The New York Times-20080124-The Unavoidable Update
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WHILE people like to complain that there is nothing to watch on television, about 21 million American households may find that literally true in February 2009. On the 17th of that month, most TV stations will quit broadcasting analog TV signals over the air, and older sets will go blank.
But remarkably, half of the country does not realize a changeover is coming, according to a survey by the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing.
And despite advertising that proposes cable TV as the remedy for a dark screen, cable viewers with older sets -- 40 million of them, according to the Federal Communications Commission -- will be given a reprieve but not immunity. Three years after the over-the-air change, cable customers with analog sets could see the same blank screen. (By that time, most analog sets would be ancient.) The picture isn't entirely bleak for old sets. There are simple steps consumers with old TVs can take to ensure that American Idol is still on their screen next February.
But consumers ready to make the transition may have a hard time learning how to prepare. After seeing ads about the conversion on television, Dale Hazelton, a former creative director at a direct response marketing firm living in New Hampton, N.Y., decided he wanted to keep watching free over-the-air TV. So he replaced his 20-year-old analog TV with a digital L.C.D. screen and bought a rooftop antenna that could receive over-the-air digital signals, all for about $700.
Mr. Hazelton's antenna pulls in more than twice as many New York metro area stations as he used to get, all of them with a digital picture and 5.1 surround sound. The picture quality? It's unbelievable, he said.
He had to do his research online, because he found a lot of misinformation in stores. I went into RadioShack to get the UHF antenna and they said, 'If you buy this, you know it won't work next year.' The guy had no clue. He said, 'When TV goes digital, you have to have cable.' I told them, 'You really need to learn about the stuff you're selling.'
A RadioShack spokesman, Charles Hodges, said the salesman may have been a new hire who had not received the training on digital TV that is required for all employees.
Drawing the public's attention to the changeover has not been easy. Although government agencies, cable providers and broadcasters have promised to contribute what they say is $900 million worth of educational advertising, many people stop listening when they hear DTV. They think it is a sales pitch for premium cable service or for high-definition TV, said a Best Buy spokesman, Brian Lucas. I think it's the kind of thing that it takes four or five times before people understand it applies to them, he said.
To receive digital signals, a TV must have a digital tuner. Digital tuners were first required in some TVs beginning in 1998, but they weren't required in all TVs until last year. Still, sets with analog-only receivers can still be found in stores.
The first step is figuring out whether your TV has a digital receiver. If you bought your TV before 1998, it is almost certainly not digital. For any TV after that, check the manual under specifications for the tuner. If it says ATSC, it is digital. If it says NTSC, it is analog. Some TVs have both.
If you don't have a manual, sometimes ATSC or NTSC is marked on the back of the TV. Or if your TV has a setup mode that automatically seeks channels, switch it on and see if it asks analog or digital. If it does, your TV is digital.
If yours is one of the 21 million American households that the Government Accountability Office says has an analog TV, you are not forced to replace it. You could buy a converter box. The government, underwriting the cost of a converter box to let analog TVs play digital broadcasts, is giving out 33.5 million $40 coupons that would reduce the price of eligible converter boxes, expected to cost $50 to $70 after the discount. (Sorry, there are no coupons for TVs.)
The perseverant consumer can download a coupon application at www.dtv2009.gov or call 888-388-2009. The hearing impaired can call 877-530-2634 for English or 866-495-1161 for Spanish. The applications may also be found in some stores and public libraries.
In focus groups, over-the-air TV viewers showed an inclination to wait until the last minute to buy converter boxes, said Todd Sedmak, a spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is running the coupon program. This older gent stuck in my mind, Mr. Sedmak said, because he was going to wait until next year. He said: 'Feb. 16, I am going down to Wally World, I am buying a new TV and a new converter box.' The converter would allow him to keep using the old TV.
But that gentleman risks a blank box on the 18th, unless he wants to pay full price for the converter. Coupons are limited in number, and they are first-come, first-served, up to two per household.
Also of note to procrastinators: once issued, the coupons expire in 90 days.
The converter boxes are just beginning to show up in stores, although they are still hard to find. The government says they should be available in about 15,000 outlets nationwide, and it has set up a Web site, www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx, to list those stores. But this week it was unable to find one within 50 miles of San Francisco or Manhattan. What about those 40 million cable TV viewers who have older analog sets? The cable companies have agreed to continue to broadcast the programs required by law in both analog and digital until 2012. The F.C.C. will reassess the agreement in 2011. It can drop the requirement at that time, keep the 2012 deadline or extend it.
There is no consensus on how the industry will handle the changeover, said Brian Dietz, spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. People with analog sets will need a new set-top cable box. The question will be whether cable companies give them out, sell them, rent them to users or tell customers to go to a store and find their own. It's up to the individual carriers, Mr. Dietz said.
Some cable companies are already making the leap to all digital, like Bend Broadband in Bend, Ore. It has committed itself to supply all qualifying customers with a converter, free through 2008. With the digital conversion we will do, everyone will have a set-top box, said Amy Tykeson, the chief executive of Bend Broadband. The change will free bandwidth for other services, like high-definition channels, phone and faster Internet, she said.
Verizon Fios, a fiber optic service offering pay TV, phone and high-speed Internet, stopped providing analog signals to new customers this month. For existing analog customers, that signal will be phased out. Customers can still use analog TVs with a converter box. Verizon may supply qualifying customers with one free converter and additional converters for $3.99 a month, although Sharon Cohen-Hagar, a Verizon spokeswoman, said terms of the offer were still being worked out.
Satellite service subscribers fare a bit better. Their systems are already all digital but work with analog TVs. Our customers made the digital transition 13 years ago, said Robert Mercer, director of public relations for DirecTV. They are all set.
[Illustration]ILLUSTRATION (ILLUSTRATION BY DAVE EMBER)