In the late 1990s, Congress determined that broadcast stations must transition from analog television progrmaming to digital television broadcasting. Converting to DTV will free up parts ("bands") of the scarce and valuable broadcast spectrum, allowing these bands to be used for public safety and emergency services and new wireless services. Because public safety and emergency services have become even more important today, Congress recently established a "hard" DTV transition deadline that requires all full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasts after February 17, 2009. (The deadline for low power television and translator stations will be established at a future date.) Until then, most television stations will continue broadcasting on both their digital and analog channels. Already today, more than 1,500 television stations servicing markets throughout the United States are delivering television programming in digital format.
With the analog television broadcast cutoff date now less than one year away, many consumers are trying to understand what the change will mean to them and what, if any preparations, they need to take to be ready for this unprecedented transition. The situation is compounded in the local Seattle-Tacoma area by the fact that 10.5 percent of all homes in this region are not ready for the conversion to Digital TV ("DTV"), a figure higher than the national average of 10.1 percent (Nielsen Company data).
Who will be impacted?
For many consumers, most notably those served by cable TV or satellite TV, there will be little if any impact and few changes will be necessary when the transition officially takes place on February 17, 2009. Homes served by cable and satellite should not need to make any changes to continue receiving local and national broadcasts, and in fact they may actually find that they will receive additional channels, known as subchannels, which might carry alternative programming, languages or screen resolutions.
In a very few cases, cable users may have some problems with a handful of channels, the reason being that cable companies must carry whatever signal the TV stations send them, but there is no requirement for that signal to be DTV. Some stations may go all DTV, others may hold off until a later date. It's very doubtful local Seattle consumers will be impacted by this problem and no known issues exist with any local cable companies, but if concerned consumers should call their cable provider for details.
Those consumers who receive cable or satellite on an older, non-DTV set will not see improved resolution after the analog TV cutoff. In order to receive the higher picture quality provided by digital TV, consumers will need to purchase a new DTV set.
Homes served by terrestrial antenna, either rooftop or indoor ("rabbit ears") will need to either:
1) Ensure they already have a set with a DTV ready tuner
2) Purchase a new set with a DTV tuner
3) Purchase a digital converter box.
Purchasing a DTV set:
Virtually all sets sold in retail stores today include a digital tuner, and only a handful of very old sets from stale inventory are not currently DTV ready. Non-DTV sets must be labeled as such by the retailer, and if a consumer has any doubts he should ask the salesperson to be certain the set is DTV ready.
If I am purchasing a new DTV, how good a set do I need?
The best digital TV signal is known as 1080p, but there are currently no plans to broadcast that quality. Unless you have a very high quality HD DVD (Blu-ray) player, 1080p is probably more than you need, and you can settle for a set which receives 1080i, the highest planned broadcast resolution.
Converter Boxes:
Converter boxes will cost approximately $60 each from retail dealers, and a governmental program will provide each household with a maximum of two $40 coupons to help offset the cost. Consumers may request the coupons online from:
https://www.dtv2009.gov/ApplyCoupon.aspx
Alternately, the coupons may be requested by phone at:
1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009)
Older sets using a converter box will continue to receive free, local broadcast stations, but it is important to note that the picture resolution will NOT be of DTV quality. The converter boxes will simply take the new DTV signal and convert it to a lesser quality analog signal which can be displayed on the old style television sets.
Will I need a new antenna?
Consumers who use an antenna to receive DTV signals should be able to continue using their existing antenna and do not need to purchase new. As long as the current signal reception is satisfactory, simply plugging the old antenna into the converter box will be sufficient.
Additional Resources:
An excellent source of reference which you may download by right-clicking and saving is the DTV Digital Television Booklet.
You can click here to find out what the FCC says about the upcoming end of analog TV broadcasts.
For more information on this topic, we recommend you visit www.dtv.gov or please call or email us for details.
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