RSSSurvey: 6 in 10 Americans know about the DTV transition
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published March 24, 2008, 6:33 PM
As late as February of this year, only 59 percent of Americans were aware of next year's slated transition from analog to digital TV, according to a survey by Frank N. Magid Associates.
With the change about to happen on February 19, 2009, these results show a big jump from a similar survey by the same company six months before, when merely 34% of Americans had heard about the transition.
Still, though, 41% remain totally clueless about the pending advent of digital-only TV.
The findings were slightly better, actually, among "over-the-air-only" households that only have analog TV sets without cable or satellite service. In those households, only 37% were unaware of the transition.
Also on a relatively positive note, a similar survey undertaken by Consumer Reports in January showed that only 28% of those with at least one analog TV set were completely unaware of the upcoming change to digital.
But Magid's survey results also came up with the alarming finding that the proportion of Americans who erroneously believe the transition means "all TV programs will be available in high definition" actually rose from 23% to 29% in the six months between Magid's two polls.
In a written statement, Magid credited the efforts of both the US government and "individuals committed to educating consumers" for the overall increases in awareness. But it seems to only stand to reason that actual awareness levels might be lower than those reflected by Magid, since those surveys are conducted online among consumers who also access the Internet.
Moreover, so far, the US government's educational efforts seem to have revolved largely around materials posted on the Federal Communications Commission Web site.
To do a better job of reaching television viewers with accurate information, maybe the government and other consumer educators should try making more use of TV shows and commercials, too.
Can anyone say The Emporer's New Clothes? Flat screen televisions, HD, Blu-Ray, Digital broadcasts - it's all a load of crap. A complete wate of my time and my money to upgrade and upgrade I will have to at some point, because no one is kicking up a fuss about us being ripped off.
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|Yeah...progress sucks...
???
If you want to go live in a cave (because houses are just unnecessary fluff), go for it.
The rest of us will enjoy such things as the wheel, electricity...and HD video.
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|Hey, we got the DTV some months ago and now the analog is dead in the whole country (Finland). Some comments:
1) Picture quality depends on the bit rate. High rate is expensive. Quess what, quality of the Analog picture was superb compared to current DTV in most cable houses.
Ghost pictures will fade away and it will be replaced with boxed pictures (MPEG2 boxes) due to low bit rate.
Nice thing with this digital stuff is that you see it or not. Low signal level means black screen.
2)More channels, yes, but who supplies more programs? Nobody... More channels to show repeats...
Every channel will have LESS watchers than before.
3) Not to speak about technical problems with DTV receivers (and transmitters). Horrible mess.
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|I would assume cable and DBS has at least a 41% share of the market, why would these people need to know or even care??? just because they have an analog tv doesnt mean they are getting OTA programming.
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|Why is this a surprise? 6 out of 10, or maybe 8 out of 10 cannot even locate United States on the world map. Or tell you when is our independents day.
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|...or even spell independence. :p
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|Yeap, add that to the list, most college grad can't spell. Included myself :p
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|Add to your list proper sentence structure.
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|I think your definition of "most" is flawed.
Most college grads can do all of that and more.
I'd really love to see where you're getting your statistics.
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|The day my stepson moves out and begins living on his own will be my "Independents Day".
BTW...We still have a 13" TV with rabbit ears in our kitchen. I watched the Superbowl on it.
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|lmao...
Sadly, few will actually get that one.
Nothing wrong with a 13". Had a B/W one in our den for the longest time. Only got 'round to replacing it about a year and a half ago.
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|http://jse.blogg.no/imag...ld_map_g_1153237884.jpg
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|Love the map. Funny as hell.
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|Hmm, I wonder if in the "Americans" word they used to carry out this survery they've included us latino viewers in whole...because I see commercials for this sh!t like every 15 minutes in Spanish channels, hehehehe.
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|I have a TV... but it is only to watch the occasional movie.
Screw the coupons and screw digital distribution. Television is a void.
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|6 in 10 Americans... 41% remain totally clueless..
Isn't this the case with everything in USA?
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|nah...they've done quite well this time, usually the % clueless is higher
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|Who uses rabbit ears anymore anyway? This isn't the 60s.
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|But there are still those who just have over the air TV. Not everyone can afford or even likes cable.
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|The last stat I heard was 60% use rabbit ears :)
OK - don't laugh - but last year we had an antenna installed and canceled Comcast. We where paying 60$ a month, and noticed that we watched mainly CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox. We take that 60$ and do the Blockbuster/NetFlix thing for 18 dollars a month. The other 40, we just buy the series on DVD..then sell it on ebay when done (or give it away). Don't get me wrong, I wish I had Sci-Fi and comedy Central but not at 60 a month. So - I think there are a lot more people that feel the same....60% according to the last stat.
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|I used to have Direct TV and i used an antenna in the attic to pick up the locals. Even picked up all the local High Definition channels too.
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|Some of us own summer houses in the mountains where no cable is avail. And its not worth getting satellite for the dozen times a year you go to the house. Just because you live in an urban area, don't forget there are people who have housing in remote parts of the country.
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|That's why we're giving them converters. :)
Ain't we nice? It's not a necessity, but we're gonna make the people pay so the poor can get their Maury and Oprah on....
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|Heh..
Didn't even need an antenna on the last TV I helped install. Damn thing got normal def cable from the line, and picked up a *bunch* of OTA digital HD.
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|Same here with, but unfortunately most of them look like crap. They are in 480i or so. I believe only channel that in 1080p is CBS HD. TNT HD is 720p.
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|Actually, no broadcast is in 1080p yet. Only way to get 1080p resolution is from Blue-Ray or HD-DVD.
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|Yea? I put CBS HD on 1:1, and it fill up the screen. So I assumed it's 1080p.
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|It was a 37-inch.
480i looked just dandy. :)
There were a few 1080i stations as well. Many more than I expected, actually.
At least, in that area.
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|PC_Tool, but why not?
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|My cat a little confused?
I don't think this post ended up where you intended it...
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|The UK seems to have succeeded quite well with the DTV transition.
They're phasing it in gradually throughout the country (last transition date is 2012 - first was 2 years ago for a small area of Wales) and have adverts on every channel at various times throughout the day as well as adverts in newspapers and magazines.
The adverts announce enough information for people to know what to ask for in shops or type in to a search engine online and I haven't come across anyone young or old who is confused as to whether they can use their old TV or have to buy a new one, or if it costs money (subscription type thing).
They're presented with good reasons as to why it is worth it too (more channels available, better quality picture).
The adverts started in earnest about 2 years ago.
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|And the thing is...The ones that need to know are probably the 4 out of 10 that don't.
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|Erm... of course they are.
They don't know about it, therefore they need to know.
The ones that know it already... know it already.
Or did you mean something else?
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|Obviously. :p
Those who are on cable or satellite know. those 4 with rabbit ears....don't.
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|A lot of people are asking the same questions. Which converter box matches my situation? Which converter box to buy? Where to buy it? Should I purchase a new TV instead? Should I just switch to cable or satellite?
To answer questions like these it takes a little more information than just a public service add on TV or an article in the media. I’ve have searched the internet for information on all of the coupon valid converter boxes being offered. The https://www.dtv2009.gov/ site has information but it doesn’t go into explanations the average person can understand. I have found this site http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/index.html to be the most helpful. I hope it helps you too.
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|I thought a lot about this one. They should just break down and get the TV's. 1 - HDTV is hear to stay, 2- It is just better - 3 Most American't watch about 20+ hours a week, so it's a good "investment". 4 - you will buy a HDTV one day, do we really need 20-50 million converter boxes in the garbage dumps.
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|because spending $600-$2000 is much easier for people to afford than the $75ish for the converter box?
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|really shouldn't use commercials too much.
Japanese government made a couple TV commercials for switching to digital, I mean if they explain all the details, no one's going to watch the commercial, and then they switched to use top models, which in no way explains what the heck is going on.
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