There's a good diary by gsadamb about the upcoming switch to all digital TV: Millions to lose TV Signal in 5 Days. I'm an early adopter - I went out and got convertor boxes months ago. Based on my own experiences, the transition is going to be interesting for some, no big deal for others, and a real hassle for an unknown number.
Is anyone going to be tracking what happens when the switch takes place? There's a real opportunity for some social science to be done. Daily Kos readership covers a pretty broad range geographically. (And in a lot of other senses, too.) I'm guessing some of us have already made the transition, and have observations and opinions to offer.
(more below the fold)
In a few days, there will be a large group of people who no longer get television over the airways. Is anyone prepared to do some surveys on this group? Seems there's a lot of potential data to be mined once it happens.
- How many didn't know it was coming?
- How many knew, but thought it would be happening at a later date?
- How many knew but didn't care?
- How many were just waiting to switch to cable or satellite?
- How many just didn't want to/couldn't spend the money?
- How many don't plan to reconnect?
- How many already had cable or satellite, so it wasn't a problem for them?
- How many have high speed internet?
- How many have basic internet?
- How many have no internet?
- How many have home newspaper delivery?
- How many use radio for their primary news access?
Take all of the above questions, and tack on a "Why?" after each. Follow it up by asking how do the above correlate with political affiliation, economic status, location, race/ethnicity, etc.?
Anyone reading this here going to lose broadcast TV access? I went out and got converter boxes last year. My experience so far has been mixed.
Signal strength per channel seems to vary from day to day, for reasons that aren't always obvious. Some channels just don't come in well. Connections within the house seem to be a factor - most of the rooms are wired with co-ax outlets wired to an external antenna - but they aren't all equal.
Content is....weird. Local stations now have 2-3 channels to fill where they used to have one. The Local PBS outlet seems to repeat a lot of things staggered across channels, along with some new stuff. Weather on a repeating loop seems to be popular. Some channels are resurrecting ancient syndicated TV, ranging from Dragnet and Mr. Ed to things like Airwolf and the A Team, plus movies. Some are showing niche shows, like hunting or obscure sports.
Another thing that's funky is picture size. Some shows are in the old 3:4 aspect ratio, some are wider, and the tv/converter boxes don't sense what it is automatically. The result can be pictures that are distorted, cut off around the edges, or bordered by black. Some channels have an optional program listing that can be brought up on screen; others don't.
Don't even ask about HDTV - haven't got a TV that can handle it, if I understand how it's supposed to work.
Local TV - what's going to happen with that? If they're broadcasting a digital signal, does this mean they'll start streaming video over the internet too? Cable companies generally give local stations one channel. Now that they have several to offer, will the cable companies give them more slots? If people can suddenly get 2 or 3 or 4 times as many channels over the air, are they going to drop cable/satellite? What about local access? Will cable companies drop community access channels? Will local TV stations do more broadcasting of a public service nature, since they have air time to spare?
Digital TV 1.0 is still very much a work in progress.