Say Anything Blog

I think that it is kinda like when the government mandates changing your business’s area code because there is so much demand for the limited number of phone numbers in the area code.  Businesses must change all their marketing.  Individuals must call their friends with updated phone numbers.  And in the end, the process happens and people get used to it until the government changes their numbers again.

Keep in mind that the FCC is who is in charge of both processes.  The airwaves are fast approaching saturation due to all the communication devices.  How many people in your neighborhood have wireless routers (well, not yours specifically since you live in ND, but more the urban apartment dwellers)?  It is pretty common for people’s signals to interfere with each other and degrade the communication.  You have to fight with using different channels and so forth.

Not saying that the process isn’t flawed and that $1.5B isn’t obscene, but the change is necessary so that we can all get broadcast HD channels and have the space on the airwaves for new technologies.  It is coming sooner or later.  But at $40, I think that consumers should be able to foot the bill themselves.  Then again, I am one of the “rich” that need to be taxed more, so I am clearly out of touch with the “shrinking middle class” whose “jobs are being shipped to China”.  Two Americas.  Two Americas.

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Because watching television is a constitutional right!  Right?

I guess I understand the coupons since the government passed a law making these people’s televisions obsolete in the first place, but I’m not sure why digital television was something that needed to be mandated by law.

The FCC freed up that expansive bandwidth so that it can go to digital purposes. Analogue is an inefficient use of the bandwidth. It is old technology getting phased out in the name of progress.

The TV is not obsolete. The bunny ears on top of it are.

Analogue TV wasn’t a right. Those 2.6 million households should be ashamed of themselves. They have demanded a luxury from their fellow citizen.

There will likely be trade in the $40 dollar coupons.

More economic stimulus.

It will be interesting to see what the hackers do with these boxes.

Good post Justin B.  You have some really good points.

My commode is leaking.
It is not one of those new flush-a-load-of-crap with two gallons of water models.
I want Congress to pass one of those crap-a-coupon laws.

Someone is making big bucks out of this.

What happened to all the money the government got auctioning off the old frequencies television will no longer be using? Each one of those analog channels took up six megahertz of frequency space.

Cui Bono?

Advertisers.

Those $40 converters would only be needed by those who don’t have cable or dish, which is the way most Americans get their signal. I’m no demographic expert, but I believe that anyone who can’t afford cable, a dish, or a new $700 TV, probably is justified in receiving a free converter.

Otherwise, the loss of eyeballs on the tube would unfairly harm advertisers, which support TV. Worse, the pain would be unevenly spread among companies. As an example, Wal-Mart has lots more low-income customers than Mercedes-Benz.

Now consider your low-income American, forced to abandon TV on a cold-turkey basis: They are going to be furious.

I couldn’t think of any faster way for our political class to commit collective suicide, than to tick off so many different groups of people all at one time.

Come to think of it, maybe not handing out free converters has considerable merit.

Those $40 converters would only be needed by those who don’t have cable or dish, which is the way most Americans get their signal. I’m no demographic expert, but I believe that anyone who can’t afford cable, a dish, or a new $700 TV, probably is justified in receiving a free converter.

Why, because television is a human right thus we must subsidize it for the poor?

Give me a break.

Also, this thought just came to me.  $1.5 billion divided by $40/coupon equals 37.5 million coupons.

Are we to believe that there are that many Americans out there who don’t already have cable or satellite television?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Subsidizing the poor advertisers.

Brought to you by the emergency broadcast system and As Seen On TV.

This issue is so full of misinformation it’s crazy.  First off, it was supposed to happen YEARS ago but keeps being pushed off, because nobody wants to be in office when Grandma’s TV quits working and they need to ask for her vote.

The FCC freed up that expansive bandwidth so that it can go to digital purposes. Analogue is an inefficient use of the bandwidth. It is old technology getting phased out in the name of progress.

ATSC channels are 6MHz too, just like old NTSC analog ones. The frequencies are different, though.  They’re all in the UHF band if I remember correctly, which brings up a number of transmission issues.

So far the bidding process for NTSC frequencies has not produced any bids meeting the federal government’s reserve.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens there.

DTV is the standard that’s mandated, but not HDTV.  For instance, the North Dakota stations will continue using standard definition equipment for the forseeable future, only broadcasting HD for things like network broadcasts.  There they patch the network satellite feed to the DTV transmitter, during primetime and late night.  To replace all their cameras, routing switchers, production switchers, and record/playback equipment to HD is more expensive than they can afford while selling $25 ads.

So once they go digital, don’t expect local television to change too much.  It will, but slowly.  HD is far cheaper than it used to be, but it’s still out of the reach of our local stations as far as an all-at-once conversion.

Cui Bono?

Advertisers.

False.  As always, it’s the political class who will be confiscating our money, taking their cut off the top, and doling out the rest to buy our votes.  SSDD

If you don’t know by now, don’t mess with it.

Now c’mon Rob. Your math assumes the impossible: A gov’t program operating at 100% efficiency. I certainly will give you a break, on that one!

The usual administration, overhead, waste, fraud, and abuse, will likely be huge. The program could probably be handled by the private sector for less than half that cost. For all I care, converters could be shipped in boxes of Frosted Flakes, with Tony the Tiger’s face printed on them.

Lighten up, willya? I’m looking forward to the blogger communitys’ reporting on what will probably a major boondoggle. How do you think our Democrat-controlled Congress will divvy up this largesse? I predict scandals galore.

The reality is that for folks that have an HDTV, they are already receiving satelite or cable anyway, otherwise there is no reason to buy a HDTV.  Maybe movies but even in those cases, if you pony up for a new TV, why connect it via rabbit ears?

Local HDTV is pretty slow to implement.  It started in Phoenix with local news having HD for the in studio portion, but old school stuff for the field.  Then they add a camera for one van.  Then another.  And over time most of the remotes are in HD, at least on the stations that do better in the ratings.  Then because they are in HD, they do even better.  As soon as one station’s news goes HD, then all of them will or they will bleed viewers.

Keep in mind that stations that are already broadcasting in digital are using double the bandwidth because thier analog has one band and their digital has another.  We gotta pick one standard and the choice is either to make my $2500 Bigscreen useless unless I use satellite because analog is so crappy, or make someone’s old ass sylvania from 1972 useless.

I’m still waiting for stereo audio from WDAY TV, channel 6, in Fargo.(:^(

I don’t need the converter box but how do need the $40.  How do I get it??  I mean how does my grandma get it?

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The cable companies (including Midco, here) are already running promos saying “if you’re our customer, your TV won’t quit working in 2009.” They will continue to provide analog service to those who need it.  The DTV rule is only for a broadcast transmission standard.  It is not a QUALITY standard.  For instance, stations like KBMY in Bismarck will continue to use equipment that’s older than I am (and which was obsolete when I operated it in the 80s) and just convert its analog output to digital for transmission.

People think DTV means HDTV.  Nope.  People also think widescreen means HDTV. Wrong again.  Then there are the people that think buying a DVD player with “1080 upconvert” will magically make their old standard-def DVDs into high-def ones.  Strike three.