WASHINGTON — “Hey, the TV’s not working!”
In just 100 days, TV viewers in millions of U.S. households might be startled to discover that most television stations have turned off their analog broadcast signals, leaving older TV sets blank unless they’re tethered to cable, satellite dishes or digital converter boxes.
Broadcasters and government officials are trying to warn Americans about the dawning of the digital TV age — which will happen Feb. 17 — but some say those efforts may be inadequate for many of the 13.4 million households without pay TV.
“It would appear there will be a lot of people whose TV sets will go blank,” said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America.
Other confused viewers may end up spending far more than necessary to cope with analog-TV tuners that can no longer receive broadcast signals. Unfortunately, “a lot of people will spend more money than they actually need to because cable advertising is pushing them to get $600-a-year cable service when people could solve the problem with a $50 box,” Cooper said.
Proponents of the digital switch say TV viewers will get a better picture and sound, as well as more programming choices. Moreover, by abandoning analog signals, broadcasters will create more radio spectrum to be used for public-safety communications and advanced wireless services.
Cooper said the government has made the right decision because emergency responders really do need more communications capabilities. “It was time to move on,” he said.
Now the government is working hard to get the word out to the estimated 12 percent of households whose only access to TV is via a home antenna and whose older sets aren’t equipped with a digital tuner to handle the new signals.
For those viewers, the choice is to subscribe to a pay TV service, buy a new set, or buy a converter box to make their present set digital-ready.
The federal government is providing $40 coupons to reduce the cost of the converter boxes. The coupons — two are available per household — typically push down the price of a box to about $20 or even less at major chains such as Wal-Mart, Sears and Best Buy.
At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing into the DTV transition in September, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said those most in need of help are “senior citizens, non-English speakers and minorities, people with disabilities, low-income consumers, and those living in rural or tribal areas.”
Committee chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, urged the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to work harder to make sure the new White House and Congress do not immediately face a “communications crisis. We have too many crises facing us at the moment.”
