Digital Devices For You

Countdown to Digital TV

Earlier today, I criticized an article written by Christina Rogers that appeared in yesterday's edition of the Detroit News. Fair is fair, so right now I'll promote an excellent article that she wrote for today's paper called "Analog TV Owners Struggle to Go Digital." As we should all know by now, analog signals will disappear for good in February 2009.

I think the FCC has always been disgruntled by the fact that there are a substantial number of people (an estimated 9.6 million households in the US, and 600,000 in Michigan alone) who either cannot afford or are unwilling to buy digital TV's, or at least subscribe to cable or satellite TV services. We should expect an advertising blitz over the next several months informing consumers to buy converter boxes if they want to continue to receive free TV signals.

It sounds like it can be quite difficult to find converter boxes in stores. I really liked how Ms. Rogers mentioned an issue that's near and dear to my heart, on how difficult it is for non-driving senior citizens to get to a store, and how frustrating it is when the store does not have an item in stock. I'm thinking of the number of senior citizens living in facilities who rely on their TV's for companionship but may not be aware of the upcoming TV digital conversion, despite the fact they may have already seen a lot of informational messages during commercial breaks. It would be a nice service project for an organization to bring converter boxes to senior citizen facilities, where the residents could either purchase them on the spot or add them to their monthly billing statements.

You know those $40 coupons the government are handing out to help with the purchase of converter boxes? It sounds like they have expiration dates, and people are having a hard time finding a converter box before the expiration date. If...

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