On Wednesday of this week, the Federal Communication Commission announced that it will ask local television stations who are not already broadcasting in digital to show three five-minute public-service ads on Thursday, May 21, as part of a test to let Americans know that their televisions are ready for the digital transition. Tests are to be conducted at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. local time. The public-service ad will be part of the first coordinated nationwide test to see if people are, indeed, digital ready for the conversion coming on June 12.
Already, about 1/3 of the nation's local television stations have gone to digital broadcasting - mainly in rural and low population areas where less than 1 percent of the population was deemed not to be digital ready by the original transition date back in February. The original transition date was moved back to June after heavy lobbying by the Obama administration.
For months up to the original digital transition date, local television stations had been running their own public-service programming that would allow viewers to test to see if their television was digitally compatible. The delay for digital broadcasting to begin in June has cost many television stations thousands of dollars as they were continued to be forced to broadcast both analog and digital signals.
Depending upon which research group you want to believe, there are still between 2 million and 3.5 million households still not ready for the digital transition. The National Association of Broadcasters pegs the number at 2.1 million, while Neilsen Media Research says 3.5 million are not ready. However, Neilsen's figures are half as many than they tallied in December.
One thing that I've noticed in public service ads being run on local stations as of late is the prominent mention of having the right antenna for the digital conversion box. Before, the antenna was sort of an afterthought. But a number of horror stories arose across America as people thought all they had to do was buy a digital conversion box, hook it up to the television and their existing antenna and - voila! They'd be able to watch their favorite programs. But that turned out not to be the case in many instances.
Some elderly people are miffed in that not only do they have to buy a converter box (even with a $40 rebate coupon from the Federal Government), but they now have to buy a new antenna, as well. Many instances cropped up where people felt they were misinformed about the possible need for a new antenna. To their credit, the FCC is doing a better job of getting that bit of information out there.
With the digital transistion right at five weeks away, as I've said before, if you don't know that the switch is occuring you either live in a cave or on Mars. Contrary to the opinions of some, I think that local stations and the FCC have done a wonderful job in educating the public about the digital transistion. If June 12 comes around and you can't watch "Wheel of Fortune" on your old analog television, you have no one to blame but yourself.
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