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DTV Transition:  It Couldn’t Get Worse Than This!

Hoo doggies, not even I could have predicted this one!  I have been preaching doom for the digital TV transition since 2001 (Hey DV.com!!  Wanna put your archives back online?  A grateful nation would thank you…) but although a delay in the February 17, 2009 deadline was a pretty easy call, I totally missed the coup de gras:

Now stations can turn their analog transmitters off whenever they want!  Great, so the lights are going to blink off one by one, with the public fairly clueless about who will and who won’t be on the air in analog.  Of course, stations have ample incentive to stop analog broadcasting, as their transmitters are voracious energy hogs (I hear $20,000 a month in electricity isn’t unusual) and in many cases are old, creaky and unreliable.

In my market - Madison WI - the ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates have all announced their intent to cease analog broadcasting on February 17th.  The Fox affiliate hasn’t said much about their plans, and Wisconsin Public Broadcasting (my day job) will stay on in analog until a yet-to-be-determined time.  I couldn’t write a better prescription for confusion if I tried.

And it keeps getting better - the bill that delays the switch contains no new money for the Federal coupon program, which could be the only justifiable reason for a delay - to pump a little helium into the sagging balloon that is the transition.  The coupons are gone, and yet there is now a waiting list. 

Anyone out there think that this will end well?

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I have a coupon and still can’t get a box because none of the local stores have them. The coupon I have will soon expire. They should have made the expiration date for all coupons to be some time after the transition instead of having them all expire after 90 days from purchase. If you want to screw any good program up, just get Congress involved.
Incidentally, what happens to the already allocated money left over from those expired coupons?

Posted by DanConklin  on  02/06  at  01:03 PM

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I suppose there are people out there who will rediscover the joy of a walk in the park, meet their neighbors, phone a friend ...

Not good for the television industry, but potentially great for the local community. 

Either that or it will instead speed the transition to getting your video content through your internet connection instead.

Posted by Andrew Smith  on  02/08  at  10:18 PM

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