Consumer Reports tells us that according to a survey they commissioned, consumers have absolutely no f@#$@%$ clue what the heck is going on with the digital TV conversion.
What is the Digital TV Conversion?
Free over-the-air broadcasting will switch to a digital format on Feb 17, 2009. If you have an older (analog) television, and use an antenna, you may need to purchase a converter box in order to continue watching All My Children. Coupons for converter boxes are available from the FCC’s digital conversion website.
Consumer Reports says that this imfornation is proving incredibly difficult to convey:
Even among those who are aware of the switch to digital broadcasts, there is rampant confusion about what it will require of consumers. Among those consumers who are aware of the transition, over half (58%) believe all TVs will need a digital converter box to function, 48 percent believe that only digital televisions will work after 2009 and nearly one quarter (24%) believe they will need to throw away all of their analog television sets; none of which is true.
The main concern isn’t that a few people won’t be able to watch tv, but that a huge amount of consumers will be tricked into buying new TVs that they don’t even need. Consumer Reports says that large amounts of consumers who are completely unaffected by the switch think they need to buy new TVs, and that many people who are planning to buy converter boxes aren’t aware of the coupon program:
- One-third (33%) of consumers completely unaffected by the transition also plan to buy a converter box and 31 percent plan to purchase a new digital television set with a built in digital tuner.
- Although purchasing a converter box is by far the most popular action planned by those aware of the transition, a staggering 73 percent are unaware of the government coupon created to offset the cost of purchasing one of these boxes.
Sigh.
How to survive the digital TV transition [Consumer Reports]
More From Consumerist
-
Restaurant Tells Off Displeased Customer On Facebook: “You Must Enjoy Vomit”
-
There Is Always A Best Way To Cook A Frozen Pizza
-
9 Things We Can Never Unhear From Customer’s Dunkin’ Donuts Receipt Rant
-
Terms Of Service Too Long? This Site Reads Them For You
-
Congresswoman To Introduce Bill To Make Cellphone Unlocking Legal Again
@Trae: haha.
I also wanted to point out there was a typo in “imfornation“. ;p
The confusion was intended by the manufacturers and retailers was it not? They kept pushing that you need an HD TV and all of that. Plus they were slow in telling people about the cheap converter boxes that were coming. If it wasn’t for Consumerist I wouldn’t have known that the converter boxes were even available.
If you think that’s bad…most independant dealers don’t know that they only have until March 31st to register with the government to be eligible to even accept the coupons being sent to consumers now!
I thought I understood the switch until I read all the confused comments. Now I am as confused as the rest of you. I am convinced that the real reason for the switch is to 1. Make a lot of money to fund the war and 2. To turn over the most valuable channels to the cell phone companies.
You know what I love? When Comcast has ads saying there is this big conversion to digital TV going on, but Comcast has you covered. Dont worry, America, Comcast has taken care of everything for you. So if you are a Comcast customer, you are safe.
I mean, they’re not lying, but I hate it when companies treat you like an idiot.
I think the problem is that the government is clueless as well …. on how to implement this whole converter box thing. I sent off for my coupons & have yet to get them. Did they tell me whether or not they will be sending them out at a specific time or immediately(like when converter boxes are readily available for purchase)? NO. They just gave me a number & that’s it. No other info. Its like they are a bunch of monkeys scrambling to get their shit together at the last minute & hoping that all will go well.
A flat screen TV frees up at least one square foot of living space. Will pay for it self if you need extra space in a small room. Plus the HD picture and be viewed from further away.
I suspect the government set up the converter box program because some people were threatening to just stop watching TV when their analog sets no longer worked. That would really get some of the powers-that-be’s shorts tied up in knots.
So, my t.v was made circa 1996. How do I know if it’s analog?
@jarchie219: HDTV has been discussed since the 70s and the digital switchover has been planned since the mid 90s at the latest. In 1996 the date was set in 2006; I specifically remember telling friends we have ten years before digital is mandatory. So as of the coming date it will have been 13 years. So it wasn’t invented to fund the war.
The spectrum auctions will turn over parts of the reclaimed frequencies to the highest bidders, whoever that ends up being.
@synergy: Any TV that old is analog. Most TVs more than 2-3 years old are analog.
@Landru: Actually, Europe is very advanced in the cellular technology and the reason is because the bandwidth used is the same that has been held by the television stations. The television stations gave up limited bandwidth (channels between stations) so the FCC would not mandate the allocation of the television stations frequencies.
@RvLeshrac: I’m glad to see so many replies to my post! I did say correct me if I am wrong and if are correct those emergency services that were going into the building after the aircraft hit were surely NOT saving their own ass but trying to do their best with the limited resources they had to save lives of the people int the building. For you to say that someone forgot to turn them on is kind of unbelievable since I believe that the repeaters were required to stay on 24 hours a day for other communication within the building as well!
I requested my coupons a long time ago but they never showed up. So I tried requesting them again and it says I already have them. Is this thing just a scam? Has anyone gotten any coupons out of this thing?
there not shipping the 1st round of coupons til the beginning of feb. sometime because the boxes aren’t available in stores til the 2nd or 3rd week in feb.
I predict that on February 19, 2009, television stations and the FCC will be flooded with complaints from irate (read: stupid) people shrieking about not having any notice that this would happen. If there’s one lesson I took away from too many years in customer service, it’s that most people simply don’t pay attention.
I learned something about this the other day.
C-SPAN’s bus was touring California to watch the primaries or something like that. One of their stops was California State University of Bakersfield, the college I attend. One of the representatives was talking to my business class about why this switch is happening in the first place. He told us that in Washington it’s being called a matter of national security. On 9/11 a lot of first responders were trying to use radios to communicate with each other, but they share the same wavelength as analog television stations, so it made it much more difficult to communicate efficiently. He says the whole reason this is being pushed is in case there is a similar emergency, those wavelengths will be free for use by first responders. Of course, he also said that once the government obtains the airwaves again, it will auction off a large part of it back to the market at a greatly inflated price, because they won’t end up needing 100% of the space. Anyway, I didn’t know any of this.
@noquarter:
I was unaware that the rest of the people on this site were the people mentione in the article.
If you know the difference, I shouldn’t have to explain it to you. The vast majority of consumers aren’t going to give a damn about whether you say “HDTV” or “digital TV,” because to them, they’re the exact same thing. Don’t niggle over the wording, the meaning doesn’t change appreciably when you strip out “HDTV” and insert “digital”.
Next, you’ll be taking someone to task for saying “kleenex” instead of “facial tissue”.
@jjason82:
That’s (mostly) crap. Yes, it will free up space for emergency personnel to communicate. There are currently, however, much BETTER ways to communicate that don’t involve using VHF bands. VHF is cheaper, however, and this is likely the driving factor.
With regards to 9/11, as I’ve said before, the towers were well-equipped to repeat the signals from the emergency radios, but no one pushed the button to turn them on. If you don’t turn the repeater on, it can’t do its job.
Emergency units are also able to force transmissions through at much higher outputs than anyone else in the country is legally able. If the police want to erect a gigawatt transmission tower, they can. They just can’t use it for daily operations.