New York Times:
Millions of households will lose television reception next week when about 1,000 broadcasters around the nation shut off their analog signals and complete their conversion to digital programming, federal officials say.
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Only people who don't care about watching TV are unprepared. The poor got FREE boxes if they were so inclined and the better off can get one for 40$... If you cannot get digital yet, you don't watch TV.
Boxes don't help. Maybe after the full conversion, but not now... at least in outlying areas.
You're absolutely correct. Our converter box will not pick up CBS channel 2 and this is in a suburb of Los Angeles. There's no excuse for our poor reception on our converter box. When I write to CBS on 3 different occasions....no answer, no response, nothing.
You'd think they'd care about their ratings being down considerably after June 12th but evidently not!
This whole push is not so people will be prevented from watching their favorite shows, but to ensure that advertisers don't lose the hapless consumer. TV is mainly a vehicle for advertising, so I see this push benefiting advertisers and the companies behind them.
Doesn't say much for the collective intelligence of this country, does it?
That is not the issue. The elderly and/or those who are on tight budgets in this economy are the ones affected.
The converter boxes are almost useless in non-metropolitan areas.
they're proving to be useless in metropolitan areas too!
Some channels come in fine but like I stated earlier, CBS channel 2 here in LA County doesn't come in well at all and we're in a huge metropolitan area that should get excellent reception. No excuse. But it doesn't look promising.
Not to mention that we won't be able to record anything anymore. That is such a real bummer.
No more TV for me. Period.
My grandfather said that when they switched to color, and HIS father stopped going to movies when they got sound...
By golly, you must be so proud of yourself. Gosh.
I guess I'm ready. Both of my flat panels, my 42 inch HD in the living room and my 17 inch in the bedroom, are hooked up to cable. My internet service is cable broadband, and my telephone service is VoIP. If my cable goes out I'm screwed ... almost. I do have cell phone service. I can still phone the cable company; they'll get an earful from me.
Now all you need is something decent to watch, and for that you could wait forever.
I've been perfectly aware of the converter boxes, the coupon program and the due date, but I'm still not doing anything about it, because I stopped watching TV on the television a long time ago (I have turned it on exactly ONCE since last June and that was for Election Night coverage, and I'm absolutely serious. The thing is covered in dust lol) if I want to watch anything - Hulu.com or one of the myriad other websites. I watch Colbert and Stewart on their respective sites, and I only get my news from online media sources. I haven't trusted network news sites to tell me the truth since 2000, when I stopped paying for cable.
I just wonder how many of those 'unprepared' numbers are actually people purposely forgoing paying for pointless cable and converter boxes. Once I get a Wii, that's all I'll use my TV for (my PS2 is busted unfortunately) and I LOVE IT. I actually go outside on the weekends, to a park or a coffeeshop and -gasp- draw or READ instead of plant my butt on the couch and watch the Sunday crap-movie-of-the-week. I hope this signal loss will inspire a lot more people to stop vegging and start living.
But not everyone is as well connected to the internet, and knows how to watch tv online. I know people who work on computers all day, who still have not heard of hulu, so imagine the situation of the elderly, poor or uneducated. They will be left in the dark, for a long time.
Left in the dark for what? What are they missing? Try reading, getting outside and actually DOING SOMETHING. Watching TV is mindless.
As for me, my eight year old tube TV has been running fine on the digital box, bought without coupon mind you, since March of 2008. They should have gone ahead with the original switch date, because as usual, people aren't going to switch unless they have to.
And frankly, they DON'T have to. It's not true, as some in the media have been saying, that the television will cease to work or "go black". What will happen is the TV will not pick up a signal, so you can't get broadcast TV, but the TV will work perfectly fine for watching movies with when hooked up to a DVD player or a Wii.
And who knows, when the people learn they can actually function quite well without TV maybe this will all be for the better. People might actually start interacting with their kids instead of propping them in front of the TV to get them out of their way. Communication skills may improve! Reading skills may improve, as library usage goes up. When our friends and neighbors see how well we get along without TV they'll drop their cable and join us. They may drop their cable anyway when they see all the channels they can get for free with the digital box are the ones they usually watch anyway.
It's a new day...
I've been stocking up on used DVDs and VHS movies. Also purchased a used Playstation 2 game console. I'll still have uninterrupted commercial free viewing each night. I'm not going to pay for cable or satellite. It's just a scam thought up by the cable and satellite industries. Another bad choice our legislators have made through lobbyists.
As someone who hasn't watched cable or broadcast TV for years, a general decrease in television viewing seems like a really good idea to me.
This will really hurt the Republican party since they appeal to these rabbit ear folks.
Oh, FGS.
No, actually, we've stopped watching.
The RIAA and the MPAA still aren't ready for the internet, so that some aren't ready for digital tv is easy to fathom. Some people are just always behind the times.
If with all the commercials all the ads in the paper, announcements on the news, and ads at Wal-Mart, and the coupons, then you just can't fix stupid.
"...you just can't fix stupid."
This from a guy who champions insurance company driven health care.
Unbelievable! An antenna on the roof is needed? So what are the low income apartment dwellers to do who can't get the landlord to install an antenna?
In urban area a regular interior tv antenna will do just fine it in the country that thing get complicated. Digital is a all or nothing signal you either get it or you are SOL. In a way it probably would have cost less for both the government and the networks to connect everybody to cable and pay/force the cables company to offer a basic free service.
I'll tell you what friend, if they are so down and out and lack the skills and and where-with-all to pay for a converter box for their television, there are is already a free government entertainment program. It's called a library and it's free.
I haven't owned a TV in over a decade - I reckon I'm ready for the switch.
I used to get tv for free. I used to pay 10 bucks a month for my phone. I used to exchange letters with friends and read newspapers, all for a couple of bucks a month. Folks, that was only ten years ago.
Now, we pay for all that, plus water (bottled, coolered, etc), air (purifiers, tire pumps), and overpay for everything else. Where is it we're heading? Really?
I'll bet you didn't pump your own gas or bag your own groceries either.
The library is still free.
(except for those of us who hoard books and wind up paying fines, but I consider that a donation)
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First Posted: 06- 5-09 10:55 PM | Updated: 06- 5-09 11:02 PM