6 million may lose digital TV reception

[BartonT]

All Cable system will eventually be all digital.  Converting to digital 
allows the cable companies to reclaim bandwidth that they can then use 
for additional HD channels and services so they may better compete with 
satellite.  What this will mean is eventually you will be required to 
have a settop box or cable card TV in order to view your cable service. 
There will be no analog channels available for your TV's analog tuner 
via the cable system.

Several of the large cable companies are already moving to all digital 
in some markets and I expect that this trend will continue to grow. 

Henry Leibowitz



Roger Kolakowski wrote:
> Are the cable companies going to continue to convert to analog and position
> digital higher in the "channels" as an extra or are they going to downlink
> digital and put the analog in the set top converter boxes and make that an
> "extra"?
>
> Roger
> WA1KAT
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roger Kirk" <rogerkirk@ttlc.net>
> To: "Sid Schweiger" <sid@wrko.com>; <bri@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:27 AM
> Subject: Re: 6 million may lose digital TV reception
>
>
>   
>> The February 09 deadline applies primarily to people using antennae.
>> Cable and satellite users have little or nothing to worry about.  And,
>> based on the tone of the ad, I'll bet that Jordan's sales pitch will be
>> unlikely to start with a converter.  Since a large number of television
>> viewers use cable, the Feb 2009 deadline affects a lesser segment of the
>> population.
>>
>> The ad did not qualify the statement by saying "if you don't have cable
>> or satellite" and "use an antenna or rabbit ears".  Thus, IMO they are
>> sowing the seeds of fear, uncertainty and doubt to a significant number
>> of people "who have nothing to fear but advertising itself"
>>
>>
>>
>> Sid Schweiger wrote:
>>     
>>>>> I was sort of taken aback yesterday when I heard Elliot do a Jordan's
>>>>>           
> ad
>   
>>> touting this concept.  He basically said that one year from today, you
>>>       
> "could" be unable to receive shows on your current television - even if you
> just bought it.  He went on to
>   
>>> tout Jordan's Furniture's "solutions" - which include models all the way
>>>       
> up to a $1,900 LCD TV.
>   
>>> While what he says is fundamentally true i.e. you "could" be unable...,
>>>       
> to me, this marks a big change in their original advertising paradigm -
> "fact tags, plain
>   
>>> truth, easy sell & underprices" to using the age-old Fear, Uncertainty &
>>>       
> Doubt to get customers in the door.<<
>   
>>> There's nothing non-factual or even "fear, uncertainty and doubt" about
>>>       
> it, and lots of "plain truth."  Unless you have cable or satellite (which
> face their own deadlines for digital conversion in 2012), analog TV will
> cease transmissions one year from this past Sunday.  That is set in stone
> (it was an act of Congress, not of the FCC), and the only thing that will
> pry it loose from that stone is another act of Congress.  (Many industry
> experts believe that not all DTV stations will be on the air as of the
> conversion date, but the Congressional act specifically prohibited waivers
> of the deadline.)
>   
>>> If you just bought a set, and if the retailer you bought it from was
>>>       
> obeying the letter of the law, you have already been warned about this.  The
> FCC requires that consumers be warned of the 2/17/2009 conversion deadline
> at the point of purchase.
>   
>>>
>>> Sid Schweiger
>>> IT Manager, Entercom New England
>>> WAAF/WEEI/WEEI-FM/WKAF
>>> WMKK/WRKO/WVEI/WVEI-FM
>>> 20 Guest St / 3d Floor
>>> Brighton MA  02135-2040
>>> P: 617-779-5369
>>> F: 617-779-5379
>>> E: sid@wrko.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>     
>
>
>