On February 4th Congress voted to postpone the forced switch from analog to digital broadcast signals. It has been postponed to June 12th of this year. This was done in order to give the millions of people that rely exclusively on broadcast television more time to prepare for the digital switch. Of the 15 million people (television households) in the US that watch broadcast television an estimate 6.5 million of them are not ready for the switch. However, compare that 6.5 to the over all amount of TV viewers in the US (112.8 as of January 1, 2008) and it is only about 6% of the population that is not ready for the switch.
When talking about a huge infrastructural switch like this one is a 6% loss really that big of a casualty? Can’t we assume that many of the 6.5 million households will pick up a digital-to-analog converter box (DA) after the switch has taken place?
The tough part about this is that it is generally assume that the 6.5 million people are in the lowest socio-economic standings. The Obama administration has pushed this delay legislation both as a fight for this forgotten class, but also in an effort to show the failed policies of the previous administration. The Bush administration spent 1 billion dollars in an attempt to ease the transition, both through PSAs and coupons that were redeemable up to 80% off the retail value of a DA box.
This is not the first time that the conversion has been postponed. Originally, supposed to take place in 2002 as a provision of the 1997 Telecommunication Act. The transition was halted and then reconstituted in 2005. To the consumers this transition may feel rushed, but television stations across the US have bee preparing for the switch for 4 years. Most of these TV networks are currently broadcasting in both analog and digital at their own expense. While additional funds have been included as provisions within Obama’s Stimulus plan, I fear that this delay might cause more economic harm than good.
Since the TV networks knew that this transition was supposed to happen on the 17th they pushed back sweeps week, which traditionally happens in February, but will instead take place in March this year. The hope was that people would get DA boxes in February to make sure they could watch their favorite show’s finale, thereby encouraging people to follow them through the conversion. However, by pushing back the transition date. We are effectively putting the transition in the middle of the summer when TV has its lowest ratings. So if people weren’t ready for the shift, during the height of TV watching season are they going to be ready in the rerun days of summer? Furthermore, I wonder if people might flee traditional broadcast in favor of Internet or mobile-based models since there is not a major incentive to have a DA box in summer.
Hopefully, Obama’s 650 million dollar infusion into the DTV transition will cement the change once and for all. Also, I hope the delay will actually be worthwhile and not just an expensive waste of time and that the 6.5 million people turn out to be a forgotten class of people rather than a bunch of procrastinators who won’t make the shift till after June 12th anyways.
