The Switch To Digital Television

The Switch to Digital Television

The switch to high definition television was supposed to happen tomorrow but as with many things in life the switch will come late.  A delay has been enacted by Congress to hold off on the transition until June 12, 2009 (my 23rd birthday!)  According to Nielsen Media Research 5.7 percent of households still aren’t prepared for the switch.  Here is a breakdown of who is prepared and who isn’t prepared.

 

Courtesy of sxc.hu

The percentage of households who aren’t prepared seems like a really small number.  And frankly the people who aren’t prepared had a long time to prepare.  The law has been a law for a really long time.  And what does prepared mean anyways?  In an article from MSNBC Ann Elliot, of Nielsen says:

 

“Partially ready” means “you may have four TV sets in the house, and three are connected to cable and one is an analog set that isn’t,” said Anne Elliot of the Nielsen Co. “It means at least one working TV set in the household would not be able to get a digital signal.” That set could be one that is “used in the kids’ bedroom to watch DVDs,” for example, she said.

The Act

The act, now known as the DTV Delay Act, was passed in the first secession of the 111^th congress.  GovTrack a non-partisan open source project that keeps track of what goes on in congress.  More information on the bill can be found using Thomas, a service provided by the Library of Congress.

 

The new economic stimulus package includes $650 to provide coupons to help people buy converters to prepare for the digital switch.  The hefty chuck of money is lumped under aid to individuals.  That is no small number.  All that money will go to people to help them buy products related to television.  Talk about an economic boost.  But the switch can’t all be about sitting in front of the mindless box can it?  There has to be some engaging concept behind the switch.  There is.

 

The switch to digital television has a lot more behind it than a better picture from the magic box.  The transition will actually allow emergency services to use airwaves that were previously being used.  A few lucky providers, AT&T, Version and Qualcomm all bought portions of the analog airwaves and will be able to provide customers with  better, faster services.

 

 

Provided by sxc.hu

So one might ask why is there a delay in the broadcast switch?  The delay is here to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to access digital television.  Seeing as people have had years to prepare for the switch, to me it just seems like another government delay.