Jack1000
01-12-2002, 01:44 AM
Hi Everyone,
The article below discuses the issue of the FCC's proposal to have all TV programing converted to digital by 2006. It's interesting but I have some problems with it:
Portland, Houston named among best cities for
digital TV
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
E-mail this story
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (January 10, 2002 9:31 a.m. EST) - As the nation reaches the halfway point in its conversion to
digital TV, officials say Portland, Houston and Indianapolis are the best places to live if you're ready for full
surround sound, high definition and wide screen television.
The National Association of Broadcasters on Wednesday declared the three cities the leaders in the digital TV
conversion, with stations broadcasting television signals with the kind of resolution and sound effects once available
only in movie theaters.
The digital signal allows much more information to be transmitted, vastly improving video and audio quality while
also allowing data for home computers and electronic game equipment to "piggyback" to the TV.
Later this year, the association plans to add Washington, D.C., to its short "digital TV zone" list of the most
progressive metropolitan areas in the nation for moving into a new broadcast era that began when Congress
approved the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
By 2006, the old analog signal that has carried entertainment, news and sports across the nation for more than half
a century will be as extinct as the dinosaurs, according to the regulatory plan laid out by the Federal
Communications Commission.
"There's a huge gravitational pull toward digital in all electronics," said Edward "Eddie" Fritts, NAB president.
"Whether it's TV, cell phones or computers, digital is the future."
Now midway into its conversion to digital TV, the nation has 229 television stations offering a digital signal in 80
markets, reaching 73 percent of TV households, Fritts said.
By the end of this year, another 600 stations are expected to join the list.
The FCC began assigning every TV station in the nation a separate digital channel shortly after approval of the
1996 act, so stations can broadcast both an older analog signal or a new digital signal. Many stations have not yet
converted to the necessary equipment, and some face various technical problems posed by signal strength or
location.
Time is running out, however, under FCC rules that will require every station to broadcast a digital signal at least
50 percent of the time it broadcasts its analog signal, beginning April 1, 2003.
By April 1, 2004, the requirement increases to 75 percent until the full conversion deadline of April 1, 2005.
By 2006, stations are expected to begin switching off their old analog transmitters. Some will keep the same
channel numbers while others will have new channels. But the digital signal will allow the entire TV broadcast
industry to be contained in channels 2 to 51.
The FCC is reclaiming the higher end of the broadcast spectrum for other commercial uses. Some of it will go to
public safety agencies and most of the rest will be up for bid for various wireless services still on the drawing
board.
The agency does not comment on industry announcements, said spokesman David Fisk in Washington, D.C.
But he said FCC Chairman Michael Powell has made digital conversion a priority and it is working with broadcasters
to smooth the transition.
"Still, a lot depends on the industry and various issues that consumers will be dictating - marketing type of
decisions," Fisk said.
The big question for broadcasters is how soon consumers are willing to convert to TVs and other electronic
equipment that handle digital signals - much of it still very expensive.
But digital TVs have proved a popular item despite the recession, with holiday sales up 4 percent in 2001 compared
to 2000, said Jeff Joseph of the Consumer Electronics Association.
He said a total of 1.4 million digital TVs were sold last year, easily surpassing the 1 million-unit mark where
products typically begin to take off. As a result, prices have fallen 50 percent in the past three years, Joseph said.
"And if you look at other products, the more competitive the market place, the faster the price declines," he said.
By 2006, consumers will have to either purchase new TVs or buy a converter box that will translate the digital
signal back to the old analog format.
Fritts said the industry will be closely watching Portland, Houston, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., to see how
broadcasters and consumers adapt to the digital conversion in hopes of learning lessons that can speed the national
switch.
But he expects it will be much faster than the switch from black-and-white broadcasts to color. In, 1954, the first
full year of color broadcasts, the major television networks broadcast just 68 hours of programming, compared to
more than 1,000 hours of digital programming they offered last year.
"If broadcasters had not grabbed the brass ring and agreed to make the transition to digital TV, we'd have been
considered passe," Fritts said.
************************************
I can not see how all this is going to take effect within 4 years period of time. IMO, it is like the government is FORCING consumers to digital tv, whether they like it or not! As I understand it, if the FCC gets it's way and analog signals are shut off by 2006, consumers would have to do one of three things:
1. Upgrade to digital cable service if they hadn't already done so OR
2. Buy a new digital TV OR
3. As the article states, buy an analog converter so that if they don't have cable, their present sets will be able to take the digital signals and transmit them back to the old analog format,
IMO, it's a government monopoly is what it is. I submit a question, what makes a digital TV a digital TV? Do you have to go out and buy a high definition set or even a standard definition set if you don't have digital cable? I have analog cable and have no problem with the eventual digital upgrade, I just wonder how the rest of the nation is gonna feel about spending $1,500-3000+ for a digital TV if they choose not to have digital cable. Consumers should have freedom of choice and the feds should not have the right to infringe on a technology if people don't want it. I welcome your comments on the article/this topic!
The article below discuses the issue of the FCC's proposal to have all TV programing converted to digital by 2006. It's interesting but I have some problems with it:
Portland, Houston named among best cities for
digital TV
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
E-mail this story
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (January 10, 2002 9:31 a.m. EST) - As the nation reaches the halfway point in its conversion to
digital TV, officials say Portland, Houston and Indianapolis are the best places to live if you're ready for full
surround sound, high definition and wide screen television.
The National Association of Broadcasters on Wednesday declared the three cities the leaders in the digital TV
conversion, with stations broadcasting television signals with the kind of resolution and sound effects once available
only in movie theaters.
The digital signal allows much more information to be transmitted, vastly improving video and audio quality while
also allowing data for home computers and electronic game equipment to "piggyback" to the TV.
Later this year, the association plans to add Washington, D.C., to its short "digital TV zone" list of the most
progressive metropolitan areas in the nation for moving into a new broadcast era that began when Congress
approved the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
By 2006, the old analog signal that has carried entertainment, news and sports across the nation for more than half
a century will be as extinct as the dinosaurs, according to the regulatory plan laid out by the Federal
Communications Commission.
"There's a huge gravitational pull toward digital in all electronics," said Edward "Eddie" Fritts, NAB president.
"Whether it's TV, cell phones or computers, digital is the future."
Now midway into its conversion to digital TV, the nation has 229 television stations offering a digital signal in 80
markets, reaching 73 percent of TV households, Fritts said.
By the end of this year, another 600 stations are expected to join the list.
The FCC began assigning every TV station in the nation a separate digital channel shortly after approval of the
1996 act, so stations can broadcast both an older analog signal or a new digital signal. Many stations have not yet
converted to the necessary equipment, and some face various technical problems posed by signal strength or
location.
Time is running out, however, under FCC rules that will require every station to broadcast a digital signal at least
50 percent of the time it broadcasts its analog signal, beginning April 1, 2003.
By April 1, 2004, the requirement increases to 75 percent until the full conversion deadline of April 1, 2005.
By 2006, stations are expected to begin switching off their old analog transmitters. Some will keep the same
channel numbers while others will have new channels. But the digital signal will allow the entire TV broadcast
industry to be contained in channels 2 to 51.
The FCC is reclaiming the higher end of the broadcast spectrum for other commercial uses. Some of it will go to
public safety agencies and most of the rest will be up for bid for various wireless services still on the drawing
board.
The agency does not comment on industry announcements, said spokesman David Fisk in Washington, D.C.
But he said FCC Chairman Michael Powell has made digital conversion a priority and it is working with broadcasters
to smooth the transition.
"Still, a lot depends on the industry and various issues that consumers will be dictating - marketing type of
decisions," Fisk said.
The big question for broadcasters is how soon consumers are willing to convert to TVs and other electronic
equipment that handle digital signals - much of it still very expensive.
But digital TVs have proved a popular item despite the recession, with holiday sales up 4 percent in 2001 compared
to 2000, said Jeff Joseph of the Consumer Electronics Association.
He said a total of 1.4 million digital TVs were sold last year, easily surpassing the 1 million-unit mark where
products typically begin to take off. As a result, prices have fallen 50 percent in the past three years, Joseph said.
"And if you look at other products, the more competitive the market place, the faster the price declines," he said.
By 2006, consumers will have to either purchase new TVs or buy a converter box that will translate the digital
signal back to the old analog format.
Fritts said the industry will be closely watching Portland, Houston, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., to see how
broadcasters and consumers adapt to the digital conversion in hopes of learning lessons that can speed the national
switch.
But he expects it will be much faster than the switch from black-and-white broadcasts to color. In, 1954, the first
full year of color broadcasts, the major television networks broadcast just 68 hours of programming, compared to
more than 1,000 hours of digital programming they offered last year.
"If broadcasters had not grabbed the brass ring and agreed to make the transition to digital TV, we'd have been
considered passe," Fritts said.
************************************
I can not see how all this is going to take effect within 4 years period of time. IMO, it is like the government is FORCING consumers to digital tv, whether they like it or not! As I understand it, if the FCC gets it's way and analog signals are shut off by 2006, consumers would have to do one of three things:
1. Upgrade to digital cable service if they hadn't already done so OR
2. Buy a new digital TV OR
3. As the article states, buy an analog converter so that if they don't have cable, their present sets will be able to take the digital signals and transmit them back to the old analog format,
IMO, it's a government monopoly is what it is. I submit a question, what makes a digital TV a digital TV? Do you have to go out and buy a high definition set or even a standard definition set if you don't have digital cable? I have analog cable and have no problem with the eventual digital upgrade, I just wonder how the rest of the nation is gonna feel about spending $1,500-3000+ for a digital TV if they choose not to have digital cable. Consumers should have freedom of choice and the feds should not have the right to infringe on a technology if people don't want it. I welcome your comments on the article/this topic!