How to Prepare for the Digital Television Switchover
It won’t happen until next year, but everyone is getting ready now. On February 17, 2009, all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality and additional channels.
Here is the official FCC Digital TV Transition site. It will answer most of your questions, especially the FAQ section.
Earlier this year, a lot of large retailers got caught with their pants down: their salespeople knew almost nothing about the switchover, according to a very revealing U.S. PIRG report. For example, the report found that nationally:
* 81% of sales staff provided inaccurate information about converter boxes.
* 42% of sales staff provided inaccurate information about the transition date.
* 20% of sales staff tried to up-sell surveyors to digital TVs or upscale converter boxes.
So the big chains hurried up and offered training to their employees. Who knows? Maybe some of the chains will now be the go-to places for information. Best Buy, for example, has a dedicated hotline — 877-BBY-DTV9 — where you can call to ask questions about the transition and learn about your options.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:03 am
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:09 am
[...] SadInAmerica wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOn February 17, 2009, all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture … [...]
April 30th, 2008 at 8:42 am
We’ll see how it pans out. I’ve found that most technological advances still have some major bugs in them by the time they hit the general public, and that some of them end up being discarded within months. I assume that won’t happen here, but…
April 30th, 2008 at 9:13 am
The vast majority of households in the U.S. will not need to do ANYTHING for the switchover because they are cable subscribers, and the cable companies will be converting all their signals on their end (or at the cable box).
The only people who need to take action are people who still have analog television sets (any television more than about 10 years old will be analog) AND get their television signals over the air via antenna. That group is less than 10% of the TV-owning population.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Yet another reason not to sign up for cable.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Thanks, Brian, for the stat on who this will effect.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I can’t tell you how happy I am I have digital tv’s!
April 30th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. It’s been quite a year for me so far, but when I wrote today’s post, I thought of your blog. Did you and your readers see the film of my post in school when you were kids?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Tom, welcome back.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am
We have a family cottage in New Hampshire and right now most of the stations are Boston stations (Ch 9 in Manchester is the only local station that we can receive.) and with the change to digital we will not be able to get any over the air stations at all. The nearest cable is twelve miles away and the FCC answer to this is satellite DTV. How many New Hampshire families will not be able to afford $50 an month for what they use to get free?
May 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Brian: Your comment isn’t quite correct. Only a limited percentage of projection TV sets (and generally only those 42 inches in diameter or larger) included digital tuners before 2004.
Anyway, great article here, if you don’t mind, I’m going to blog/linkback to it from my website.
May 31st, 2009 at 7:26 pm
[...] The Boomer Chronicles Blog Archive How to Prepare for the Posted by root 1 hour 52 minutes ago (http://www.thegeminiweb.com) Brian your comment isn 39 t quite correct only a limited percentage of projection tv sets and generally only those 42 inches in diameter or larger included digital tuners before 2004 powered by wordpress boston web design Discuss | Bury | News | The Boomer Chronicles Blog Archive How to Prepare for the [...]