Digital TV will be a big deal—one way or another
August 30th, 2006Analog TV broadcasts will disappear on Feb. 17, 2009, and I know that some people think I’m a picture-tube-is-half-empty kind of guy for always warning about potential transition problems.
But Mark Cuban (in the conclusion of a two-part interview with his exuberance Phillip Swann) isn’t worried:
TV Predictions: Will the 2009 digital TV transition in the United States go smoothly? Or, will it be the technological equivalent of Katrina?…
Mark Cuban: Yes, it will go smoothly, but not according to the press. The media will be littered with stories of little old ladies that can’t get their favorite church sermons on Sunday morning, or 100 year old men who have been watching their favorite team since the NFL was founded and now they don’t know how to do it. That’s what the media does.
However, that won’t be the meat and potatoes of what is going on. Why? Because there is going to be the biggest price and marketing war we have ever seen in this industry starting next Christmas. There are 15 million or more households and untold number of people who won’t have a clue about what the changeover means to them. Knowing this, cable and satellite will go to war trying to lure those ‘analogniks’ to their side of the fence. TV manufacturers will be pricing their LCD and HDTVs to try to generate replacement sales…
When change happens in America, media hype comes standard—on that point I will agree.
But here’s one thing I know: Those little old ladies are real. Now, some will read the manuals and connect the plugs and move confidently into the digital age. Others, I’m afraid, will be completely lost. And some of them really don’t want cable.
If we prepare now, though, and if the geeks among us pledge to help our neighbors (of any age, and either sex) who suffer from the high-tech willies, America will survive this, probably.
Earlier:
• Blu-ray or HD-DVD? For Mark Cuban, it’s no dilemma.
• Elderly, others may need help to get digital TV
• Digital TV transition costs will hit consumers, subsidies or not
• Link: TV Predictions