FOX 28: DTV - Are You Ready?

DTV Update...and Request 4/11/08

At the moment, Americans accross the country are ordering coupons for digital converter boxes at the rate of 85,000 per day!

In the zip codes within a 40 mile radius of South Bend people have ordered 167,014 coupons. Assuming that most people are ordering the maximum of two per household...coupons for 83,507 homes have been ordered in the South Bend television market.

According to Nielsen, there are approximately 67,000 homes in the S.B. market that receive over the air television exclusively.The NAB reports that about 50% of the coupons ordered have been for over the air "only" households.

What does all this mean? First, it seems that a lot of people are getting the message and taking action. And, if the national statistics apply here...some 42,000 of our 67,000 over the air viewing households have applied to get converter boxes.

This is where the request comes in. We do not know where these other 25,000 non cable or satellite homes are located...or who lives in them. The fear is that at least some of them might be people of somewhat diminished capacity or understanding who somehow have not gotten the message. If we do not make them aware between now and February...these people could suddenly lose their connection to the outside world...their news source and their warning system for dangerous weather or or other possible disasters.

Please then...if you have people in your area that you think might not be cable or satellite subscribers...and who might need some assistance...how about going up and knock on their door and see if they need help ordering a coupon and getting a converter box?  You could actually be saving someone a lot of trouble...or even their life?

Stephen Morris, V.P. & General Manager, WSJV Television Inc.   

Test Your DTV Readiness?

If you live in the South Bend television market, and are unsure about what you need to do for the upcoming conversion to digital broadcasting...there is now an easy way to test.

Recently, PBS station, WNIT lost a couple of very expensive tubes from their analog (old style) transmitter. As a result, they are currently off the air...except for their digital signal. (All the stations in South Bend currently air both analog and digital signals) If you are currently receiving a WNIT signal right now, (go check?) you are somehow receiving their digital signal. If you change nothing between now and then, on 2/18/09...you should be receiving all of the television signals in the market in the same way!

However, if you can no longer pick up a your PBS station...and do nothing in the interim, on 2/18/09 you will not be able to receive any of the local stations. You will need to: 1. buy a converter box(s) and install it...2. hook up to cable or satellite...or 3. acquire a digital television set and antenna. The entry immediately below this one contains a link that will take you to the site where you can apply for a $40 coupon(s) for a converter box. This box simply takes the digital (UHF) signal and converts it back to analog so you can use it in your current analog set.

South Bend is unique in having this ability to test your digital readiness before the actual conversion date, thanks to WNIT's misfortune.

If you need further assistance....advice is available elsewhere on the fox28.com site...or you can contact the station.

Get your converter box - NOW!

As of today almost 15% of the allocated $1.5 billion dollars earmarked for the DTV Converter box program is gone and at the writing of the article we are only 43 days into the campaign. Do the math, if this rate continues by Summer the money will just about be exhausted. So far over 4 million requests have been received. Is one of those yours? If not do it now. Click HERE!

What are you waiting for? The boxes are beginning to show up in the stores and the vouchers, which look like gift cards should be arriving soon. Don't forget, anyone can apply for a DTV coupon, up to two per household. We are hearing out of pocket expense will range from almost nothing to around $20.00. I certainly would not spend more than $20.00. Popular stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-mart, Kmart, Sears and Radio Shack are just a few stores who have the boxes. Once you receive your coupons you will receive a listing of stores in your area

In all there are 34 different models of DTV receiver boxes being manufactured for this program. My guess is you will see each retailer pick one or maybe two to sell in their stores. The government specs for these boxes are pretty clear. Those boxes which cost more than $20 after turning in your voucher may have other features.

So once you receive your voucher you have 90 days to use it. You hear of "Use it or lose it" that applies to this program. If it expires you can't use it or apply for another so don't let it sit on your dresser for 3 months.

You have your analog TV, the converter box now don't forget the antenna. With these three items you can begin enjoying more FREE TV choices with Digital Television. Oh and you won't receive a monthly bill.

As of today almost 15% of the allocated $1.5 billion dollars earmarked for the DTV Converter box program is gone and at the writing of the article we are only 43 days into the campaign. Do the math, if this rate continues by Summer the money will just about be exhausted. So far over 4 million requests have been received. Is one of those yours? If not do it now. Click HERE!

What are you waiting for? The boxes are beginning to show up in the stores and the vouchers, which look like gift cards should be arriving soon. Don't forget, anyone can apply for a DTV coupon, up to two per household. We are hearing out of pocket expense will range from almost nothing to around $20.00. I certainly would not spend more than $20.00. Popular stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-mart, Kmart, Sears and Radio Shack are just a few stores who have the boxes. Once you receive your coupons you will receive a listing of stores in your area

In all there are 34 different models of DTV receiver boxes being manufactured for this program. My guess is you will see each retailer pick one or maybe two to sell in their stores. The government specs for these boxes are pretty clear. Those boxes which cost more than $20 after turning in your voucher may have other features.

So once you receive your voucher you have 90 days to use it. You hear of "Use it or lose it" that applies to this program. If it expires you can't use it or apply for another so don't let it sit on your dresser for 3 months.

You have your analog TV, the converter box now don't forget the antenna. With these three items you can begin enjoying more FREE TV choices with Digital Television. Oh and you won't receive a monthly bill.

DTV Ready for the Holidays

We are headed closer to the holiday rush and I am sure it has crossed your mind to purchase a new Digital TV for someone in your family. I thought I would take some time to provide a few buying tips before you hit the streets. Yes, you could buy a set on-line in my opinion you may want to consider that decision carefully. Don't you really want to see the picture first? What happens if something does go wrong with the TV, some on-line merchants have pretty good return policies others don't mention it. In most cases either way you would need to pack up the TV and find a shipper. Sure, you can find some pretty good deals on-line and I even considered buying one on line. When I went to my local merchants I found the prices were very close to the on-line merchants, so why bother. I also have this thing for supporting local retailers especially when it comes to a major purchase like a digital TV.

Time for some homework. The best thing you can do is to be armed with information before you head out. Search the web. www.cnet.com is a great site. There are plenty of other sites. Here is what you need to consider. Jot the answers to these down.
1. What size is the room in where you be locating the TV?
2. Does the room have a lot of daylight or direct sunlight or is that light controllable?
3. What type of TV do you watch the most? Sports, Movies or a variety of news, sports entertainment?
4. Will you be mounting the TV on a wall or replacing an analog TV in it's cabinet?
5. How about sound, will you use your current system, adding a new system or just using the audio from the TV.
6. How do you receive your TV signal?

1. You should know the size of the room. This will determine the size of TV which will best fit your room. Is it a secondary set going in the bedroom or dorm or the main family viewing room.
2. This determines what technology you should consider. LCD is better in bright rooms than Plasma or DLP.
3. This is another determining factor on the technology. If you watch a lot of sports or maybe Nascar events a Plasma might be the best choice. Some say it handles rapid motion the best however I have an LCD and I think it does a pretty good job.  If you are purchasing a second set or one for your dorm room maybe you don't need to spend as much or consider an off-brand for this purpose. If you are shopping for the TV you use for your main viewing area you can't lose by sticking with a brand name set. If you choose an off-brand you better do your research.
4. If you are planning to mount the set on a wall you will need to purchase a mount. These can range from $100 to $400. depending on the features. If you are replacing an older set will the new set fit in it's place?
5. Do you have a sound system? Does it support 5.1 Surround sound? Does the TV you are considering have 5.1 Surround sound output through a digital interface? Maybe this is not important or maybe you will need to upgrade. My advice here is don't buy a real cheap sound system. You will be disappointed.
6. If you watch TV over-the air you may need an antenna. If you have one, try it first. Remember, you will receive more FREE TV signals over-the-air on the digital broadcasts than you currently do in the analog world.  Our partner www.winegarddirect.com has a great selection of antennas. Do you have cable? If you purchase a digital TV with a QAM tuner you may be able to receive HD channels over your existing cable. Check with your provider. By the way, a QAM tuner is a tuner designed to receive some digital or HD channels on cable systems. Most brand-name sets have this built in. I would check with your retailer. If you are a satellite subscriber can your satellite box connect digitally to your new TV?

In closing, if you take all the above into consideration it will make your buying decision much easier. You may want to stop by as many retailers as possible. Find out if they price match. The good ones will match or beat the price of most of their competitors. Some will even guarantee their lower price 60 days after you purchase the item. Good luck on your purchase and happy shopping!

DTV Receiver Coupon Program

Ok, let's cut through the clutter. Congress basically told broadcasters they had to transition to Digital Television or surrender their license. In a lot of cases some stations are going dark or being purchased by other companies. Why?  The cost for transitioning is in the millions for broadcasters and some companies just can't afford to do it. They are asking the same of consumers, granted it's not in the millions but for some people it is a lot of money to buy a new TV. That's why the coupon program was developed. Don't get me wrong, we are embracing this technology. The ability to deliver more content at better than DVD quality is a real plus for us. Frankly I can't wait until we shut down our analog transmitter. It's old and if you look at it wrong, well need I say more.

A light bulb went on in congress and someone had the idea of creating another government program to help consumers. The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program (Coupon Program), as authorized in the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. Translation: This is a billion-dollar plus program to help consumers purchase a digital TV receiver box so they can receive over-the-air broadcast signals on their analog TV.

The tuners on analog sets won't receive broadcast signals after February 17th of 2009. So you hook one of these boxes up to an antenna, run the output of the box to your analog set and you can watch the digital TV channels. This applies to broadcast TV only, not cable or satellite.

Although I feel this program is about a year behind schedule from where it should be the details are now in place. The basic details are as follows:

1. Each household will be eligible for two $40.00 coupons which can be applied to the purchase of up to two digital receiver boxes. We hear the price will range from $50 to $100.
2. The program starts 1-1-08. At that time any household can apply. It is not based on income or how you receiver your TV signals.
3. Once the money runs out phase 2 will begin. At that time we are told only households who receive their TV signal over-the-air, will be eligible.
For more information go to this site. Every question you have will be answered here.

Just a few of my thoughts on this program:

*If you are interested in the program you should apply shortly after the first of the year. I think the money will run out quick.
*You won't find many of these converter boxes in the stores right now because retailers are waiting for the "government approved" version. Ask the person at your retail outlet about the converter box program and I bet bet you'll receive a blank stare. You can purchase these in some stores but they are hard to find. Here's one from our friends at Winegard.

Jim Lawrence
QNI

What about Cable?

You have Cable-TV and are wondering how does the demise of analog TV affect your cable signal? You and me both. We assume the cable companies have some type of plan in place in order to receive the local channels once the analog goes away. Normally this is accomplished by an off-air air receiver located in their head-end(main cable office). This signal is then sent to you via their cable system to your home. Many cable companies use Fiber optic transmissions directly from the station. This provides a cleaner, sharper image. Cable companies have two choices. They can purchase a digital receiver and convert it back to analog or they can provide customers a set top receiver and provide you with a digital feed. Whatever they choose you are protected until 2012. The FCC ruled on September 13th that they must provide their customers the current analog signal until 2012. At that time they can convert their system to digital and pull the analog. So right now you can keep you analog TV hooked to cable until 2012.

So what about HDTV on cable right now? In many cable TV markets cable companies are providing local HDTV signals to their cable customers at no additional cost. You can thank broadcasters for that. If you have a digital TV with a QAM tuner, you should be able to receive these signals. You should check with your local cable company as to the availability of the HDTV signals. Wait you say, what is a QAM tuner? Well most newer digital sets have this feature built into their tuners. By the way QAM stands for Quadrature amplitude modulation. I know what you are thinking. What is that. If you want to read about it go to this site. The simple explanation is it is like having a digital tuner for cable. It recognizes the HD channels so you can watch them on your digital TV.

The DTV Countdown

At the writing of this Blog, there less than 500 days before we pull the power plug on our analog transmitter. Frankly we(broadcasters) will be happy when that day comes. We have been running two TV transmitters(Digital and Analog) for some time. The power bills have been painful.

So with the clock ticking the big question is, are you ready?

Do you know how one of the biggest changes in television ever will effect you?  Ok, so it is 494 some days away, yes you do have some time but you may want to think about jumping in to the digital stream soon why?  Simply to take advantage of the additional FREE TV channels. In the digital world of television broadcasters are able to do what is called multi-casting. Basically that means we can provide multiple signals over one broadcast stream. So now you can take advantage of many more choices in over-the-air broadcasts and yes, it's still FREE!  I was looking at my cable bill last week and if I cut the cord right now I would save almost $600.00 per year. That is more than enough to pay for a digital TV receiver, antenna or over two years I could buy a new HDTV. Ok, maybe you are not ready to do this but it is food for thought.

We developed this blog because the digital/analog conversation can make your head spin. I don't think the Federal Government has done a very good job so far of helping consumers with this transition. Yes they will be giving you $80 to buy a Digital TV converter box. What, you did not hear about that? It's true. We will be discussing that program and many other topics up for discussion. In addition we think this will be a great forum for you to ask your DTV questions. We may not have all the answers but I bet we can find someone who does.

Jim Lawrence
QNI Broadcast Group