Digital TV Facts: The Latest

Multichannel News covers The Independent Show, a conference of smaller cable operators:

• Public TV’s additional “multicast” channels, available in many communities, should appear in more cable households, under a tentative deal between the American Cable Association (ACA) and public TV stations.

• Changes to distant-channel rules, under the proposed Television Freedom Act of 2007, win the ACA’s support. The bill would allow cable and satellite TV companies to carry local TV stations from adjacent markets.

• “Downloadable security” (presumed successor to the CableCARD) has a deployment schedule that overlaps with the February 17, 2009, shutdown of analog TV broadcasts.

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 post »

FCC test results suggest digital TV reception would suffer if prototype mobile “white space” devices shared the DTV spectrum. John Eggerton reports in Broadcasting & Cable.

• Link: Broadcasting & Cable

Earlier:
• DTV reception threatened by interference?
• Converter-box performance: Reports raise concerns

The FCC adopts so-called “open access” provisions for the auction of public airwaves to be vacated by broadcasters as part of the digital TV transition, AP reports.

Google’s wholesale-access proposal didn’t make it.

• Link: CNNMoney

• The FCC proposes [pdf] digital TV consumer information initiatives; television, consumer electronics and retail industries may be affected.

• Capitol Broadcasting launches its own promotional spots for the DTV transition.

• Customers of smaller cable TV companies want more HDTV…and they especially want local channels in HD.

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 post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

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?