Committee on Energy and Commerce, Republicans : Press Release :: The Switch to Digital TV: What’s up? And What’s in It for You?

The Switch to Digital TV: What’s up? And What’s in It for You?

June 2, 2008

“February 17, 2009 is the day America finally goes digital. The analog television signals that have come into our homes over the air since the birth of TV will end, and a great technical revolution that has been in the making for years will be complete.”
– U.S. Rep. Joe Barton,
Ranking Member,
House Energy and Commerce Committee

The Switch to Digital TV: What’s up? And What’s in It for You?

What’s in it for you? For one thing, dramatically clearer and more reliable television. More channels, too, because the digital signal makes them possible. And the transition offers the less noticeable, but far more important prospect that your life will be saved if you’re ever hurt in a wreck, burned in a fire, or suffer a heart attack.

The transition to all-digital broadcasting really began as five years to the day before the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, when an advisory committee recommended that broadcasters return to the public some of the airwaves within five years for the purpose of assigning them to public safety uses. Nothing much happened, and America’s first responders paid the price of that failure when they were unable to communicate inside the twin towers World Trade Center.

9/11 changed the nation’s perceptions about the need to act, and now the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act has set midnight, Feb. 17, 2009, as the hard date for broadcasters to finish their DTV transition and turn over 24 MHz of broadcast "spectrum" to public safety, implementing one of the 9/11 Commission’s primary recommendations. All of that broadcasting capacity will be used directly by ambulance crews, firefighters and police officers. And other spectrum for wireless broadband purposes will be auctioned off and the proceeds used to buy $1 billion worth of modern communications gear for those first responders.

Analog televisions that receive programming exclusively over the air will balk at the new digital signals, however, but the act also provides $990 million so the small and dwindling minority of households that get TV signals with rabbit ears can request two $40 coupons toward the purchase of analog-to-digital converter boxes. If even more money is needed to help people switch, another $510 million becomes available.

So how does this work for me?

• If you get TV from a cable, satellite, or telephone company, you don’t have to do anything at all. Your provider will handle the conversion for you.

• If you use an analog television manufactured after March 1, 2007, or a digital television, your TV is already ready for the transition.

• Only if you use an old analog television with an over-the-air antenna, after Feb. 17, 2009, will you want to obtain a converter box, and the government will pay for two coupons worth $40 each to help buy those boxes. To apply, call 1-888-388-2009 or visit https://www.dtv2009.gov/ to download an application. Fill it out and send it in. The first coupons will be sent starting in February.

Links to DTV transition Web sites:

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/012025.html

https://www.dtv2009.gov/Default.aspx

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/index.html

http://www.dtv.gov/

http://www.dtvanswers.com/

http://www.ncta.com/IssueBrief.aspx?contentId=2688

http://www.ce.org/AboutCEA/CEAInitiatives/3617.asp

http://www.dtvanswers.com/

http://www.ceretailers.org/transtodtv.htm

More news and information on the DTV transition

Barton, Upton Ask GAO for Details on DTV Converter Box Survey