Televising The Revolution

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) took the wraps off a 30 second spot to inform the public of the February 17, 2009 advance to all digital television transmissions. Here is a link to the spot on dtvanswers.com. The spot is said to promote consumer awareness of the digital transition. Presented below is a transcript of the spot.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

“Notice how digital’s made pretty much everything better?

Especially television.

Digital TV’s got
Better picture
better sound
more channels—

In fact, digital’s so much better that, by law, ALL broadcast TV has to be digital by 2009

But there’s a catch:

Some TV’s need an upgrade to get digital. You could even lose your signal.

Get the facts.

Visit DTVAnswers.com to learn about television’s switch to digital.

Or call this number to see how you can stay connected”

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

The question is, does this spot arm consumers with the information they need to help them “go digital?” It says little about what action to take. It offers a link to a website for more information but how about those who do not have web access or do not own or know how to operate a computer?

To avoid chaos, confusion and to make it as stress free as possible all facts pertaining to the digital cut-over need to be presented in a very simple, concise manner. Consumers need to be clearly informed that on February 17, 2009 and for some time following there is going to be a very difficult period to cope with if they want to watch over-the-air TV.

Will consumers be ready? Will the over-the-air television viewing public possess the information needed to be able to watch TV on February 18?  Does this spot address these questions? 

For more information see the related stories, A Requiem For Analog TV from September 4, 2007 and Spreading The Word from September 7, 2007 elsewhere in the Televising The Revolution blog.                                         -33-

Putting additional capacity into a power grid is not an unusual move for a power company. Events such as hot and humid summer days often call for the boost to prevent power brownouts and outages, but a television show?

Turn up the juice was the order of the day and power officials in Sao Paulo, Brazil were expected to do just that on Friday, September 28 during the airing of the season finale of a soap opera.

The final episode of “Tropical Paradise” had the power folks scrambling for the switches to crank up the energy as an estimated 90% of the country’s population was expected to view the popular show. The power grid had a surge of new life in anticipation for great demand of those who would go to the fridge to get a drink or snack or want to use a microwave to prep a meal.

Prime-time soap operas known as telenovelas, with average runs of 200 episodes, are a major event in Brazil. Their plot lines often show up as front-page news and the show’s characters are major topics of conversation.     -33-

TV’s Inventor on TV

The only on-air tribute Dr. Philo T. Farnsworth ever received from the industry he helped to create was on a segment of the popular game show “I’ve Got A Secret.”

In 1957, Dr. Farnsworth was interviewed by Host, Garry Moore after his “secret” of “Inventing Electronic Television at the age of 14″ was revealed to the panel of four and the studio audience.

For stumping the panel this great man walked away with the show’s prize - A carton of cigarettes and $80.00 Cash.

In a remarkable prediction Dr. Farnsworth laid out his vision for the future of electronic television. His discussion was not only awe inspiring it was made over fifty years before technology caught up and produced such devices.

His delivery was like the mouse that roared as he explained in a humble, quiet, educated voiced what he envisioned for the future.

2000 Lines Of Resolution!

Dr. Farnsworth said — “In television we are attempting first to make better utilization of the bandwidth[1], because we think we can eventually get in excess of two-thousand lines instead of five hundred and twenty five[2] and do it on even narrower channel if possibly than we are doing present television[3], which will make for a much sharper picture.”

Flat Panel Displays and Memory Storage

Dr. Farnsworth continued — “We believe in a “Picture Frame” type of a picture where the visual display will be just a screen[4] and we hope for a memory so the picture will be just pasted on there[5] and many improvements will result in the camera when you use such devices because there is part of the scene that you can remember and you practically have a memory file of it and will simplify production of it.”[6]

Dr. Farnsworth foresaw all of this in 1957:

• [1]Utilization of less bandwidth
• [2]High Definition Television
• [3]Refined transmission frequencies
• [4]Flat Panel Displays
• [5]Perhaps even a glimpse into digital photography
• [6]Memory storing cameras (Still Store, Instant Replay)

We finally caught up with his vision. -33-

 It was announced today that the Cable Industry will be pumping $200M into advertising to educate consumers that the analog to digital cutover announced for February 17, 2009 will not affect cable subscribers.

EDUCATING CONSUMERS

According to the Associated Press, The $200 million advertising campaign includes both ads that have been purchased on broadcast channels and donated time from cable systems, the cable association said. It will run through the digital transition date.

The National Association of Broadcasters has pledged to begin its own campaign beginning in December.

FROM THE AIR

In a report from the Government Accountability Office dated 2005 about 19 percent or 20 million households rely on an antenna for over the air broadcasts rather than cable or other means of close circuit reception. See the story A Requiem For Analog TV elsewhere in the Televising The Revolution blog for more information. -33-

Imagine if you will. It is February 18, 2009. A television viewer receives TV over the air through a roof antenna. On awakening, instinctively the TV is turned on only to find snow-not outside but on the TV screen. Switching to another channel, snow… and another. Snow. Our viewer begins to fear that aliens really have landed in New Jersey as Orson Welles announced over 70 years ago.  Panic sets in as the radio is switched on, to just catch the news announcer saying “Analog TV died today. Film at Eleven.”  Nothing seems real. There is a sign post up ahead. It reads – You have reached the end of the Analog Zone.

Why Wasn’t I Warned?

You were warned. Didn’t you see the signs? Says the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on their Website, “At midnight on February 17, 2009, federal law requires that all full-power television broadcast stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format.”

Broadcasters have been gearing up for this cutover for a long time. Unfortunately getting the word out to the public seems to be slow. Some sources say that only 20% of American viewers have heard about the end of analog TV.  Some people in the broadcast and television profession are even uninformed when asked about the digital transition.

What is the Digital Transition Date?

The digital transition date is the deadline for all US broadcast television stations to broadcast exclusively in a digital format. This means analog signals will no longer exist.

Will I Need a New TV set?

You should not, but if you receive your television stations only with an antenna you will need a converter box to convert the digital over the air signal to an analog signal so your TV can receive it. Alternately you will need a TV receiver with a tuner built-in that is capable of digital reception.

If you are old enough to remember when UHF stations with channels 14 and up started broadcasting but your television receiver only received stations from channel 2 through 13 on VHF it will be like Deja Vu. If you wanted to receive the “new” UHF stations you purchased a “Converter Box” which was attached to the antenna inputs on your TV and you tuned the higher channels with it. You should be able to procure a similar converter box to convert the new digital channels to your existing analog television receiver, attaching it either via your antenna terminals or your audio and video input.

If you rely on cable or satellite then the digital transition probably won’t affect you as much. 

Caveat Emptor

When purchasing a new TV from now on you should be sure it has a tuner capable of receiving digital television transmissions. Insist on it! If it does not it will not receive over the air, digital broadcasts when the day comes. Many televisions today have dual tuners for receiving both analog and the digital transmissions.

You will begin to find all kinds of great buys on TVs. Just be sure the set you purchase will not obsolete itself in a few short months. The old saying “Caveat Emptor” or Buyer Beware should be foremost in your mind.

Above all, don’t panic! It is not the end of the world, just the end of analog television. Knowledge replaces fear. Do your research. Ask questions and above all, be an informed consumer. -33-