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Letter to the editor

Owners of old rabbit ears may hop over to pay TV

The switch to digital signals forces a change.

NEW YORK - TV's big switch from analog to digital broadcasts will be complete in just one year, on Feb. 17, 2009, and many consumers are puzzling over how the shift will affect them: Do they need a new converter box, a new TV or a better antenna?

But it's pretty clear which business interests stand to gain.

Cable and satellite TV companies could see a wave of new subscribers as people with older TVs pass on hooking up converter boxes to older televisions or buying new sets. Local stations are already using some of the extra capacity digital broadcasting frees up by launching auxiliary TV channels with weather and traffic reports, and they're looking for ways to bring regular programming to portable devices.

The Federal Communications Commission began the switch years ago to free up a large chunk of U.S. airwaves. Making all the UHF broadcast spectrum above Channel 52 available will allow for powerful new wireless services, and possibly for a new network for public safety officials to use during disasters.

Most U.S. TV stations already broadcast digital signals as well as analog. What's happening a year from Sunday is they'll switch off the analog signals. No one with cable or satellite service will be affected, nor will anyone who gets stations over the air with a newer TV with a digital tuner.

Affected will be the 13-million or so households that get TV broadcasts exclusively over the air and have a TV more than a few years old - or even a newer TV that's relatively small.

A Nielsen Co. study released Friday found that 16.8 percent of U.S. households have at least one analog television set that would not work following the switch. And Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to be without TV reception.

A government-sponsored program said Friday that it will begin sending out coupons Tuesday worth $40 each to any U.S. household that requests them to subsidize buying a box. Each household is entitled to two coupons for the boxes, which start at $40, making this option easy and practically free. The government says it has funds for 33-million coupons. To get one, go to www.dtv2009.gov. or call toll-free at 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).

According to a report Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. released Friday, an estimated 1.4-million households will likely switch to pay TV service as a result of the digital TV transition.

[Last modified February 15, 2008, 23:12:32]