DTV: What it means to consumers

WASHINGTON, DC - With radio spectrum critically needed for public safety communications, the U.S. Congress has given TV broadcasters a deadline - February 17, 2009 - to turn off analog broadcasting and replace it with digital. Digital transmissions are more efficient, and once the transition is made, radio spectrum formerly used for broadcasting TV shows will be made available to public safety communications as well as new wireless broadband services for consumers. 

Consumers have a very important role to play in this transition to digital television.  What do consumers need to do?  For any analog television set on which a consumer views terrestrial over-the-air broadcasting, that set will either need to be replaced with a new TV equipped with a digital tuner or will need to be augmented with an inexpensive set top converter box - a box that takes in the broadcast digital signal, converts it to an analog one, and sends the signal to the analog TV.

Let’s unpack that a bit.  First, for any TV in your house that receives television programming via a subscription service, such as cable or satellite, you do not need to make any changes to your existing set.  Your provider will continue to deliver signals to your set that it can receive.  So if you are happy with your subscription service, you have nothing left to do!  On the other hand, if you want to upgrade to digital or “high definition” television, you have that option as well.  You’ll need to contact your subscription service to make sure you can receive digital or high definition programming (or if you need to change your service in some way) and if you like what you hear, you’ll then need to purchase either a regular digital, or a “high definition” television set.

For most US households, that’s about all we’ll need to do. But some television sets are used by consumers to receive programming over-the-air from terrestrial broadcast towers operated by a local broadcaster.  How do you identify these sets? They are either wired to a rooftop antenna or to “rabbit ears” that sit on top of the TV itself.  If those sets are built on analog technology, then they are unable to receive digital over-the-air signals.  That’s going to be a big problem come February 18, 2009!  You’ll turn on that TV and see … nothing.  So, these consumers have a decision to make sometime between now and February 17, 2009 – buy a new digital TV set or augment their existing set with an inexpensive set top converter box that will allow their existing set to operate after the transition to the new digital format.

There are lots of things to learn about converter boxes, but I’d like to reserve that topic for a future blog since these won’t be available in the market until roughly January 2008.  For the moment, I’d like to focus just on the option of buying a new digital TV.

Thanks to the Federal Communications Commission, the process of shopping for a digital television set just got a whole lot easier.  Beginning May 25, 2007, anyone offering analog TV sets for sale or rent (and they mean “anyone”) must provide a consumer alert to the buyer noting that the television uses analog technology that will not accept digital signals. 

Here’s the full text of the alert prescribed by the FCC:  “This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009, to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation’s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players and similar products.  For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322) or visit the Commission’s digital television website at: www.dtv.gov.

If you see that warning on a TV set you’re interested in purchasing, there is no reason not to buy that set.  You just need to know that you will either have to connect that set to a subscription service … i.e., cable or satellite … or augment it later with an inexpensive set top converter box.  If you don’t like those options, keep shopping for a digital TV that will accept terrestrial over-the-air digital signals from your local broadcaster.  And most importantly, if you don’t see a warning on a set you are thinking about buying, ask! Does this set have an analog or digital tuner?  You have a right to know. 

If all this seems like a hassle, keep in mind that there are some important benefits for you.  First, your police and fire departments will now have the opportunity to use new radio spectrum frequencies that will allow them to communicate with each other in times of emergency, unlike what happened on 9/11 or in Hurricane Katrina.  You might also end up (in 2009) subscribing to one of the new wireless broadband services that will be enabled by the availability of new spectrum.  And last but not least, you are going to have a sharper, crisper TV picture – whether you buy a new TV or opt for a converter box.

Posted by Mary Brown at 03:02PM PST

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