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What will happen to your analog television?

March 14, 2007
The digital-TV transition: Consumer assistance is broadened

old tvsWhen analog television meets its mandated demise, a little less than two years from now, every analog TV used with an antenna will need a set-top box that converts over-the-air digital signals to a format the old TV can receive. As we previously reported Congress has approved funding to provide consumers with $40 coupons to cover (or at least offset) the cost of those boxes. But until this week, the government proposed giving coupons only to homes that receive all their TV via antenna.

Now the National Telecommunications & Information Administration has broadened that eligibility to include any home with an analog TV that's still hooked up to an antenna, even if some sets in the home are connected to cable or satellite. Analog sets connected to a cable or satellite box shouldn't require a converter. But older, so-called cable-ready TV sets (in which the cable plugs directly into the set) may need a converter box unless, as some expect, the cable company converts digital signals to analog for their analog-cable subscribers.

The shift has been applauded by consumer advocates, including Consumer Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. But CU finds little else to applaud in the coupon program, which senior policy analyst Jeannine Kenney describes as "under-funded" and "intentionally difficult for consumers to use. Unless Congress revisits the structure and funding of the coupon program, the digital transition will be not just an annoyance to consumers, it will be a financial burden as well, undermining the likelihood that the 2009 transition deadline will be met.”

CU's telecommunications advocacy website, hearusnow.org, has CU's news release on the program change, along with more on regulatory issues in telecommunications and CU's position on them.

posted by Mike Young @ 4:49 PM