Digital TV switch won't sway cable holdouts
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Half of the 21 million  Americans who do not have cable or satellite TV will probably  continue to use rabbit ears after the switch to digital TV in  February 2009, according to a new study.
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A national cable network capable of providing a full suite of broadband, digital television and phone services remains elusive, writes Jamie Smyth , Technology Reporter.
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If the cable operator's efforts to partner with leading gadget makers are successful, those set-top boxes could be a thing of the past.Photo: Comcast's AnyPlay device
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Americans are becoming more aware of  next year's switch-over to digital TV, but many are still  confused about how they will be affected, according to a pair  of surveys released on Wednesday.
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U.S. cable operators have reached a  tentative accord to carry up to four digital channels of  non-commercial programming offered by each public television  station in a market, the two sides said on Monday.
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Providers don't yet offer set-top boxes that use CableCARD, which could spur competition.
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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell has proposed rejecting a request that cable companies be required to carry all the digital signals offered by a broadcast television station, sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.
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Broadcasters beat back a proposal that would have required them to give up their current analog channels by 2009 as their allies on the Senate Commerce Committee won approval Wednesday for a weaker proposal.
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Federal regulators Thursday rejected a request by broadcasters to require cable and satellite operators to carry multiple digital channel offerings from local television stations.
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WASHINGTON  - Half of the 21 million  Americans who do not have cable or satellite TV will probably  continue to use rabbit ears after the switch to digital TV in  February 2009, according to a new study.
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The NFL Network said Monday  it would accept Time Warner Cable's offer to carry the channel  on a digital tier for a week beginning Christmas Eve.
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The US Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a measure that would provide up to $1 billion to ensure consumers can still watch television when broadcasters switch to new, crisp digital signals.
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Cable operators have been fighting bandwidth limits to squeeze in more high definition content. A new system aims to assist in that fight without sacrificing quality.
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Cable set-tops are everywhere, but consumers continue to show a lack of interest in buying separate boxes for Internet-based video-on-demand services.
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Less than thirteen months remain for US television stations to move off the old analog VHF and UHF spectra, into their new digital allotments. But even now, the FCC has to deal with stations that have yet to finalize their construction plans.
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(InfoWorld) - A group of broadcasters, consumer electronics vendors, and civil rights groups pledged Wednesday to leave no television viewers behind as the U.S. transitions to digital over-the-air broadcasts by February 2009. The groups, collectively known as the Digital Television Transition Coalition, will use a variety of means, including public service announcements and community-based campaigns,Â to educate TV viewers about the transition from analog broadcasts. An estimated 20 million U.S. homes, containing 90 million TV sets, that don't have cable or satellite service will need to buy converter boxes or new TV sets to continue to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts. People with analog TV sets will no longer receive over-the-air signals after the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline. Congress has approved $1.5 billion for vouchers for residents to buy converter boxes in a bill passed last year. The bill requires U.S. TV stations to move off radio spectrum in the upper 700MHz band with that highly coveted spectrum going to public safety agencies and commercial bidders. Cable and satellite viewers will not need to buy converter boxes or new TVs. Starting this week, all television sets shipped across state lines in the U.S. must be capable of receiving a digital signal. "Part of our job ... will to be to help many people understand that, while they may think they have a problem, in reality, they are already well equipped to deal with the transition and enjoy the benefits," said Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. "It is essential that nobody loses a TV signal due to a lack of accurate information." Many of the people affected by the transition will be poor or elderly people, said Nancy Zirkin, vice president and director of public policy at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The coalition needs to "make sure that this audience knows before the switch that they are eligible for federal vouchers," she said. The coalition launched a Web site to help educate TV viewers on the switch to DTV. In a recent survey of over-the-air viewers, the National Association of Broadcasters found that 56 percent of respondents reported that they have "seen, read, or heard nothing" about the transition to digital television, and only 10 percent were able to pinpoint 2009 as the year. The upper 700MHz band would allow wireless signals to travel four to five times as far as existing mobile phone signals, advocates of the digital televisionÂ transition say. That makes the spectrum valuable for mobile broadband providers and for police and fire departments that want to communicate with regional counterparts. Among the coalition members are the Association of Public Television Stations, the Consumer Electronics Association, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
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By Virgil Larson, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.  Mar. 7--A new federal rule is meant to put competition into cable TV, but don't look for a new system in your neighborhood anytime soon.