SAFER Act allowing 30 day grace period after DTV Transition approved by House
The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act (SAFER Act) approved by the Senate last month was also approved by the House of Representatives last night. The bill will now make it’s way to the president’s desk, awaiting his approval.
What this means
Broadcasters will be able to use analog signals for up to 30 days past the Feb. 17, 2009 digital transition date to air DTV education messages and programming.
More importantly, broadcasters will also be able to broadcast emergency weather or public safety information during the 30 day grace period to viewers with analog only televisions (such as mobile and handheld TVs).
Did your TV fail a recent DTV readiness test? It might be OK afterall
A recent post at DTV USA Forum put the spotlight on a failed DTV test…
This morning there was test for your TVs and the dtv signal. I have cable boxes on all of my tvs and 1 HDTV.
The HDTV worked fine and got a pass signal but all of the analog tv’s with cable boxes got a clear signal with fail sign on it.
I thought if you had a cable box you would pass on an analog tv.
Two of the boxes are HDTV with DVR and 1 is a basic cable tv top of set box.I have comcast cable in the Houston area.
With the setup that this consumer just described, he should have not experienced any problems during the DTV Readiness Test (Also called “DTV Soft Test”). All of his TV sets were perfectly capable of receiving digital television signals.
So what’s the problem?
An ABC Houston news station (KTRK Channel 13) delicately stated,
All along we have been saying cable and satellite customers don’t need to do anything to receive digital signals and they should not have seen the fail message, but apparently technical problems caused the fail message to appear on channels 2, 8, and 39. Even those who should not have seen it got the fail message.
Comcast engineers “apparently” had problems during the soft test that caused some viewers with Comcast cable to receive fail messages even though their televisions were equipped to handle DTV signals.
The Comcast problem wasn’t geographically limited to Houston either. A recent blogpost out of Boston based UniversalHub.com explained the Comcast phenomena more directly,
If you have an analog TV and analog Comcast cable service without a converter box, and you turn on WGBH-TV-2 right now, you’re going to see something very wrong: video of normal WGBH programming, accompanied by audio of WGBH’s continuously-looping Ready for Digital TV special.
…WGBH says this is a “Comcast engineering problem”, not a problem with WGBH’s broadcast or with your TV set.
There’s no doubt that the transition to digital television is confusing enough as is, but when you thow a botched DTV readiness test into the mix, consumers are going to be less likely to embrace this new technology with open arms.
Transition to DTV may hurt broadcast ratings according to Turner Executive
Turner chief research officer Jack Wakshlag made a startling prediction Wednesday afternoon at a year-end ratings press breifing about the transition to digital television,
“The broadcast networks know. The broadcast stations know this is a significant, substantial challenge to their futures,” Turner chief research officer Jack Wakshlag (left) said.
The top Time Warner research executive gave figures from recently acquired Nielsen data to support his claim, stating that roughly 20% of TV homes will be affected by the DTV transition, with 10.3% of homes “partially unready”—or have some TV sets that are not digital-ready—and 7.4% having “no-ready” sets.
When households make accommodations to prepare for the DTV transition, viewing patterns will change according to Wakshlag. The news comes at a bad time when ratings execs for the six major broadcast stations are trying to deal with losing 2.6 million primtetime viewers this season.
Source: Multichannel.com - DTV Transition Will Hurt Broadcast Ratings: Turner Exec
Hawaii goes completely Digital on January 15th, 2009
Hawaii will be the first state in the U.S. to transition completely to digital television on January 15th, 2009.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was quoted at a town hall meeting Tuesday when asked about the early Hawaii transition,
“They’re going to be overwhelmed. That’s why I’m telling people they should act now because if they wait until Jan. 15 to make the switch they’ll have some kind of problem. And call and get an answer — it will be a lot harder to get through than if you act today. You can today call local TV station and get answers if there’s a complication.”
The U.S. government agency in charge of the TV converter box coupon program, (NTIA), recently added a special link on their homepage (in .pdf form), entitled, “Hawaii Goes Digital”. Clicking on the link will require you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader (33MB Download!) already installed on your computer. By visiting the ”Hawaii Goes Digital” link, visitors can print out a tv converter box coupon application manually, fill out the required information, and send the coupon in by mail…as opposed to completing the dtv coupon application here online and saving money on a $.42 stamp and envelope.
The FCC is said to be watching the Hawaii transition closely, and has provided extra support by adding extra telephone lines to help deal with any problems that will occur after the transition date.
Consumers in Hawaii can learn more detailed info about the early transition at Starbulletin.com - DTV switch may leave some viewers in the dark
Government’s TV Converter Box Coupon Website Now Accepts PO Box addresses
The government’s TV converter box coupon website, dtv2009.gov, has recently added an option for applicants to select if they receive mail at a P.O. Box mailing address. DTV Coupon applicants will be able to use the P.O. box option only if their physical home address is not capable of postal delivery.
P.O. Box option is not to be used for:
Consumers may want to note, this option is not to be used if you would like the DTV coupon delivered to an alternate address such as a P.O. Box address intead of your home address. You may chance not getting your coupon application approved if you can receive mail at your home.
FCC proposes $11 Million Fines for lack of “DTV Education”
The FCC has proposed $11 million in fines against seven cable and telco television service providers for not informing their viewers about the transition to digital television. The proposed fines are part of an agenda for the FCC’s public meeting scheduled for Dec. 18, 2009.
One of the violations specifically cited by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, was for failing to notify cable customers about the DTV transition on their billing statements.
Chairman Martin did not mention specific names or companies at this time (before the Dec. 18th meeting) in which the proposed fines are targeted according to the Broadcast and Cable article.
Why are these fines important?
Some blogs (including TVConversionhelp) have noted the complexity of documentation provided by Cable/Telco Providers about the digital transition. Instead of fines, hopefully a resolution will be drafted (or settled) which would olbige cable and telecommunication companies to provide clear answers for ”pay” tv service customers about the digital transition.
Sources: Broadcasting and Cable, Spectrum Talk (By Michael Marcus)
All Converter Boxes Are Not Created Equal
There are many different options available to consumers when shopping for dtv converter boxes. By now, everyone has seen the annoying commercials on TV about the importance of applying to the government coupon program and buying a new converter box for the digital transition, but the whole process can be rather confusing. Some retail stores have a limited amount of dtv boxes and varieties available in stock, causing some consumers to let their coupons expire, or forcing them to purchase whatever is available in the store. Note: If your dtv coupons expire, the government will not let you re-apply (At this time).
Before your purchase, it might be worth your time to check out the following converter box reviews website, to compare the different models and find one that best suits your needs. You can then do an online search for your local store and see if they carry the model you want, and if it is listed in the NTIA approved coupon program.
Consumer reports also has some great unbiased resources for comparing different converter box models on their website Consumer Reports Converter Box Reviews, based on the following categories; Picture quality, Program Guides, Configurable closed captioning, universal remote control, aspect ratio button on remote, auto aspect ratio, ease of adding new channels, analog-pass through options, control buttons on the box itself and even the if an audio video cable is included. More information about these various options and their ratings are included on their guide-to-the-ratings page. Also, check out the Consumer Reports article on these new boxes at Consumer Reports DTV blog.
-written by acwriter
Ref: www.consumerreports.org/electronics
Congress working on DTV measures to ease Digital Transition
The SAFER Act (Short-Term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act), recently approved by the Senate, allows for up to a 30 day grace period after the February 17, 2009 deadline for the Analog Cut-off to give consumers a little more time to prepare for the DTV conversion. While the Bush administration and the FCC fully support this much needed bill, the House of Representatives will not be able to vote on it until December 8, 2008. House Representative, Lois Capps, will be introducing a similar bill to the House to vote on when the House of Representatives reconvenes.
Senator Jay Rockefeller, soon to be the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman in January 2009, gave an amazing and detailed speech to plead for more time on behalf of American’s citizens. He reiterated the need for further and more aggressive education to America’s citizens. Senator Rockefeller as well as many others are concerned about the citizens who are housebound, disabled or elderly and those who might have a language barrier. Hopefully, these extra thirty days will give consumers and the agencies involved more time to prepare.
Meredith Attwell Baker, the head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration gave a speech Thursday at the Media Institute. She gave her support for this bill and recommended a nationwide soft analog cut-off test at least a month before the February DTV transition deadline. Many areas have been running localized testing by shutting off analog signals to check on the readiness of their viewers for this transition. But, the NTIA feels that a nationwide test could be beneficial to see where we stand as a nation before the actual cut-off date.
Full details of the bill:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act’.
SEC. 2. COMMISSION ACTION REQUIRED.
(a) PROGRAM REQUIRED- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Federal Communications Commission shall, not later than January 15, 2009, develop and implement a program to encourage and permit, to the extent technically feasible, the continued broadcasting in the analog television service of the public safety information and digital transition information specified in subsection (b) during the 30-day period beginning February 18, 2009, subject to such limitations as the Commission finds to be consistent with the public interest and the requirements of this Act.
(b) INFORMATION REQUIRED- The program required by subsection (a) shall provide for the broadcast of–
(1) emergency information, including critical details regarding the emergency, as carried or required to be carried by full-power stations in the digital television service;
(2) information, in both English and Spanish, and accessible to persons with disabilities, concerning–
(A) the digital television transition, including the fact that a transition has taken place and that additional action is required to continue receiving television service, including emergency notifications; and
(B) the steps required to enable viewers to receive such emergency information via the digital television service and to convert to receiving digital television service, including a phone number and Internet address by which help with such transition may be obtained in both English and Spanish; and
(3) such other information as the Commission may find to be consistent with the public interest.
-Written by acwriter
