Digital. It is a relatively small word, but it has been the center of a much bigger meaning recently. Starting on February 1, 2009 anyone who still uses “rabbit ears” or antenna’s to receive their television programming, will see nothing on their screens if they don’t convert their T.V.’s to be digitally ready.
The Tampa chapter of the society of Broadcast Engineers and Hillsborough County Television held a seminar style meeting on November 12, 2008 to help Tampa residents not only make the transition to digital smoothly, but also to understand why this is all happening.
Vinny Lopez who was moderating the night opened the evening with explaining that when all televisions are digital there will be many different advantages, other than better T.V. “Not only are we going to have better television, we’re freeing up spectrum for other use, better wireless service, fewer dropped calls, better performance by the United States in getting Broadband out to Rural America and to the inner city, where our country isn’t doing to well compare to a lot of other countries in the world, freeing up spectrum for public safety and building an interoperable public safety network in this country.”
While the transition is nation-wide, economics were taken into consideration. In these tough economic times when people are forced to choose between medication and food, it would be hard to encourage people to buy digitally ready television sets, so the society of Broadcast Engineers did come up with a fair solution. Every household is allowed to apply for two coupons, good for $40 off of an converter box purchase. The price of the box starts at $40, so it actually is a reasonable offer.
Lopez encourages the crowd to buy now, “As soon as get that coupon, buy the converter box. Don’t wait until the last minute rush so Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart runs out. Do it while there are a lot of sets available. Buy. Apply. Try. Take it home, hook it up. The Digital age is already here.”
People do seem to be pretty receptive to the whole transformation. I believe they can accept it because they do not have to upgrade alone. They have given all the reasons why the transformation will occur, and they are given the financial assistance to participate. All in all, the FCC is doing a great job rallying the country.
The Tampa chapter of the society of Broadcast Engineers and Hillsborough County Television held a seminar style meeting on November 12, 2008 to help Tampa residents not only make the transition to digital smoothly, but also to understand why this is all happening.
Vinny Lopez who was moderating the night opened the evening with explaining that when all televisions are digital there will be many different advantages, other than better T.V. “Not only are we going to have better television, we’re freeing up spectrum for other use, better wireless service, fewer dropped calls, better performance by the United States in getting Broadband out to Rural America and to the inner city, where our country isn’t doing to well compare to a lot of other countries in the world, freeing up spectrum for public safety and building an interoperable public safety network in this country.”
While the transition is nation-wide, economics were taken into consideration. In these tough economic times when people are forced to choose between medication and food, it would be hard to encourage people to buy digitally ready television sets, so the society of Broadcast Engineers did come up with a fair solution. Every household is allowed to apply for two coupons, good for $40 off of an converter box purchase. The price of the box starts at $40, so it actually is a reasonable offer.
Lopez encourages the crowd to buy now, “As soon as get that coupon, buy the converter box. Don’t wait until the last minute rush so Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart runs out. Do it while there are a lot of sets available. Buy. Apply. Try. Take it home, hook it up. The Digital age is already here.”
People do seem to be pretty receptive to the whole transformation. I believe they can accept it because they do not have to upgrade alone. They have given all the reasons why the transformation will occur, and they are given the financial assistance to participate. All in all, the FCC is doing a great job rallying the country.
