Recently in DTV Category
Posted to DTVIn an update to a story we first reported on March 26th, the petition filed by the Community Broadcasters Association to halt the DTV Converter Box program's sale of boxes without "analog pass-through" was dismissed yesterday in an unsigned opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The CBA is composed of Low Power TV and Class A stations, which are not required to be carried by cable television providers in their communities and are viewed over the air. However, unlike the major broadcast stations (which the cable companies are required to carry), these stations are not required by law to make the switch to Digital Television technology next February. The converter box program provides coupons for equipment to enable households to use their existing television sets to view the digital signals after the transition date, but does not require the boxes to have a "pass-through" mechanism which would allow the viewing of the remaining analog signals from the CBA's member broadcasters.
Although the specifications for coupon-eligible boxes allow for the option of such a mechanism, the CBA noted today in a press release that not a single converter box with a "pass-through" is available on store shelves, and that their petition for a declaratory ruling on the legality of the offending converter boxes remains before the FCC, although it has not yet been assigned a docket number.
However, there is an alternative should the converter box program go ahead as planned. In their release and according to lead counsel Peter Tannenwald of Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth, the CBA would seek funds from Congress to expand to all LPTV and Class A stations an existing program which facilitates a switch to DTV technology by a very limited number of LPTV broadcasters in very small communities. This alternative, according to both the CBA's release and Tannenwald, would allow the transition to take place smoothly and provide another solution to the problem.
LPTV and Class A TV stations and translators are widely viewed by rural and language minority households, which the FCC has identified as "priority targets" for consumer education efforts during the DTV Transition process, according to testimony by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at a recent heading before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Update 5:25pm 5/8/08: We spoke to CBA Lead Counsel Peter Tannenwald about the Court's decision and the CBA's plans. Correction: when I first refer to the petition for a declaratory ruling before the Court, I should have referred to it as a petition for a writ of mandamus. The petition for a declaratory ruling is before the FCC, not the Court.
After many weeks of waiting, the secret I needed to catch my prey finally arrived. The shiny plastic tokens represented the last hurdle before I was able to begin the quest that I will document for you, our loyal readership. Occasionally I will be able to provide photographic and video dispatches, but for my own safety, it will be necessary to limit myself to the written word in order to protect my location.
You see, I have been hunting the most elusive of electronic creatures, the Digital to Analog Television Converter Box. Not only that, but the game I seek is the most elusive known species, that which possesses a unique evolutionary trait, the "analog pass-through" with which I can use my television not only to watch DTV signals after next year's transition, but continue to watch the analog low-power TV that will remain, as well as play games on the classic (but analog) Nintendo Entertainment System. I You see, only 14 of the various species of D2A box have the pass-through, probably in the same way that a minority of humans are capable of running a sub 4 minute mile. I suspect that these represent a natural adaptation to environment passed down through natural selection. To capture one of these beats will require cunning, stealth, and above all, patience.
Day 1. Base Camp. From this location I can easily approach many of the habitats that the D2A box prefers. The latest research shows that they prefer the climate-controlled environment of big box ecosystems, but as greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, the actions of the big boxes have hurt the environment for the D2As.
As I drove up and down the road, stopping to stalk my prey at various habitats such as Circuit City and Best Buy, not one of them had any population of the 14 that I could see. In fact, the D2A in this part of the world might as well be the Emperor Penguin on a tropical island. While the habitats were lush with flat screens, plasma, and Blu-Ray, only a few lonely packs of D2As, none with the strength I desired, grazed among the herd on the shelves, while merciless predators with slick plumage of Blue and Red collars prowled the aisles. To protect myself, I tried feign interest in a Series 3 TiVo despite their incompatibility with my cable company's VOD system.
Despite my best efforts at stealth, my camouflage was pierced...with one look too many at a plasma screen, I had the misfortune of attracting the dangerous gaze of the Big Box ecosystem's lion: the Bright Poloshirt. Dangerous, sharp-tounged and willful creatures, these predators will leave you penniless if you are not careful. Yet, today I was lucky. Each time, I was able to outrun them, escaping through the glass doors and out into the safe expanse of the parking lot.
Even after this terrifying setback, not all is lost. Although I am in the deepest, darkest exurban jungle, I can still communicate with the outside world using a primitive series of tubes. Calling out into the tubes, I have received intelligence that there is a small herd of Magnavox TB-100MG9's nearby, but they have sought shelter in the safe confines of a stockroom a few miles away, outside the reach of my magnetic-striped plastic coupons.
Tonight I will return to Camp, gather my strength, and start out on the hunt again tomorrow.
Yes, they arrived. Finally. This weekend, a trip to Best Buy to use them, and a full report.
A day after Chairman Martin testified before the Senate Commerce Committee where he was...questioned, to be polite about the status of the DTV transition, the FCC released this Order of Reconsideration and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on DTV Education and labeling for converter boxes.
I'm not sure what to say about this I'm angry. Basically, the FCC has exempted many VCR and other device manufacturers from noting that their boxes won't work after the DTV switch, because the CEA lobbied them to leave them out. Read the order.
No wonder we can't get this right. Anyone want to explain?
I'm not sure what to say about this I'm angry. Basically, the FCC has exempted many VCR and other device manufacturers from noting that their boxes won't work after the DTV switch, because the CEA lobbied them to leave them out. Read the order.
No wonder we can't get this right. Anyone want to explain?
...that sentence pretty much sums up the candidates' attitude towards technology policy.
On one hand, we have a candidate who has made great use of social media to allow his message to spread, and another who, through surrogates, uses email to send out untraceable smears and pictures of his or her opponent in funny hats. They clearly understand that the Internet is more than a series of tubes.
But, when I looked at the witness list and live-blogging from yesterday's FCC hearing on Net Neutrality, I noticed that this is a niche issue when it should be affecting all Americans. We spend more time at the computer and less on TV. Those computers bring us more and more media using new and different formats. Audio, video, blogs, text, email, social networking. These require bandwidth.
So does the exchange of information in general. Why, then has not a single candidate made broadband penetration and competitiveness a part of their campaign? I mean a major part. Seriously, folks. If Obama is the candidate of the "Internet Generation" why isn't he making it a point to push for us to be competitive with Scandanavia and South Korea in terms of the quality of our 'net connections and usage?
Where is DARPA? Are we so invested in building toys to control the Middle East and spy on each other that we're no longer interested in our great universities collaborating and communicating? If we're doing such a bad job with the DTV transition, what do you think will happen with IPV6?
Instead of concern over the quality of connection, we get shock-value news stories about MySpace or gee-whiz non-stories about how great Google is even though many of their engineers aren't even U.S. Citizens, and as many execs said at last month's Tech Policy Summit, the dearth of H1-B Visas is killing our economy and we really are losing out to other countries. There is a brain drain.
We're not training enough engineers, either. At my Alma Mater,it actually costs MORE to get a degree in engineering, but sociology is a great bargain. Why aren't there incentives for more engineers, or computer scientists? What about all these Iraq vets? Bush has stalled on Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)'s new GI Bill because it would "hurt retention rates in the military." What about retention of intelligence (I mean the real kind, not the CIA kind) in this country?
Tech policy is national security policy.
Just a morning rant.
On one hand, we have a candidate who has made great use of social media to allow his message to spread, and another who, through surrogates, uses email to send out untraceable smears and pictures of his or her opponent in funny hats. They clearly understand that the Internet is more than a series of tubes.
But, when I looked at the witness list and live-blogging from yesterday's FCC hearing on Net Neutrality, I noticed that this is a niche issue when it should be affecting all Americans. We spend more time at the computer and less on TV. Those computers bring us more and more media using new and different formats. Audio, video, blogs, text, email, social networking. These require bandwidth.
So does the exchange of information in general. Why, then has not a single candidate made broadband penetration and competitiveness a part of their campaign? I mean a major part. Seriously, folks. If Obama is the candidate of the "Internet Generation" why isn't he making it a point to push for us to be competitive with Scandanavia and South Korea in terms of the quality of our 'net connections and usage?
Where is DARPA? Are we so invested in building toys to control the Middle East and spy on each other that we're no longer interested in our great universities collaborating and communicating? If we're doing such a bad job with the DTV transition, what do you think will happen with IPV6?
Instead of concern over the quality of connection, we get shock-value news stories about MySpace or gee-whiz non-stories about how great Google is even though many of their engineers aren't even U.S. Citizens, and as many execs said at last month's Tech Policy Summit, the dearth of H1-B Visas is killing our economy and we really are losing out to other countries. There is a brain drain.
We're not training enough engineers, either. At my Alma Mater,it actually costs MORE to get a degree in engineering, but sociology is a great bargain. Why aren't there incentives for more engineers, or computer scientists? What about all these Iraq vets? Bush has stalled on Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)'s new GI Bill because it would "hurt retention rates in the military." What about retention of intelligence (I mean the real kind, not the CIA kind) in this country?
Tech policy is national security policy.
Just a morning rant.
I just saw the first 30 second DTV Education "crawler" on my TV (on WGN, watching Homicide: Life on the Street) and well...I'm underwhelmed.
I had to rewind to see it. How is your average target (senior citizen) going to catch something that small and quick?
Maybe they should go to the Post Office instead.
I had to rewind to see it. How is your average target (senior citizen) going to catch something that small and quick?
Maybe they should go to the Post Office instead.
We hoped the major media outlets would get to it eventually, and the Post has finally done it. Sort of.
Remember how last month we reported that most DTV Converter boxes wouldn't work for rural consumers because they don't have a "pass-through" for the "Class A" broadcasters that don't have to switch to digital next year? We also reported that it's illegal and there's a lawsuit pending.
That would be news, right? Well, the closest the Post gets is a brief mention of how the coupons expire 90 days after issue (we don't have ours yet) and many of the boxes that "work right" aren't on the market.
About 10 million coupons have been ordered through the agency, and about 3.8 million coupons have been sent to consumers, according to the NTIA. But only about 1 percent of the coupons have been redeemed. By law, the coupons expire 90 days after they are issued.
That mandated expiration poses a problem for Spence Haynes, who lives in Salisbury, Md. His coupon expires next month, but the box he wants -- a $40 box made byEchoStar -- is not expected to hit shelves until summer.
He also wants a box that can still receive the analog signals from some community broadcasters, which are not yet required to switch to digital programming. Federal officials said several boxes already have this capability, and they expect more to be available soon.
"I just want to make sure I have access to all the options out there before these coupons turn into pumpkins," Haynes said.
Also noted in the article is the fact that unlike traditional TV signals, which degrade and give "snow" before they fade out entirely, either you get a digital signal or you don't, the so-called "cliff effect." This has some lawmakers from big states with lots of spread out people worried. When K-Mart went to the Senate last week, he got called out on it by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN):
The law doesn't care about Mr. Haynes fairy godmother, and neither does K-Mart or the Acting head of the NTIA (since everyone who gets that job quits). They say everything is hunky-dory, right?At a hearing Tuesday, members of the Senate Commerce Committee expressed concern that consumers, especially those living in rural areas, may lose some programming. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) worried that people who live far from broadcast towers may have trouble receiving the digital signal, even with a converter box.
"They're going to think they did everything right and then get no signal," Klobuchar said.
Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and Meredith Baker, acting assistant secretary of the NTIA, assured senators that their agencies' awareness efforts have been effective.
Baker said consumers shouldn't have a problem receiving the signals if they reposition their antennas. She also said not all converter boxes were required to receive analog signals because such a feature could degrade the picture quality and increase the cost.
And as far as assuring senators that their agencies awareness efforts have been "effective," how does he explain the dismal survey numbers, or their latest hairbrained scheme to put DTV transition information next to Wanted Posters at the Post Office or in waiting rooms at the DMV?
This is really approaching pathetic. Why isn't anyone criticizing the FCC or NTIA for pretty much dropping the ball and leaving this up to the TV industry, who would much rather you shell out a few hundred on a new TV than get a converter? I mean, even the Post admits that the Big Boxes, fresh off their last set of fines, are only stocking one or two coupon eligible boxes per store, to say nothing of the ones that have the analog pass-through if you happen to live in a rural area or speak spanish.
Anyone else just ready to wait for the storm?
