November 20th, 2008 
joel Even though they are dealing with two wars, a transfer of presidential power, with a global economic crisis to boot, the White House Press Office made time at their daily briefing Monday to remind American TV viewers about the digital television transition in fewer than three months. Press Secretary Dana Perino said,
“One thing just to make sure that you’re aware of, from the Department of Commerce: Today we are now just three months from the transition to digital television, which will take place on February 17th. Households watching TV over the air on analog sets will need to take action soon to ensure their sets don’t go dark.
“The Department of Commerce has been working very hard to get the word out to people, and they encourage Americans who will be impacted to go to a website that is www.dtv2009.gov before the end of the year, where they can get a coupon to get a converter box, buy a box and test it out and make sure that they’re all set to watch their favorite programs on February 17.”
Trying to get 19 million people to make any change, let alone one as monumental as how they watch television is a huge undertaking. Nineteen million is the estimated number of Americans that use over-the-air antenna’s to receive TV on at least one of the sets in their households.
A poll conducted by Consumer Reports has revealed that 63% of their respondents had major misconceptions about the move to DTV, even though they were aware of it:
- 29 percent believe that all households will need digital televisions to watch TV
- 25 percent believe that every consumer must subscribe to cable, satellite or fiber TV to watch any television programming at all
- 9 percent believe consumers will have to throw away all analog television sets
Consumer Reports goes on to say that less than half of those who would need a converter box have requested a coupon for one, with a third planning on waiting until February!
With 15.7% of the total households in the Erie DMA (157,610) using antennas as their exclusive way to receive television, that’s at least 24,745 households that will have to do “something” to get service (many satellite users still need an antenna to get the locals). It’s important that if you are in that category that you don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for the switchover.
WICU Chief Engineer John Wilkosz was kind enough to share some helpful tips:
Please remind your readers that if they lose a station inexplicably, they should do a “re-scan” on their DTV or converter box. By re-scanning they are forcing the box to look for any changes in programming. If a TV station makes a change to their program stream the viewer’s receiver may not follow the changes.
As far as home antennas go I prefer a roof top antenna. Even if it’s mounted in an attic or the garage rafters. The roof top antenna affords extra gain that helps in reception. Antennas marketed as “DTV” or “HD” are not needed. Just a standard antenna will work fine. Also do not use amplifiers unless the cable run is more than 100 feet. Amplifiers can “warp” the signal or over drive the tuner if set too high.
Just think of this as “Y2K” for your TV. Take it from the White House: “apply, buy, and try.”
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In response to Tom Lavery’s post to another digital story on this blog, I had an online chat with Dish Network tonight to find out what their plan was for carrying local channels in HD. Here’s how it went:
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Roger: My question is in regard to how Dish will handle local channels after the DTV conversion in February. Will I receive my local stations in HDTV? I have heard that Dish will downconvert them and provide SD transmissions of these stations.
Jessica B.: I’ll be more than happy to assist you with this question. Digital is not high definition. If you currently receive your locals through Dish Network then you receive your locals through a digital broadcast. If locals are available in HD in your area, we are working to provide as many areas as possible with HD locals, and when we have them available to you, you will have the ability to subscribe to them.
Roger: What is the rollout plan? Major markets first, then medium, then small? How can I learn when the HD will be available for my city? Since I am already a subscriber to the local channel option, will the HD be a higher cost than the SD?
Jessica B: We do have a plan for rolling out the HD locals to our customers. You can keep up to date on availability of locals in hd in your area through our website. There will be no additional cost per month for the locals in HD.
Roger: Your website is a bit daunting…can you give me a shortcut to the page where I can track this HD progress?
Jessica B.: Sure. https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/customernetqual/prepAddress.do
At this time this is the closest thing I can find. Once you put in your address it will tell you if they are available. We are making changes to the website right now, so it is possible that they are working on putting in an application so that customer’s know when their locals will be added in hd.
Jessica B.: Have I handled everything to your satisfaction?
Roger: Yes…thanks much.
Jessica B.: I’m glad we were able to take care of that for you. Thank you for being a DISH Network customer, have a great day.
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So I guess the good news is that HD will come to our area on Dish Network….eventually. And, it won’t bump the price of the local channel tier. The bad news, in my estimation, is that Erie will be down near the end of the line for the transition. Let’s hope that they come up with a nice app for their website to provide an idea of when each market will be moved to HD.
By the way, Joel…Jack would be pleased that you are keeping the Erie HD situation updated on this blog. It was one of his major issues for Erie Media Go Round. Keep up the good work!
In regards to the government coupons that I ordered and received in the mail earlier this year. I did not realize there was a 90 day expiration date to use the coupon until I tried to redeem them earlier this month and was told they had expired already. Upon further review I did notice expiration date and explanation letter that came with the coupons. Be sure you redeem the coupons quickly.
I’m surprised no one noticed what happened today in the U.S. Senate!? Apparently, the Senators (in their infinate wisdom) voted to extend the DTV deadline another 30 days. All that is left is for the House of Representatives to vote sometime in December and the official DTV shutoff deadline will be extended to March 17, 2009.
Any other details (or for any skeptics of this info) just go to http://www.b-roll.net for the story.