Government DTV Transition Not on Right Track

GOVERNMENT DTV TRANSITION NOT ON TRACK
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a new Association of Public Television Stations survey, fewer than one in five people in a recent poll (18.7%) said they think the federal government is "on the right track" with the DTV transition. That may be an education problem, since 77% of the survey respondents who were aware of the transition said they did not know the reason why the federal government ordered the transition. 43% of households said they would buy a DTV-to-analog converter box or a new DTV set, with only 12% saying they would switch to cable or satellite. But that is still 12% more audience than multichannel-video providers have now and, with one-quarter of the group saying they didn't know what they would do, there are even more potential subscribers in that pool of analog-only households. Somewhat curiously, 19% said they would do nothing -- which means their sets would go dark Feb. 18, 2009, as far as full-power TV-station reception -- although a fraction of that group, 17.6%, said they meant that they might postpone action until closer to the transition.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6523590.html

* Over-the-Air Households Prefer Free Broadcast Television After DTV Transition
http://www.apts.org/news/OTA-Study-January-08.cfm

* 43% of Off-Air Households Want Free TV after Transition
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/01/17/daily.9/

* Analog-to-digital TV change isn't necessarily so
[SOURCE: The Missoulian, AUTHOR: Mark Ratledge]
[Commentary] About 2.5 million households requested converter box coupons in the first week they were available, and converter boxes are scheduled to arrive in stores and online next month. But consumers may buy converter boxes that won't work with mixed analog and digital broadcasts. That's because most of the boxes certified and being manufactured for sale don't have analog pass-through capability. Most simply convert analog signals to digital and reject any analog signals that need to pass through unconverted. So if you buy the wrong box, you'll have to plug it in to watch digital TV, then unplugging it to watch channels broadcast in analog from low-power stations.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/18/business/biz79.txt