Digital TV Coalition Forms to Educate Public about Upcoming Transition
Feature Story by Jenna Sauber - 3/12/2007
In a little less than two years, televisions will go dark for an estimated 20 million households that rely on over-the-air TV. People hoping to get their evening news, the local weather, or their favorite network show will only see a black screen on February 17, 2009.
With a Congressional mandate to install a digital tuner in all new TVs, DVD players, and VCRs taking effect this month, representatives from the broadcast, cable, consumer electronics industries and civil rights organizations came together to announce the creation of the DTV Transition Coalition to educate viewers on the analog-to-digital shift.
"Through no fault of their own, some 20 million viewers who don’t subscribe to cable or a satellite service – people like your great aunt, your grandmother, poor kids – will automatically be cut out of the great communications medium of the 20th century," said Nancy Zirkin, vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, one of the organizations in the DTV coalition.
Zirkin said that many people whose televisions worked before the transition simply won’t know what happened to their TVs. "This is not some matter of not having the latest gizmo, gadget or big screen; their television sets just will not work," Zirkin said.
The federal government will be establishing a voucher program to offset the cost of a converter box that can receive the new digital signal. The vouchers will be available early next year on a first come, first serve basis, so if those most in need are not helped first, they will have to pay the full cost of a converter box, upgrade to cable or satellite, buy a new TV, or go without TV altogether.
The coalition’s goal is to make the public aware of the ongoing transition through comprehensive public education. An extensive online resource guide, public service announcements, and outreach through churches and community gatherings are some of the ways the coalition hopes to educate viewers to prepare them for the February 2009 switch.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s rules for the transition, released on March 12, state that starting on Jan. 1, 2008, all U.S. households can request up to two $40 vouchers toward the purchase of up to two, digital-to- analog converter boxes, until the initial $990 million allocated for the program runs out. If the initial funds are used up and additional $510 million can be allocated by Congress, but it will be limited to over-the- air-only television households.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) estimates there are 34 million TV households with at least one set that still receives over-the-air signals. But a recent poll by the organization found that more than half of those viewers were unaware of the digital transition.
"Ultimately, we can’t force consumers into buying a new digital set or getting a converter box, but we can make sure they receive plenty of information about the fact that their TV set is about to get disconnected, and urge them to take action preventing that from happening," said Jonathan Collegio, vice president of NAB’s digital transition team.
For more information on the DTV Coalition and the countdown to the transition, visit www.dtvtransition.org.
