More time to switch to digital TV
The Obama transition team wants Congress to push back the February 17 date for broadcasters to switch from analog to digital TV because they need more time to help more consumers prepare. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Apex Digital TV converter boxes are displayed at a Best Buy store in Emeryville, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Steve Chiotakis: TV broadcasting switches from analog to digital on February 17. By then, if you're still using rabbit ears you need to buy a digital converter box -- or a new television. But the Obama transition team just wrote to Congress asking them to push back the date. Hasn't made electronics makers very happy. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: The Obama team says Americans aren't ready for the February switch to digital TV. Part of the reason, they say, is there aren't enough government-issued coupons to help consumers buy digital converter boxes before the deadline.
Meghan Pollock of the Consumer Electronics Association disagrees says a delay would be a mistake. She says retailers along with broadcasters and groups like the AARP have spent millions educating consumers about the February 17 deadline. If the date changes, she says all that could be for naught:
Meghan Pollock: It also sort of leads to the idea that consumers will think, OK, it's delayed again, it's never really happening. And the next time we try to put a deadline in place, who's gonna actually take this seriously?
She says research shows 90 percent of consumers are aware of the deadline and taking steps to meet it.
I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
Comments
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From FL, 01/09/2009
You need a new TV that has a built in tuner to plug an antenna into to avoid paying the cable company.
One alternative is to use a website like http://www.hulu.com/ to watch your favorite shows. Still have commercials but you watch on your computer. No cable bill that way.
BOB
From Pacifica, CA, 01/09/2009
I want to buy a new television because I am tired of paying Comcast so much each month just to be able to use my television set. I don't care about having so many channels to watch (I am not interested in most of the offerings and I am completely tired of too many commercials. I want to purchase a new television and a recorder so that I can record the local programs I do watch to view when I get home from work. I'm not sure if a new television will allow me to get reception for local programs without being hooked up to cable. I just want to plug in my television, turn it on and watch a decent local program like I used to be able to before cable television. Is this possible?
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