(1) What's this DTV transition?
On Wednesday, February 18, 2009, all analog over-the-air TV broadcasting in the United States will end by law. It will be replaced with an all-digital TV broadcasting setup.
In other words, TV signals before the conversion were transmitted as waves. After the conversion, TV signals will be transmitted as a series of ones and zeroes that can be interpreted by digital-capable TV sets.
(2) Why is the DTV transition happening?
On the one hand, it's to improve television by increasing channels, improving sound and picture quality, and freeing up portions of the electromagnetic spectrum for emergency communications, cellphone use, and other consumer electronic devices.
That's all true. But it's also happening because a great deal of money can be made by a small number of parties -- cellphone companies, consumer electronics companies, commercial broadcasters, and the federal government -- by going through the digital TV transition than not.
(3) In what ways are digital TV more efficient than analog?
- More TV channels can be created -- at least five times the number of channels can be used with, with the number of potential channels increasing as technology steadily improves.
- Picture and sound quality can improve. There's a potential for audio and video resolution that dwarfs that seen in analog television.
- Public safety communications can be increased and improved. The broadcast portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that's otherwise used for analog TV can be freed up for emergency communications -- to better respond to fires, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
- Other digital uses stand to benefit as well. The spectrum can carry digital signals for wireless communications, internet applications, and other uses yet to be imagined.
(4) In what ways are money being made from the DTV transition?
- The commercial broadcasters in the United States stand to get five to seven times the value in digital television channels than for what they get in analog channels (and how they got that analog spectrum to begin with is a grim story that could fill a book). Those digital channels have the potential to increase in number over time (as digital TV technology improves), and the number of channels mean more venues for advertising dollars.
- Cellphone companies can use the electromagnetic spectrum freed as a result of the DTV conversion to expand cellphone markets. Indeed, a key auction involving a portion (what's been called the 700 Megahertz) has already taken place -- and 80% of the nearly $20 billion raised was paid by just two companies.
- Consumer electronics manufacturers also stand to make money since many consumer electronics goods will use the internet, and in particular use wireless internet technologies which ride on that expanded spectrum use.
(5) How do I get TV broadcasts if I can't use analog TV anymore?
There are three main options to get TV broadcasts:
- Get a digital TV set.
- Get some other digital television source, like cable or satellite.
- Get or use a digital convertor box to use with an analog set.
If you don't do this in the USA, your TV set goes dark, permanently, after Wednesday, Februrary 18, 2009.
(6) How many people in the USA still use analog TV?
Nobody knows the exact number, but most estimates center in the vicinity around 20% of current TV viewers in the USA, give or take five percent. That's roughly 50 million people. (If this is correct, the DTV Transition could rank as the biggest media-politics issue in American history.)
(7) Why can't those viewers just switch to digital TV?
There are two main reasons: They don't know about the conversion, or they're unable to act (most likely for financial reasons). Indeed, it appears that those most likely to be left behind in the DTV conversion in the U.S. are those least likely to afford digital TV alernatives.
A study by the Government Accountability Office says that, among those apt to be left behind in the DTV conversion, "almost half have annual incomes of less than $30,000, and two-thirds are headed by either an individual over age 50 or a native Spanish speaker."
(8) So what's the big deal? At worst, people will be without their TV sets for a little while, right?
The problem is, TV broadcasters and their lobbies and the government are now faced with the task of reaching out to the hardest-to-reach sectors of American society. As Representative John Dingell (D-MI) put it: "Clearly, those expected to be most affected by the transition will also be the most difficult to reach."
And they're unwilling to spend the money necessary to make their outreach or assistance efforts effective; the money they've obstensibly promised marks just a small fraction of the amount of money they get free from the public airwaves (about 1% of one year's worth of the estimated $70 billion annually raised from advertising sales of broadcast TV). What's worse, there is no plan by the government agencies tasked with the conversion (the FCC and the NTIA) for working toward success or even defining what "success" formally means.
Ricardo Byrd of the American Neighborhood Association put the matter in even more stark terms: "We have heard a lot of anecdotal information that people in areas that are less affluent are generally those that are getting their TV over-the-air - not hooked into cable - and it's primarily economic that they cannot afford it. TV is a quality of life issue. To take away a person's television impacts their quality of life."
(9) But American TV is full of garbage anyway. Would people really be harmed if their TVs go dark?
We agree: There's a lot of garbage on American TV. Former FCC chair Newton Minow described TV as a "vast wasteland" in 1961, and TV has only gotten worse since. That said, surveys still indicate that most Americans still use TV as their main resource for finding out things -- weather, traffic, sales information, assorted news (even if it is skewed in various ways), and emergency information. Take that away, and you leave a lot of people potentially vulnerable.
We've seen this in instances like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where great promises to help people out petered out and left out a great many vulnerable people. The DTV conversion could see the digital divide skyrocket, and escalate ongoing trends where the U.S. is becoming a Third World country. What's more, surveys shows that perhaps a fifth of Americans plan to "do nothing" in the wake of the conversion.
(10) If it's the law that there will be a DTV switchover in 2009, why can't they just change the law?
This might have been an option in 2007 or earlier, but in 2008 it's too late. This is because those high-power TV stations for which the digital mandate applies have to spend 2008 getting ready for the conversion on the broadcasting end by early 2009. Once that big ship is set on course, it's practically impossible to get it to turn around, never mind to do so quickly.
(11) TV stations in the USA are showing public service announcements and doing other things for outreach. What's the problem?
Of the six tactics articulated by the National Association of Broadcasters to raise public awareness, five don't use the broadcast TV medium itself and are instead cheap measures like establishing a speaker bureau, making Spanish-English websites, and setting up a mobile truck resembling a large-sized TV.
The one tactic involving TV is using PSAs. But as a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation learned, PSAs run most often in the overnight hours (midnight to 6am) and only 13% of PSAs actually run during the most-widely-watched primetime hours between 8pm and 11pm.
And many of the PSAs which have aired tend to imply that the burden of action falls predominantly on the viewer or consumer. And the suggested action mentioned is to encourage the viewer to visit a website (not an option for the poor on the other side of the digital divide) or call a phone number (not much of an option for non-English speakers).
And the efforts to raise public awareness, which all sides agree are succeeding however sporadically, might be failing in raising public knowledge about the scope and scale of the matter. A January 2008 survey by Consumers Union found "an awful lot of faulty information" among the public about the DTV transition.
(12) What's people's level of public awareness about DTV?
Surveys say that anywhere from 60% to 90% of Americans, depending on the survey, have no awareness of the DTV transition. The number is fluctuating, and in a direction where more Americans are knowing about the DTV transition. But its unclear whether or not that will be sufficient; as this list of questions demonstrates, probably not.
(13) But there's a coupon program in place to help poor people, right?
Yes. Congress has allotted about $1 billion to provide vouchers redeemable for convertor boxes. Each American household can claim up to two $40 vouchers to offset the costs for convertor boxes which can be purchased in retail stores.
But the program is fraught with problems. It can take weeks to get a coupon, and the coupons have an expiration date of 90 days from their mailing. Users have been complaining that there has not been a sufficient supply of convertor boxes, making the coupons themselves worthless. And the program was unknown by 73% of those surveyed who actually planned to get a converter box.
(14) Where can I get a convertor box?
A number of technical retailers -- like Radio Shack, Ace Hardware, and Best Buy -- offer convertor boxes for sale. There have been calls by the National Association of Broadcasters and others to have convertor boxes sold in other venues; whether or not this will actually happen remains to be seen.
(15) Isn't the government going to run a test before the DTV conversion?
Yes. After many calls for a test run, the FCC agreed to hold a test run of the DTV conversion in a single city -- Wilmington, North Carolina, on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 12pm local time. But this is just a single city with 90% cable penetration (as opposed to a city like Chicago which has about 21% percent using analog televisoin). So it isnt' representative of the range of problems and reactions apt to occur when the conversion happens.
(16) What's the situation like in other countries?
It varies, but many countries around the world are undergoing their own conversion. As of June 21, 2008, six countries have completed the conversion -- Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Andorra, Sweden, and Switzerland. All of those countries are European and with much smaller populations compared to the United States.
Unlike the U.S., many other countries that have yet to complete the conversion are undergoing a piecemeal approach to the conversion, where a region-by-region conversion is happening rather than an all-at-once as in the U.S. For example, the UK is undergoing their conversion on a region-by-region over the course of four years -- from 2008 to 2012, with more resources devoted to the conversion and a far wider proportion of the population knowing about the conversion.
(17) Will the actual content of the shows on digital TV change?
Not without a whole lot of other changes that have little to do with the technical conversion. It's the present incumbent U.S. broadcasters who, and all signs seem to be that they'll keep the current broadcast content regime. There may be some additional programming added, but for the most part it appears that the commercial broadcasters in the U.S. will simply squat on the current windfall of potentially many more TV channels.
(18) What's to happen with the money from the auction of analog airwaves after the DTV transition?
The money will be deposited in the general treasury. How it will be spent remains to be seen. Some have suggested that the money be used for a long-called-for funding trust to assist public broadcasting efforts in the United States.
(19) Are all broadcast stations in America undergoing the conversion?
Actually, no. Low power TV stations, some 2600 of which reside in the U.S., are except, and won't have to convert to digital until 2012 at least. But consumers who receive low-power TV signals may not realize that installing the converter boxes would have the unintended effect of actually
blocking analog signals from still-analog low-power TV stations. The Community Broadcasters Association -- an organization representing some 2,600 low-power TV stations -- is suing the FCC over a ban of convertor boxes that donŐt also allow for analog signals.
(20) Where can I learn more about this?
You can check out our
pages of resources and other pages on this website to learn more about the conversion.
