Preparing for a 21st Century "D-Day"

As required by law, at midnight on February 17, 2009, the entire country will experience a kind of 21st century "D-Day." At that time, all television broadcasting stations in the United States will terminate five decades of analog broadcasting. The on-air broadcasting stations are not going out of business, rather, they are actually improving their services by switching from the "legacy" analog broadcasting technology to a 100% digital format. The new digital broadcast service has many desirable features which are simply not possible in the analog format. The expanded digital features include very high quality pictures including high-definition, wide-screen images, suburb multi-channel sound, and additional simultaneous program channels from each broadcaster. This change to digital enables over the air broadcasters to compete with other digital television delivery services provided by cable, fiber and satellite.

It’s not all good news however as the switch from analog to digital has a downside: non-digital TV receivers which use an antenna will not receive any TV channels on "D-Day." Recognizing that millions of current TV viewers could loss access to TV has been a major industry, governmental and consumer concern. There has been a significant campaign of public service announcements, newspaper articles and special coverage during the past several months to alert the public about the approaching change.

It’s important to understand who is affected by this conversion and who is not and here are some of the scenarios:

• If your TV is connected to a cable, fiber or a satellite service provider, you’re OK. These service providers will take whatever steps are needed on "D-Day" to ensure that your TV viewing continues as usual.
• Unless, you have purchased a new digital TV in the past 3 years, but are presently receiving television using "rabbit ears", a roof-top TV antenna or a TV antenna in your attic you will be affected. After "D-Day", off-air reception will require a TV receiver with a digital tuner or the purchase and installation of a digital TV Converter box. The digital converter is used for off-air reception only and is available at major big box retailers. The one time purchase cost of $50-60 can be off-set by a government sponsored coupon program that enables each household to apply for two coupons worth $40 each. Applications can be made online, by telephone or mailed, and more information is available at www.dtv2009.gov.
• In addition to consumer awareness and education about this approaching communication change, small and medium size businesses need to consider if they are affected in some way. Many businesses provide television as a courtesy or essential function to their onsite clients and customers. Cable service is usually the first choice for many businesses, but many others use TV sets with antennas which are easy to locate and setup. These TV sets will go dark in February. To continue to operate they will need to be replaced with a digital TV or have a digital converter box installed. Also, many businesses receive off-air TV broadcasts and distribute these signals to residents, patients and other specialized users within facilities that they operate. I recommend that all businesses take quick inventory of the "TV Transition Readiness" of their business as the end of analog television approaches at midnight on February 17, 2009.

As a public service media company, WHYY has been working for the past ten years to prepare its facilities for this federally mandated change and recently WHYY has instituted awareness campaigns to ensure that the most vulnerable groups are aware of the approaching broadcast TV transition and their options. Working throughout the tri-state region and in partnership with the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Technology, a comprehensive organizational awareness and education program is underway to reach the hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses in the region.

Additional information about this effort as well a business technology consultation is available from WHYY by calling the Technology Hotline number - 215-351-1270 or email to dtv@whyy.org.