After years of cajoling, pleading, and half hearted attempts to get the broadcast industry to educate the public on the 2009 transition, the FCC seems to finally a be putting some teeth behind it's mandate . It appears that no one wanted to be the first to let us all in on the what and what nots and its affect on our television viewing.
I heard a report concerning the most recent escalation on NPR; the archived link its at -( with link to podcast of the original radio broadcast):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87898671&ft=1&f=1019
The TV broadcasters were concerned with causing a near panic ala Orson Wells War of the Worlds.
The manufactures of televisions had apparently been on a concerted program of deliberately misinforming the public with phrases such as 'HD ready and 'HD Capable' in order to dispose of as many non native HD units as possible. I have consistently heard the terms used by the box store sales clerks to mean the same or different things, sometimes correctly.
The Cable companies up until late have been promoting the fact that they have (x) number of HD channels and that subscribers need not worry as cable had it all in hand. (what they don't tell you is that cable will continue to provide the standard analog signal for at least 3 years; this is good if you do not want to go out and replace you 2 year old 37" monitor, bad if you wanted more HD content and upgraded you converter box to the DTV model only to have the majority of channels stay at a lower SDTV quality.
So finally the FCC had enough with the industry surveys showing 3/4 of Americans having little or no knowledge of the transition-( or even the difference between DTV and HDTV)- and is clearly stating that a concerted attempt at public education must be made. To this end the FCC has set up a countdown to DTV Transition site to help everyone get with the program.
The FCC Digital convergence site -(complete with countdown clock!) http://www.dtv.gov/
The FCC DTV FAQ : http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html
WNBC TV in New York has had a great series of spots concerning the Digital transition and they archive them on their website! Navigating the WNBC website is an arduous task -( it is an absolutely horrendously designed site). The direct Link is http://www.wnbc.com/digital/index.html
After the years of debating, arguing and endless conversation we are finally at a moment when there no going back and all players are making efforts to get EVERYBODY on board. After all this waiting I cannot shake the image of Liebkind in The Producers lighting the fuse only to find it is the quick one.
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