoman Melissa Lyby said the organization is posting signs and stickers on old TVs in its stores to make buyers aware of the coming transition. Goodwill is also bracing for a flood of obsolete TVs as consumers switch to digital.

"We do really think we'll see an increase in the number of TVs donated, we're just not sure how much," Lyby said.

Televisions are loaded with lead, cadmium and mercury, so throwing them away is a bad idea. The bad news is that recycling televisions can be expensive.

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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