Worst DIY Installs Ever Part 7
10 Must-Have Products for Your Next Install
6 Amazing High-End Home Theaters
8 Awesome Turntables for Spinning Vinyl
Print
Email
Comments (7)
Share
Confusing DTV Twist Will Cost Millions for Consumer Re-Education
New commercials: Never mind…
A four-month reprieve before their old antenna-based systems blank out. Woo hoo, right?
Not so fast. The FCC says that 61 percent of TV stations (1,089) may turn off their analog signals before June 12. They already operate on their DTV channels, so they just need to pull the plug on analog.
They can do this, as long as it doesn't interfere with other stations. Most of the remaining 700ish stations may be able to make the switch as well – long before the official cutoff date.
So analog households who think they have another four months to switch may be very upset when one-by-one each channel goes dark starting Feb. 17.
The solution? Spend more money on educating the public!
Now that the government has spent untold millions of dollars informing the public of the switch to digital, they will have to spend millions more to articulate this new twist, which is much more confusing than the original message.
This will be a costly campaign: Remember how we told you that the switch would take place on Feb. 17? Well, it won't happen now until June 12. However, some of your stations may go away on Feb. 17, and slowly all of them will disappear until June 12 when you will get nothing. So, you really should make the switch right away.
The "stimulus" package provides up to $650 million in additional funding for the DTV coupon program, of which up to $130 million may be used for consumer education about the transition.
Would we need to spend that $130 million if government didn't have to explain the confusing new wrinkle in the DTV transition?
Perhaps it's all a Keynesian ploy to stimulate the ad industry!
Subscribe to the CE Pro Newsletter
About the Author
7 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Are you kidding me? While government is far superior at screwing things up than anyone else, they hardly have a monopoly on it!
There are other costs involved in this delayed switch. All of the stations that are still broadcasting an analog signal will be spending a lot of money on power and scheduled maintenance to operate the analog transmission sites. Something that I am sure was not in their budget.
I also think that the sale of these frequencies could bring in much needed money the FCC could use with tightening federal budgets.
I just returned from my first on-site call to help a little granny set up her converter box. It was a cinch, 15 minutes to accomplish including a short how-to on the remote (a must do). I got a hug and she’ll probably start dropping by my showroom with lunch. I’ll slash my rate, offer a senior discount to boot and keep moving on.
I would be very surprised if ANY station pulled the analog plug one minute before they had to. And ‘had to” means they would have in hand some hard evidence that 90% of their audience, or greater, had DTV capability. It’s fundamental. They’re broadcasters. Broadcasters never do ANYTHING to drive away audience. Audience = money. The first station to turn off analog loses his analog audience to his competitor who leaves it on. Nope, no station will want to go first. They either yank the cord all at the same time and date, or not at all.
PHT has a point, but here’s another argument that can be made.
Broadcasters make money off of advertisements. The people that already took the initiative to apply for coupons and get a converter box after months of those persistent DTV commercials are the same people who order a pizza after watching a Pizza Hut commercial. To make my point, those who were not proactive on getting a converter box are more likely to be unaffected by any advertisements whatsoever, thus making the delay less beneficial. My guess is, the cost to power the analogue broadcasts for four more months will out-weigh the ad revenue, or at least the profits of advertisers as a result of their commercials.
Only would a government sponserd project like this get all messed up…time to pull the plug on the Analog services…I still find it hard to belive that there are that many analog tuners still in use…