RSSFCC Calls for Comments on DTV Transition
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published July 31, 2007, 12:04 PM
With less than two years to go before the VHF and UHF television spectra in America are handed over to the winners of an upcoming frequency auction, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday issued a call for public comments regarding better informing the public about the meaning of the February 17, 2009 transition date.
"The digital transition will make valuable spectrum available for both public safety uses and expanded wireless competition and innovation," yesterday's public announcement states. "It will also provide consumers with better quality television picture and sound, and make new services available through multicasting. These innovations, however, are dependent upon widespread consumer understanding of the benefits and mechanics of the transition."
As many as one-fourth of US households, according to surveys conducted over the past two years, receive their television signal over the airwaves. For their television sets to continue to receive a picture, those households will need to purchase signal conversion boxes.
Congress has already approved plans to subsidize homeowners' purchases of up to two converter boxes each, at an estimated cost of between $40 and $50 per box.
But last week, Congressmen sounded warnings that not enough people may be aware that the conversion is under way. This from a legislative body which hasn't quite yet decided when the sale of coupon-subsidized converter boxes should actually begin.
Since terrestrial television stations are already adept at informing viewers what will be on TV next week, the FCC's concern about its ability to adequately inform the public that their channels will no longer exist after a certain date, may actually be an indication of other concerns. One of which may be fears that the debate over the transition date could be reopened, at a time when the FCC is working to set critical guidelines for the auctioning of TV spectrum, to likely potential bidders such as Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Google.
So the FCC may be seeking to take ownership of this issue, not by contesting the timing of the transition, which it needs to be set in stone, but by instead asking for individuals and concerned businesses "to help convey the timing, logistics and benefits of the DTV transition to consumers." This, even though television is by design a communications medium.
There's too much petty politics being played here. Let's start the 'education' program next year when the coupons and converter boxes will be available. Until then, except for buying a new TV, there's nothing the public can do about it now anyway.
Here's a draconian plan to get their heads out of the sand. When Surviver comes on, they see a blue screen saying 'Surviver is only available on our Digital Television Channel Tonight'.
--- CHAS
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|well seeing as the only people that will be gung ho for this are the "people" (edited so as not to offend further even though I think of them much worse)that wasted thousands on HTtvs to begin with. The people that do not live in huge metropolitan areas are the ones that will be victimized by this. Cause many places that still get rebroadcast off UHF and still use a good old fashioned TV Antenna will be out of luck. Since this is the majority of the country in territory and not population it will not matter to the FCC. cause all they care about is the big cities. Add to that the MINUTE that the industry knows that there is no analog hole on UHF VHF they will lock everything forcing everyone to pay every time they view a tv show from any network. thus NBC CBS ABC FOX, CW WB whatever it is, all become like HBO Showtime in prices. Which is what they wanted since the 1980s... Congrats, you just gave them the key to locking out of recording TV programing of ANY kind for timeshifting or any other reason. Thus BETAMAX rulings and fair use is forever gone by our own hand. Naturally they will not tell you this. The industry does not want VOTERS to know this, and much rather have the keys to the city before citizens find out how much they are screwed by this...
Oh yea and not to mention that on analog a weak signal is still very watchable with slight fuzz on the picture. Big deal thats better then nothing.... on Digital, forget about it, all you get is black screen...
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|Who cares? 800 channels and there still is nothing to watch.
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|will DTV be free like the old airwaves or will the FBI be knocking when i record a show?
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|DTV SUCKS!!! You have to adjust the antenna every time you change the channel. Distant stations will be a thing of the past because you have to be super close to get reception. I will take a snowy picture using my remote from the couch over a black screened DTV. Leave DTV for cable and satellite. DTV just doesnt work Over The Air with acceptable levels we are used to.
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|It's not any worse then analog broadcast if the broadcasters are using the same wattage. Some broadcasters aren't broadcasting DTV at the same strength as their analog counterparts.
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|Digital TV and radio signals both require more power to travel the same distance as an analog signal. Also, cable doesn't have digital TV. The signal is converted to analog long before it reaches your home. Currently the only way to get DTV besides using rabit ear antennas is by satellite or Verizon FiOS TV.
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|Incorrect. many Comcast customers are getting their tv pumped thru fiber optics to the curb. from there, the channels are dual broadcast. cable boxes get all the channels in digital while cable ready receive it in analog. my cable personally, i noticed the difference when my cable box receives the signal much cleaner (tested on same tv) and 2 seconds earlier than my cable ready tv in the next room.
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|In Gresham, Oregon (a suburb east of Portland, Oregon where I used to live) Comcast installed coaxial cable along the above ground power lines years ago that only transmit analog signals. Of course, these coaxial cables connect to fiber optic cables somewhere in the area, but the fiber optics are nowhere near where the house is located.
In Beaverton, Oregon (another suburb west of Portland, Oregon) the cable company installed fiber optic cables underground very close to the entrance of my neighborhood. Despite the fact that the fiber optic cables are less than a mile away from my home Comcast still has old fashioned coaxial cable that only carries analog signals which run a short distance from the entrance of my neighborhood, up the street and into my home.
How do I know the signal coming into my home is analog? When the reception from the cable company is poor the picture breaks up. It doesn't go away completely. If the signal were truly digital I would be getting a crystal clear picture or no picture at all like with satellite TV.
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|Simple, just send out mailings letting everyone know they need a converter box to watch TV six months before analog TV is shut off. This is more than enough time for people to get ready for DTV.
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|Taking comments FCC? Here's mine. Let's get on with the transition. Looking forward to DTV and all the new bandwidth allocation. The more there are delays... the more time that unscrupulous salesmen have to prey on the fears of an unsuspecting public, to hawk their wares. And it will keep the various Stations that are delaying spending the money to upgrade their equipment as they should have already done.
I'm not worried about the public being left out to dry by not having the proper equipment to view what's available. Cable companies will provide equipment to view... and if you ONLY use OTA... well you will have to upgrade your TV or get a conversion box. It's called progress.
My $0.02.
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|Dear Mr. Cider,(Or can I call you "D-ickens"?)
I agree 100%.
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|Here are two things NOT to do if you want to reach people:
1) Inform people via ads on cable channels.
2) Inform the people via ads before/after presidential speeches or election debates.
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|They've already broken both of those lol
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