Digital TV Facts: The Latest

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 »

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

• Elderly viewers are less prepared for the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts in 2009 than other Americans, a study from the Association of Public Television Stations concludes.

• Reps. Boucher, Walden urge cable companies to inform consumers about the digital TV transition.

• Spectrum (freed by the DTV transition) for public safety: Carnegie Mellon’s Jon M. Peha bemoans lack of federal leadership.

More on the Digital Television Congressional Caucus and its lobbying ties: The National Cable & Telecommunications Association will present its new “Consumer Champion Award” to Reps. Rick Boucher (D.-Va.) and Greg Walden (R.-Ore.) today, Multichannel News reports. The award recognizes their efforts to inform consumers about the digital TV transition.

The campaigns of Boucher and Walden, co-founders of the DTV Caucus, each received $10,000 in contributions linked to NCTA during the 2006 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Earlier:
• House DTV Caucus and its lobbying ties

• Links: Multichannel; opensecrets.org: Boucher, Walden

• 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

News roundup time, video rangers:

• Spectrum wars: The broadcasting lobby isn’t so powerful after all, Drew Clark maintains. Oh, and forget about “white spaces.” What would it take to make them vacate the airwaves?

• DTV communications job: Powerful or not, the National Association of Broadcasters seeks a communications coordinator for the digital television transition.

• Must-carry-go-round: At Multichannel News, Todd Spangler on dual must-carry and Tom Steinert-Threlkeld on multicast must-carry.

• EU pushes mobile DTV: The European Commission adopts a mobile TV strategy encouraging the use of DVB-H as a single European standard.

• Goin’ all-digital in Kentucky: WLJC-TV of Beattybille, Ky., will cease broadcasting on analog channel 65 and operate WLJC-DT as a single channel, digital-only station on DTV channel 7 [pdf].

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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“What this country needs,” in the words of Thomas Riley Marshall, “is a really good five-cent cigar.” Those words were said in 1917, when Marshall was Woodrow Wilson’s vice president. But America’s longing for bargain-priced consumer products endures. Today we’re waiting for an affordably priced, cigar box-sized device—the digital TV converter.

A DTV converter box hooks up to an antenna-equipped analog TV, allowing it to display digital channels. Several electronics manufacturers have signaled plans to market low-priced converter boxes, which consumers can purchase using $40-off coupons from the U.S. government. The subsidy program begins in January 2008. Thomson announced plans for an RCA converter box, initially priced at $125, in 2005. Anticipated prices for digital TV adapters have now dropped to the $60 range.

The question is, where are they?
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If you want to watch local digital TV stations on your PC, two new products from AMD are worth a look.

The ATI TV Wonder 600 is a “stick tuner” that plugs into a USB socket on your notebook or desktop PC. The tuner can be used for watching local digital (including HDTV) or analog channels over the air, plus analog cable channels. PVR (personal video recorder) functions can be enabled using the ATI Catalyst Media Center software suite.

For desktop computers, AMD offers the ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI Express, a board that goes inside the box. In addition to over-the-air analog/digital/HD television and analog cable, the TV Wonder 650 can tune unscrambled QAM digital cable channels. (Note, however, that most digital cable channels are scrambled. But some cable systems send local stations, especially, “in the clear.”) Catalyst Media Center is also supported.

A “telescopic antenna” is included with the USB tuner stick, but viewers in areas where reception is difficult will probably need a better antenna to receive DTV stations dependably. For the TV Wonder 650, AMD recommends an amplified antenna.

Both tuners should reach stores by September.

Earlier:
• USB ATSC tuner stick from Pinnacle
• Thomson previews USB digital TV tuner

• Link: TV Technology

ABC plans to transform its low-profile broadband news channel into a full-blown cable network, according to TVNewsday. In its latest vision for ABC News Now, the network would partner with affiliates to offer local segments every half-hour. Station owners might love the idea, but it’s a raw deal for the public.

When ABC News Now launched on a test basis in 2004, it was available free over the air for several months on local multicast DTV channels. We won’t see that again, apparently—and it gets worse:

In addition to supplying the local news segments, the ABC affiliates would be expected to integrate the local and national feeds and distribute the package to local cable operators via a fiber or microwave link or by broadcasting it in encrypted form over a digital channel.

Because of the encryption, viewers with digital TVs would not be able to receive the service off the air.

That would be an outrage.
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