My Keyboard, My Sword
10th January 2009
DTV: Move It or Lose It

“Move it or lose it!”  My parents used it a lot, and so do coaches.    The saying encourages you to drop the plow and get yourself in gear, to quit lollygagging around.    Now the new President wants to give folks a temporary pass on the DTV conversion, and I think that’s a terrible idea. Thankfully, a lot of other people think so as well; now to get the government to agree, without industry pressure.

DTV TransitionPresident-elect Obama has now urged lawmakers to delay the transition to all-digital transmission of over-the-air (OTA) due to, from what pollsters say, nearly 8 million homes that have not “taken action” to upgrade their television sets or buy a digital converter.    The poll apparently also cites something on the order of nearly a fourth of Americans that believe the transition will require them to buy a new TV.   Proponents cite the lack of any more coupons for converter boxes and the lack of education of the masses.

I’m sorry, but there’s only so much you can do when a country-wide transition like this is coming up, because you’re speaking to a vastly intricate demographic, one that you’re never going to fully reach, even if you were to tattoo it on their forehead in fiery letters.    The fact is, a good portion of the people will never convert until they must because they have no other choice.

If you are too stupid, too lax, or too ignorant to have not noticed and understood the half a billion advertisements and PSAs that have littered the radio waves, papers, and TV commercials for the past year about this transition, said it in a million different ways, with multiple approaches to get attention, explain the transition, and inform, then I have no sympathy if February 17th comes and all you get is static instead of American Idol.

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the notices.   I understood it the first time around.   The next 4,758 times was just wasting my life.    And how this transition is handled will set a huge precident for other technological changes that will come in the future — the switch to IPv6, changing to digital telephones, etc.

$40 Off DTVThe coupon (or lack thereof) issue is something to address, but if you haven’t taken enough interest to sign up for one, then you probably get to buy one at full price.   They’re not THAT awful in cost, and it’s kinda like taxes — if you’re late, you pay a price.   That’s how it goes.

If I felt that not enough effort had been made, I’d think differently.   However, the government has done a good job on this one, the airwaves and media have been swamped with notices, and assistance has been offered.   For those still unmoving in the face of all this, I say:  Tough.

What do you think?   Are you already prepared for the transition and, if not, why not?   Do you think the schedule should be kept or the delay honored?   Shall we hit slackers over the head with a brick?


Posted: on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 22:18.
Filed under: Technology.
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There are currently 11 responses to “DTV: Move It or Lose It”

  1. 1 On January 10th, 2009, MarieNo Gravatar (102 comments) said:

    TV doesn’t really interest me and I don’t even have our cable plugged in to mine. I watch it sometimes at other people’s houses. Even in that short amount of time, I’ve seen a few ads for this transition. I’d say I watch maybe an hour of tv a week. Now, if even I’ve seen an ad, I can’t imagine why so many others are so astounded by this. If you haven’t reached people by now, what else can you do?
    We still have the coupons for ours. The only person who watches tv in our house is my brother..so I don’t know if we’re going to bother with it or not. Some people love TV. I could really care less. I’m happy as long as I have the internet. :P

  2. 2 On January 10th, 2009, Becky AllynNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (9 comments) said:

    I guess I don’t see what it would hurt to delay the transition. It won’t affect the people who’ve already converted. The only thing you mention is the annoying PSAs. It’s not like after the conversion date the time devoted to the PSAs will be replaced with great, quality television – it will be replaced with annoying commercials.

    Admittedly, all the stories I know of with good reasons for delaying are anecdotal. But a scenario I imagine is this: A conversion is coming. You know about it. The converter boxes seem kind of dumb, so you decide instead to upgrade your TV. You don’t have the money for it laying around, so you set aside a bit each month and plan to have the new TV in February. And then you get laid off. The savings you had now go to rent and food and heat. So come February, it’s too late to get a coupon and you don’t exactly have $50 to spend.

    And TV isn’t just American Idol. It’s weather news, school closings, emergency broadcasts, information about your community. You can get this through newspapers, but not free. You can get this through radio – sometimes, depending on your location and what’s available – but it’s not as predictable as to when you’ll get the info you need.

    I never saw the need for the conversion in the first place, though. I don’t pay attention to nationwide technological trends. And I suspect a large percentage of Americans do the same. There are a lot of us who like to use the technology we bought until it breaks without having to contantly upgrade.

    But it doesn’t affect me. And it doesn’t affect most of the people who have opinions on the issue. :) My point is that I don’t think Obama wants to help out the stupid, lax, and ignorant people. I think he wants to help out people affected by the shitty economy.

  3. 3 On January 10th, 2009, Nathan PralleNo Gravatar (126 comments) said:

    The conversion is being done primarily for the fact that our airwaves are filling up and one of the biggest hogs of airspace has always been analog television signals. Back in the day when there was nothing else fighting for use of the bandwidth (cell phones, shortwave, 2-way, WiFi, etc.) it wasn’t a big deal, but now it’s getting crowded. Digital TV takes up a fraction of the space that analog does. Eliminating analog TV signals will enable the government to license that space to other technologies, such as enhanced services to cell phones and mobile devices, such as computers, smart cars, and so forth. So it’s a very GOOD transition to have happen.

    While I understand your point about the economy and so forth, I still believe that there’s a contingent of the public who will simply not make any move until they are forced to. This has always been the case for various reasons; sometime they’re stubborn, sometimes they can’t justify the money (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), sometimes they can’t be bothered. It’s definitely those I do NOT want to pander to because you simply can’t convince them.

    Those who are hard up with the economy I do feel sympathy towards and it’s a real shitter. I just don’t know as though it’s going to be better anytime soon, and putting off the transition puts off the progression of the other technologies. While we’re not being saved by having more texting teens and Twittering in the world, there are plenty of mobile services that DO benefit the greater good that would find themselves in better shape for it.

    Weather, news, school closings, etc….yes, newspapers cost money, but radio is free and I can’t think of anything that isn’t covered on radio that is essential that you would otherwise only get on TV. School closings, weather, disasters, emergency situations, news — all covered.

    I dunno. It is always difficult to justify holding any major thing up for a few. From all the polls and stories I have read about the issue, the economy has some say in it — some people can’t really afford the converter. But for a great many, they simply don’t get it or refuse to do anything, and I can’t justify holding it up for them. I’m happy enough to give it a delay if there’s a real, good reason. I just don’t know as though there is.

  4. 4 On January 11th, 2009, Becky AllynNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (9 comments) said:

    Well, I think that’s the thing. We don’t know that there is. Maybe I’m still in my Obama honeymoon phase, but I like to think that he’s got the right people who do know.

    The thing about getting information from the radio is timing. If there’s a seriously massive emergency, sure, you’ll hear about it. But otherwise, you’ve got to be listening at just the right time to get the info you need. Our public radio station doesn’t carry this info because WPR is for all of Wisconsin. We don’t even get weather forecasts that are specific to part of the state. Commerical radio is a total crapshoot.

    I see the point about it being the right move in the long term. But if there’s a chance that six months will help and won’t really hurt…well, it doesn’t hurt to try. Might give others a chance (and the government a chance to sort out the coupon mess) and then the really stupid folks can just deal with it later.

    I can wait six months for my smart car if it means a struggling family can get through the winter with accurate weather forcasts.

  5. 5 On January 11th, 2009, Nathan PralleNo Gravatar (126 comments) said:

    True on all accounts — you’re right, Barack’s team might have the right people who know. I have to admit to being biased in some ways on this issue, because it’s a technological one, and I’m intimitely familiar with the general non-computerists that frequently screw something up simply because they can’t be bothered educating themselves or paying attention. It gets stuck in my craw. So you can discount some of this as simply that grumpy old IT guy in the corner.

    Commercial radio around here is crap — except for weather announcements, school closings, and so forth, so I have to disagree on that. In fact, when I’m driving to work on a morning after a snowstorm, I can’t listen to commercial radio at all because all I get is the privilege of listening through 3,000 school closing announcements per hour. Until my own kid is concerned, I prefer not. :) But perhaps around your neck you get more shock jock action (or less locally-owned/operated radio stations) and so it’s much harder to find a good source of announcements. I’ll give you that.

    You’re right, and I hadn’t thought about it, but it would make sense to say, “Let’s do this in the summer when nobody cares about the weather.” (or at least, not as much) That’s a good point and I wonder why they didn’t consider it.

  6. 6 On January 11th, 2009, BenNo Gravatar (3 comments) said:

    The problem, Nathan, is that you can’t tell if the reason for not upgrading is as you describe, or because of financial reasons. Given the current economic climate, the government is going to be hesitant to do anything that gives appearance of adding to the financial burden of 8 million households.

  7. 7 On January 11th, 2009, Momma, The Casual PerfectionistNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (2 comments) said:

    We’re already on a satellite service, with an HD TV (and we ditched our standard programming a while ago, because all the channels we like were already offered in the HD-only pack), so the conversion means nothing to us. We fast-fwd through commercials, so I haven’t seen any PSAs (unless you count the funny ones I’ve seen on Youtube.) BUT, that being said, I got sick of hearing my dad go on and on and on about the government conspiracy and how he was refusing to spend a DIME falling for their tricks (?) and then hearing the tears in my mom’s voice as she’d say, “Well, I guess we just won’t watch TV anymore…”

    Aaaaargh.

    So…my hubby and I signed up for the cards, went to Best Buy, purchased the converters, put extra cables and little connector-dealies into the package and mailed it to them. (They’re in the Midwest, and we’re not.) I confirmed with my brother-in-law, who lives close, that he can help them physically hook it up to their television sets.

    Voila! Problem solved. …until the next thing. ;)

  8. 8 On January 11th, 2009, JessyNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (1 comments) said:

    I ditto what you said. I’ve seen way too many of those commercials to feel bad for slackers!

    Jessys blog: Officially bored

  9. 9 On January 12th, 2009, nicheplayerNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (117 comments) said:

    Pull the trigger. Anyone who hasn’t made provisions for the switch by now doesn’t care enough about TV anyway, so their inconvenience will be minimal. Don’t let an ignorant minority impede the progress of the entire country. After all, if it meant enough to them, they’d sue the government over it.

  10. 10 On January 14th, 2009, Sara GNo Gravatar UNITED STATES (8 comments) said:

    I know, I know, i’m a late commenter, but couldn’t resist adding my two cents.

    I understand the reason for the DTV conversion and fully admit that frustration will be a nonissue once we hit the norming phase, but I am still not a big fan.

    Part of it is the timing. I don’t think a lot of people realize this yet and may not until after the conversion, but because digital signal does support partial reception as well as analog, more money will need to be spent upgrading antennae and equipment. Not cheap and not covered by vouchers. As you well know, installing a rooftoop antenna isn’t something someone is inclined to do in neg 20 weather and blizzard conditions. I’d rather at least save it to spring months.

    I also think despite the million ads (I’ve heard we spent more on advertising the DTV conversion than on the elections or any other public campaign…shows where our priorities are, eh? But that’s another blog) they’ve forgotten to tell us simple things. Did you know that the channels are likely to change even for stations that are fully digital prior to the shutoff? What’s the plan for the possible influx of electronic waste for those people who do find their tv is now useless?

    Overall, I’m just not a big fan of the way it done whenever it happens and really not a fan of it happening now.

  11. 11 On January 15th, 2009, CourtneyNo Gravatar (54 comments) said:

    It doesn’t really bother me to delay the change, but I have no sympathy for anybody who hasn’t already made moves towards being ready for it. If you own a TV, period, you’ve seen the ads and you know it’s coming. That’s all there is to it. Delaying it? Doesn’t bother me, but I don’t think a delay is necessary, either.

    Courtneys blog: Doormat

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