TV changeover February 17; don’t be left in the dark

by Amanda Schrutt

As some of you may already know, the basic cable on your projection tube televisions that most of us grew up with is going out of style. On February 17, 2009, analog broadcasting will end for full-power TV stations.

There are two basic formats of television being broadcasted for now: digital and analog. Those of us with digital are already enjoying the benefits of D(igital)TV, or HDTV (high definition TV). Those with the older analog, however, are getting programming, which was always available, but this will all change on February 17, 2009 when full-power stations will stop broadcasting in analog. Some changes will have to be made for those who watch free over-the-air TV with an antenna.

This change, however, does not mean you need to go out and buy a whole new television set. That would be only one of the options. There are converter boxes to change the digital signal to one that your current analog set can receive. One drawback is that the converter boxes can cost around a whopping $50. So if you don’t want to fork up some money, your TV could be left in the dark.

For those planning on buying a digital TV, make sure you are buying the right thing when you get to the store. If you find a television that has a price that seems to be too good to be true, then odds are it isn’t digital. If you do end up buying an analog television, remember, you will still need to purchase a converter box to receive television programming.

Why, do you ask, do we have to change to digital television? Well, you can thank Congress for that one. They suggested to have all analog TV broadcasting stopped from mainstream television, and have everything go digital. They wanted all of this to be done before April 7, 2009. To avoid rush and confusion, TV stations decided to stop the broadcasting on the 17th of February so things could be straightened out beforehand.

Congress will have to deal with cleaning up the mess of 70 million sets going under on February 17th. The upside of this mess is the reason they are conducting the switch. Congress wants to free up some radio waves to be put to better use. Some of the new open waves will be given to rescue personnel for dispatching such as police, fire, and public safety officials so they can better communicate. Congress realized this needed to be done after 9/11 when breakdowns in emergency communication slowed the response to the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, and the same thing happened during Hurricane Katrina. With the new waves being open, it should help cut interruptions by other wave spectrums. So all of the viewers that are out there who are still viewing analog television, this is just a little information about what to expect in the near future.

Our president elect, Barack Obama, has other thoughts, though. Obama has some major plans of his own for the digital change. His view is to look out to for the people who do not own a digital television set. He has urged Congress to postpone the switch, stating that too many Americans who rely on getting news from analog television sets just won’t be ready, and with the economy the way it is, he doesn’t want to add costs on to families who are struggling. Another big reason for the postponing of the digital switch is that the coupons that Congress had created to help the analog viewers with the bill of the converter boxes have run out. Congress has set up a waiting list for the coupons, however. The whole situation with the planning for the switch is inadequate. They set up a budget of $1.34 billion in funding for the coupons, which has been reached. Obama has just cause to postpone the digital switch.