Los Angeles - Television stations across the US ended over
80 years of analog television broadcasts Friday in a switch to a
digital format that's designed to free up valuable spectrum for
mobile broadband communications.
The US government has spent over 2 billion dollars get
consumers ready for the change, but millions of TV viewers remained
unprepared, and many others complained of inferior reception. In
addition to a wide-reaching information campaign, the government is
also offering free 40 dollar vouchers for the purchase of digital
converters that allow viewers to tune in to the new signals.
Television stations have broadcast analog signals since TV first
became commercially available in the 1930's. Industry proponents
say the switch was needed to provide viewers with a better picture
and more stations. But many viewers who have made the switch complain
that they have access to fewer stations, especially those that they
used to receive with only a mediocre analog signal.
A recent survey by Nielsen Media found that some 3 million
households remained totally unprepared for the switch while a further
8 million were only partially prepared - meaning that they had
converted one television in the house but not others.
The Federal Communications Commission, which is raising billions
of dollars by selling off the freed-up spectrum to mobile phone
operators, has set up a 4,000-person phone bank to help deal with
issues. Acting FCC chairman Michael J Copps has conceded that the
impact of the change was falling hardest on poor families, the
handicapped, the elderly and in homes where little English is spoken.
In addition to the FCC's center, many stations set up their own
response operations to help viewers manage the transition. 'The call
center is going crazy,' said the Louisiana station WAFB, which cut
its analog signal at 7 am. 'Believe it or not, a lot of people saying
they didn't know anything about the switch.'
The switch has helped prompt a 32 per cent rise in TV sales this
year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, and is also
boosting demand for cable and satellite television service which is
unaffected by the transition to digital broadcasting.
USA
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