On June 12, approximately 1,000 television broadcasters will turn off their analog signals once and for all as part of the switchover to digital (DTV).
This deadline was pushed back once at President Obama's request, back in February, and a lot of progress has been made since then to get people to upgrade to technology that will allow them to continue watching uninterrupted.
Despite that, though, a survey taken by the Nielsen Company indicates that as many as 10% of households nationwide may be partially or fully unprepared for the switch.
This information comes courtesy of a report from the New York Times yesterday.
The good news is that a whole lot of progress has been made between the original deadline in February and now to get more people prepared. The bad news is that there will still be a lot of people who lose service.
Michael J. Copps, the acting head of the Federal Communications Commission, said that the people most likely to lose reception are society’s most vulnerable — lower-income families, the elderly, the handicapped and homes where little or no English is spoken. The transition will also hit inner-city and rural areas hardest, he said.
"We are much better prepared than we were in February, when the original transition was to have occurred, but there will nonetheless be significant disruptions," Mr. Copps said in an interview. "In the past five months we’ve tried to accomplish what should have been done over the last four years."
It has been estimated that approximately three million households will be completely unprepared for the switchover and will lose their signal altogether, while another nine million households will partially lose service, typically on extra household televisions, such as those in bedrooms and kitchens.
Technology-wise, the switchover is a good thing in that it will free up huge amounts of the broadcast spectrum to be used on things like like communication bands for public safety providers and an increased bandwidth for wireless telephone providers. And digital television signals are clearer than those provided by their analog counterparts.
But far too many people don't have a clue about whether they'll be affected, what hardware they need to acquire, and what kind of discounts they can receive.
First, no televisions that are connected to cable or a satellite connection will be affected. Only televisions that are connected to an antenna are affected. Quite frankly, this can be a little confusing, as there are two primary factors to consider.
The first of these is the antenna itself: in markets where the reception is generally strong, a good indoor UHF + VHF antenna should do the trick, but in markets with a weak signal, you may need a stronger outdoor antenna. The FCC has provided a DTV Map where you can check the DTV signal strength at your particular location. It has also provided an Antenna Guide where you can check what kind of antenna you may need.
If you have a television with an analog tuner, you'll also need a digital converter box. This is another exceptionally confusing aspect of the switchover. How can you tell if your television has a digital tuner or not?
The FCC answes like this:
All DTV sets have labels or markings that may contain the words "Integrated Digital Tuner," "Digital Tuner Built-In," "Digital Receiver," "Digital Tuner," "DTV," "ATSC," or "HDTV."
If you cannot determine whether your TV set or other TV equipment contains a digital tuner by checking the label, contact your consumer electronics retailer or the manufacturer. This information also may be available online through the manufacturer’s website.
The Commission's digital tuner rule specifies that as of March 1, 2007, all new TV sets must include digital tuners. This rule prohibits the manufacture, import, or interstate shipment of any device containing an analog tuner, unless it also contains a digital tuner.
However, despite this prohibition on manufacture and shipment, retailers may continue to sell analog-only devices from existing inventory. As a result, at the point-of-sale, many consumers may not be aware that this equipment will not be able to receive over-the-air-television signals after June 12, 2009.
To address this issue, the FCC has adopted a rule requiring sellers to display the following text if they are selling TV equipment with an analog-only broadcast tuner:
CONSUMER ALERT
This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after June 12, 2009, to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation's transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322) or visit the Commission's digital television website at: www.DTV.gov.
The unintended effect of this is that even in the midst of a deep recession, television sales have been exceptionally strong. From the same NY Times article referenced earlier:
Shawn G. DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, said that sales of digital television sets were up 32 percent this year over the comparable period in 2008, even in the midst of a deep recession. Other officials at the association said the spike in sales was attributable to many factors, including declining prices and availability of more programs in digital, as well as the mandatory transition.
But consumer experts said that many households were buying more expensive television sets and equipment than they needed to continue to receive television signals. Polls by Consumer Reports found that many people were aware of the transition but were confused about how to navigate it, said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst at Consumers Union.
It is true that you will receive better picture quality by getting a television that has a digital tuner built-in, but if you can't afford it or don't want that extra older television in the bedroom to become useless, you can get the digital-to-analog converter box you've heard so much about.
Along with President Obama's request earlier in the year to delay the switchover to June, he also requested that Congress allocate more money to the FCC's program to offer $40 coupons that can be used toward the purchase of these converter boxes. You can still apply for one of these coupons, and if you actually still need to do this, you should do it ASAP before a flood of requests come in when the switchover happens on Friday, June 12.
The FCC is expecting this flood and they've prepared for it by pulling together a $40 million call-center to help consumers navigate this confusing technology. The number is 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322).
By writing a blog about this, I may not be reaching the people who will be the least prepared for the switch, and so I ask you to think of people you may know who might be affected: an elderly parent or grandparent, a lower-income family, or people who may not speak English as a first language. The Obama administration has already enlisted a number of volunteer groups, including Americorps, to help reach as many families as possible, but it will be impossible to reach everyone without more outreach.