Digital TV Facts: The Latest

The federal government’s DTV converter box coupon program will be operated by IBM, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today. The Commerce Department agency awarded the contract to IBM Corp. after reviewing proposals received in May from competing vendors.

The $1.5 billion subsidy program will provide two coupons, each good for $40 off the purchase price of a converter box, to U.S. households that request them. A digital-to-analog converter box connects to a traditional analog TV, allowing it to continue displaying over-the-air broadcasts even after the analog TV shutdown on February 17, 2009.
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• The U.S. government has “grossly underestimated” the number of DTV converter boxes Americans will need, says PBS President Paula Kerger.

• Microsoft defends “white space” broadband prototype devices against charges of interfering with digital TV broadcasts. The company cites defects in a previously tested device…and submits a new one to the FCC.

• DirecTV and Time Warner Cable settle dispute over HDTV quality claims.

• ATSC wants the FCC to update its digital TV standard, following the standards body’s six-part framework.

NTIA’s fall public meeting on the digital TV transition will present panel sessions featuring industry and advocacy-group leaders. Confirmed speakers include:

• David Rehr, National Association of Broadcasters
• Kyle McSlarrow, National Cable and Telecommunications Association
• Gary Shapiro, Consumer Electronics Association
• Loriene Roy, American Library Association

The Digital Television Transition Public Meeting, Expo and Networking Event will be hosted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the federal agency responsible for the DTV converter box coupon program.

Organizations and companies participating in the DTV expo include the FCC, television and consumer electronics trade groups, DirecTV, EchoStar and Verizon FiOS.

The event takes place on September 25 at Commerce Department headquarters in Washington.

Earlier:
• CEOs take stage at DTV coupon meeting

• Link: NTIA

Your local station should now know which channel to call home after the transition to digital TV is completed. The FCC announced final DTV channel assignments for more than 1,800 stations yesterday.

After analog TV broadcasts terminate on February 17, 2009, many stations will assume new channel numbers. No worries, though (well, almost; I’ll explain later). Surprisingly, viewers won’t generally need to learn new channel lineups, because stations will retain their customary on-air identities. Channel 11 will still promote itself as channel 11, for instance, even if it has moved to channel 32.

The familiar channel numbers from the analog era can be preserved to a large extent, thanks to “channel virtualization.”
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Switching to digital TV broadcasts will be a chore for some Americans, including many seniors. Hooking up a DTV converter box, scanning for channels, possibly getting up on the roof to fiddle with an antenna…let’s face it, the set-up will be daunting for some folks.

Age isn’t the issue. At 84, Sumner Redstone is still in charge at CBS, after all. I know of seniors who will make the transition from over-the-air analog TV to digital, no problem. But for anyone who is mobility-impaired or in frail health, the road to DTV is an uphill climb.

Here is how one television station manager approaches the issue:

I’m willing to bet that charitable organizations will help the elderly and homebound locate and install set-top converters.

Uh-oh.

If that’s the solution the TV industry is counting on, I’m afraid we’re in trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

Local TV stations will be shifting to different channels, in many cases, because of the transition to digital television. The FCC has spent years trying to painstakingly determine which stations will go where. Now a prominent broadcast technology consultant suggests it’s time to start over.

That daring suggestion, from Charles W. Rhodes of TV Technology, arises from concern that over-the-air digital TV reception is threatened by interference. Read the rest of this entry »

Executives from industries involved in the digital TV transition will participate in a CEO-level panel discussion at a National Telecommunications and Information Administration public meeting this fall. The Washington meeting will discuss NTIA’s public information campaign about the DTV converter box coupon program.

More than a dozen companies and organizations will display “products and services to enable consumers to make a smooth digital transition,” said NTIA Administrator John M. R. Kneuer, in testimony for yesterday’s Senate Commerce meeting. The product expo will be held in the Department of Commerce lobby.

The September 25 meeting will include questions from the public. Want to submit written questions? Email Francine Jefferson at NTIA.

Related:
• DTV transition meeting: Speakers announced

The shutdown of analog television broadcasts in 2009 offers “high potential for a train wreck,” according to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). Is the digital TV transition a disaster in the making?

It’s still too early to tell. Alarm bells were rung at today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, where an AARP official raised the prospect of senior citizens losing their television service and taking it out on Congress. That’s exactly what would happen, too, if we switched over tomorrow. Surveys continue to show low levels of awareness about what will happen on February 17, 2009, when over-the-air broadcasters will complete the change to digital TV. Personally, I’m not despairing—not yet.
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Retailers have been warned repeatedly about selling analog TVs without displaying appropriate warnings. With the shutdown of traditional analog television broadcasts less than 19 months away, the FCC crackdown may enter a new stage, according to Congressional testimony from the commission’s chairman, Republican Kevin Martin. FCC commissioners are considering whether to recommend fines against “seven large retailers,” he said yesterday in a prepared statement. “These fines, in the aggregate, total over three million dollars.”

Federal regulations require retailers who sell analog-only TV sets to prominently display a consumer alert warning of the transition to digital TV, which is due to be completed on February 17, 2009. After that date, U.S. viewers will be unable to watch over-the-air broadcasts on an old-style TV without the aid of a DTV converter box.

FCC inspectors have visited about 1030 stores, along with many retailers’ web sites. As of July 19, more than 262 citations have been issued for violations. The FCC will also continue its investigations of companies that import or ship television receivers without DTV tuners, Martin said.

“Swift enforcement of all of our DTV-related rules is critical to protecting consumers from purchasing television sets that may be rendered useless in 18 months,” he added, in remarks prepared for an appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Enforcement activities in this area will continue to be a priority for the Commission in the coming year.”

Earlier:
• Analog TV is past its sell-by date
• Analog TV violations: Notify the FCC
• Target’s analog TV muddle

• Patients can make doctor’s appointments via internet-connected digital TV converter boxes—in Britain.

• From The Digital TV Brief: NTIA plans a public meeting about its DTV converter box coupon program.

• The digital TV transition could be “the mother of all catalysts for Best Buy.”

• BlogHer asks: Does the switch to DTV undercut the rationale for reviving the Fairness Doctrine?

Samsung’s DTV converter box, debuting at about $75, will be sold initially through online retailers, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Digital-to-analog converter boxes will allow owners of conventional TVs to continue watching over-the-air channels after analog broadcasts end on February 17, 2009.

Prices for competing DTV converters from LG and RCA are expected to be in the $60 range.

[Samsung’s Rich] Long imagines the price dropping by $10 in summer 2008 and another $10 that fall. “I expect we’ll do 70% of our sales in the backend [of ‘08].”

The Samsung DTV box should be available (according to an earlier announcement) in time for the federal government’s DTV converter box coupon program, which launches in January 2008.

Earlier:
• Cheap converter boxes: Retailers not on board
• RCA slashes price on DTV converter box
• LG digital converter box due in 2008

• Link: B&C

As momentum builds for the digital TV transition, Motorola has been notably absent from the DTV converter box party. Consumer electronics firms that have announced digital-to-analog converter boxes include LG, Thomson/RCA, Samsung and Jasco/GE. The devices, sometimes called digital TV adapters, will allow conventional television sets to continue taking in over-the-air broadcasts after the analog TV shutdown on February 17, 2009.

Motorola announced today that it will combine its TV set-top box business with its network equipment business, according to Reuters. The company, along with Scientific Atlanta, is a leading maker of cable boxes. Motorola demonstrated a prototype cable box with built-in digital broadcast tuner at the 2007 Cable Show in May.

But what about DTV converter boxes for antenna-only viewers?
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