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June 2009

"I Hooked Up Last Night - End of Story?"

"Heralded as the most important innovation in the history of the industry, digital TV involves the reconfiguration of a sector that, beyond its economic significance, is central to the mechanisms of democratic politics and the evolution of popular culture . . . In a sense, the transition to digital TV is about a revolution long overdue . . . Digital technologies have revolutionized the telecommunications industry, the information services industry, and to a large extent the film industry. But until recently, the use of analog equipment in the transmission and reception of video programming has precluded broadcasters from taking full advantage of fundamental innovations in information processing and distribution . . . The forces that challenge the broadcasting industry, however, are not only technological. The transition to digital TV is part of a larger process of change in the way information is produced, aggregated, and distributed in contemporary societies . . . It is a story about large-scale changes in the normative models as well as the institutions that shape television as an economic and social force -- and, ultimately, about the politics of the information society."(n1).

From Hernan Galperin, New Television, Old Politics

     I hooked up last night - a digital TV converter box to an analog television, that is. The box had been sitting around since January, but with the delay in the final date for the transition to digital TV in the U.S., I just never quite got around to it until now. The bad news is that things didn't work; the good news is that I still have a few days to figure out why. "Aha - a DTV illiterate," you might be saying to yourself. Not really. A newer TV in the house with a DTV tuner is picking up over-the-air (OTA) digital and HDTV broadcasts quite well (with the exception of KABC HDTV programming, but that's another story) with only a small indoor amplified antenna (and sometimes the antenna isn't even turned on).

     Before beginning the story of the 2009 summer essays, this section will briefly turn toward the end of another one - the final date (yes, really, this time) for the transition to digital television in this country. Unless you neither own a TV nor watch television, you're probably well aware that the end of analog television is upon us. All analog TV broadcast transmissions will cease on June 12, and television receivers without the ability to receive digital broadcasts will not work after that day.

     As the quote above indicates, this process of change, though long in the making, is part of broader changes taking place in the way information is developed, collected and delivered here in the U.S. and around the world. The issue of the transition to digital television was first covered on the site in September 2005 and June 2006. Both of those essays, which include descriptions of the differences between analog and digital television and a bit of history on the transition, can be found in the Essay Archives section of the site. While the issue is not of great immediate concern to the majority of household in the U.S. receiving broadcasts via either cable or satellite, it is of concern to the households relying on OTA broadcasts for viewing television programs.

     In some ways the morning of June 13 will be about expectations and assumptions -- whether they are met by those receiving OTA broadcasts and using digital converter boxes, and how well they are met. To those unfamiliar with the issue, a bit of an explanation. When the government mandated the switch to digital television, a program was established to provide coupons for the purchase of digital converter boxes for U.S. households either unwilling or unable to purchase new television sets or subscribe to cable/satellite services. Two coupons are available per household, with each coupon worth $40 toward the purchase of a converter box for use with analog television sets (approved models of converter boxes retail for about $50 - $60 on average). Part of the reason that the deadline for the full transition to digital TV was changed from February to June of this year was the backlog in orders for coupons and the fact that the funding for the program nearly had been depleted.

     The number of households requesting coupons is not insignificant. According to statistics which can be found via the websites listed in the links and footnotes sections, as of June 3, over 32 million households had requested some 59 million coupons (indicating that a majority of households participating in the program were requesting two coupons). (n2) Not all of those coupons have been redeemed. About 30 million of the 58 million coupons sent have been redeemed to date, a redemption rate of about 55%. (n3) California leads the states in the total number of coupons requested with about 6.1 million, followed by Texas with 5.9 million requests and Illinois and Florida, each with about 3 million requests. In the Los Angeles area alone, the number of households with approved coupon requests (as of December 31, 2008) was over 780,000. (n4)

     How close were early estimates of the numbers of viewers and/or households in the U.S. relying either totally or partially on OTA broadcasts to the actual number of households requesting coupons? It's difficult to say. However, according to U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) statistics released in 2005 when the program was being formulated:

• 19%, or roughly 21 million American households, were relying exclusively on OTA transmissions for their television viewing

• 57%, or nearly 64 million American households, viewed television via a cable service, and

• 19%, or about 20 million American households, had a subscription to a DBS (satellite) service. (n5)

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