Newswise — Full-power television stations will broadcast only digital TV signals after June 12 -- Friday of next week. When that happens, consumers who have not purchased digital TVs or installed digital-to-analog converter boxes will no longer be able to receive over-the-air broadcasts. (Consumers who use cable or satellite TV connections won't be affected). Experts at Indiana University are available to comment on issues related to the approaching deadline.
Delays have helped consumers
Jeffrey Hart, professor of political science at Indiana University Bloomington, has written extensively about the politics and policy of digital TV (DTV) conversion. He says the change has taken a long time to accomplish -- and it's a good thing that it has. "If they had done it on the schedule that was originally proposed, it would have been a total disaster," he said. Hart says key decisions by the Federal Communications Commission in the 1990s guaranteed there would be confusion over DTV equipment and services, and the Bush administration distrust of government regulation and faith in the marketplace contributed to further problems. It took more than a decade to resolve such issues as technical standards for signals and equipment, intellectual property rights vs. "fair use" of content, and rules governing the relationship between broadcasters and cable and satellite service providers. The initial U.S. deadline for shutting off analog broadcasting was Dec. 31, 2006. It was delayed to Dec. 31, 2008, delayed again to Feb. 17, 2009, then again to June 12, 2009. "There were a lot of parties that had a stake in an earlier transition, but there were also competing consumer interests," Hart said. "Those had to be balanced, and in the end, I think they were balanced pretty well." However, while the government and broadcasters reached out to inform elderly people and minorities about the transition, many people under 35 haven't received the message. "Research seems to show that the people who are most vulnerable to not being ready are, strangely enough, young people," Hart said. "They don't watch as much TV, and they tend to be less able to afford cable or satellite."
Hart is North American editor of the International Journal of Digital Television and the author of "Technology, Television and Competition" (Cambridge University Press, 2004). His 2005 journal article "Politics of the Transition to Digital Television" can be seen online at http://www.indiana.edu/~globalm/pdf/transition.pdf.
Digital broadcast signals and the "cliff effect"
Despite taking recommended measures to prepare for the June 12 digital TV conversion, many viewers used to watching free broadcast television will lose their television reception altogether on June 12 and will need to turn to cable or satellite providers. "The digital signal is intended to cover the former service area, but we're finding that's not always the case," said Michael McGregor, IU professor of telecommunications. With analog TV, the signal gradually fades as it weakens for viewers living further away from the station, but they still receive a poorer quality signal. Digital TV broadcasters contend with what has been called the "cliff effect," and its broadcast signal suddenly is lost as a function of signal power and distance. "People are doing all the right things and, for some, they're going to be outside the service area of the station and that's going to be a surprise . . . In the past, you might have gotten an analog signal and it wasn't perfectly clear or crisp. In the new digital world, that signal isn't traveling as far. " This issue primarily will be for those living in rural areas. Current estimates indicate that between 88 to 90 percent of TV viewers subscribe to cable or satellite and those viewers should not be immediately affected by the digital transition. Benefits for those who receive the digital signal will include additional news and weather channels and broadcasters later may find ways to present broadband options for downloading music, video and other computer files. "Within a few years, there's going to be a lot of new services that are going to be thrown out on that broadcast transmitter that we're used to getting through wires now," he said.
Farewell to the FCC broadcast model
Ironically, the Federal Communications Commission had a broadcast-centered model when the shift to digital TV first began 13 years ago. "When the whole transition started in 1996, the only thing that the FCC really did was tell the broadcast stations that they had to convert," said David Waterman, a professor in the Department of Telecommunications at IU and an economist. "There were a few rules regarding cable along the way, but it was a broadcast-centered model." Over this past decade, cable television networks recognized that digital and high-definition technology was more cost-effective and cable systems began establishing digital tiers in response. "Those are very efficient technologies and that's really a big part of what drove the transition. Now you get toward the end of it and broadcasters are a more insignificant part of the whole picture," he said. "The technologies that have really been able to take advantage of digital are cable television and DBS (digital broadcast satellites). The amount of money that they make has risen a lot and it's because they're slicing and dicing their audience and selling high definition programming and charging people lots of money for it." By comparison, the business model for traditional broadcasters has diminished in value and may lose more of an edge. But Waterman suggests that broadcasters won't relinquish the airwaves for cell phones and other wireless technologies. "Politically, I don't think that will happen very soon, because no one wants to disenfranchise any significant, though small, percentage of people," he said. Also, the traditional broadcast networks continue to be most popular in terms of viewership.
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