Tune in now for digital switch

Washington —- “Hey, the TV’s not working!”

Just 100 days from today, TV viewers in millions of U.S. households may be startled to discover that most television stations have turned off their analog broadcast signals, leaving older TV sets blank unless they’re tethered to cable, satellite dishes or digital converter boxes.

Broadcasters and government officials are trying to warn Americans about the dawning of the digital TV age on Feb. 17, but critics say those efforts may be inadequate for many of the 13.4 million households without pay TV.

“It would appear there will be a lot of people whose TV sets will go blank,” said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America.

Other confused viewers may end up spending far more money than necessary to cope with analog TV tuners that no longer can receive broadcast signals.

Unfortunately, “a lot of people will spend more money than they actually need to, because cable advertising is pushing them to get $600-a-year cable service when people could solve the problem with a $50 box,” Cooper said.

Supporters of the digital age say that all TV viewers will start getting better pictures and sound, as well as more programming choices. Moreover, by abandoning analog signals, broadcasters will create more radio spectrum to be used for public safety communications and advanced wireless services.

Cooper said the government has made the right decision, because emergency responders really do need more communications capabilities. “It was time to move on,” he said.

Now, the government is working hard to get the word out to the estimated 12 percent of households whose only access to TV is via a home antenna and whose older sets aren’t equipped with a digital tuner to handle the new signals.

For those viewers, the choice is to subscribe to a pay TV service, buy a new set or buy a converter box to make their present set digital-ready.

The federal government is providing $40 coupons to reduce the cost of the converter boxes. The coupons typically push down the price of a box to about $20 or even less at major chains such as Wal-Mart, Sears and Best Buy.

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing into the DTV transition in September, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said the people most in need of help are “senior citizens, non-English speakers and minorities, people with disabilities, low-income consumers and those living in rural or tribal areas.”

Committee chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) urged the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to work harder to make sure the new White House and Congress do not immediately face a communications crisis. “We have too many crises facing us at the moment.”

Martin said FCC officials are now better prepared because of a test run they began Sept. 8 in Wilmington, N.C. Local broadcasters there turned off their analog signals and now send only digital signals to the area’s 400,000 viewers.

The test generally has been viewed as a success. Retailers had enough converter boxes on hand, and local broadcasters tried hard to educate viewers. Still, officials found that many older people needed help hooking up their converter boxes, adjusting their antennas or scanning channels, and some viewers could not afford the boxes even with the subsidy coupons.

To reach the poor and elderly before their TVs go blank, government needs the “commitment of the local community, including local industry, governmental and nongovernmental organizations,” Martin said.

For months, NTIA has been mailing out converter-box coupons. Still, consumer groups fear NTIA could be swamped by a surge in coupon requests as the conversion approaches.

Even after every viewer has cable, a converter or a new TV, there still will be problems.

Many people may find they have fallen off the so-called “digital cliff.” People who receive a weak analog signal still can view programming, even if it’s less than perfectly clear. But with digital tuners, when a signal gets too weak, it “drops off a cliff” and disappears entirely.

According to the DTV Transition Coalition, if your TV was built before 1998, you can assume it lacks a built-in digital tuner. If it was built after 2004, it likely does have a digital tuner, though that’s not a sure thing.

The coalition says the best way to determine whether your TV set has a built-in digital tuner is to check the owner’s manual or the manufacturer’s Web site.

The coalition also says owners can look for an input connection labeled “digital input” or “ATSC” (for Advanced Television Systems Committee, which developed the DTV format).

Don’t feel reassured just because you own a newer set that was advertised as “HD-ready” or “HDTV monitor.” Such sets may lack the internal tuner needed to receive digital broadcasts, even though they can display digital and high-definition signals once a converter box or cable connection has converted the signals.

GETTING READY FOR DIGITAL BROADCASTS

Owners of analog TV sets have three ways to go after Feb. 17:

> Keep the old TV set and hook it to a converter box.

> Subscribe to cable, satellite or another pay service.

> Buy a modern television with a built-in digital tuner.

To help pay for the converter box, the government is providing each household with up to two $40 coupons. There are several ways to apply for a coupon:

> Visit the site www.dtv2009.gov

> Call 1-888-388-2009

> Write to: Coupon Program, P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208-2000