My guess is that the majority of television-watching American have no idea that in about two years, those analog television signals beaming TV programming to all those television sets will go away permanently in favor of the newer all-digital signals.
In fact, the radio spectrum that is being vacated by the shutdown of those analog television signals is being highly sought after for all kinds of uses; mainly, high-speed Internet access over wireless devices or another radio band in which companies can provide wireless voice service, including possibly Google.
What can leading consumer electronics retailers like Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY), Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) do to alleviate the pain? How about capitalizing on this in perfect promotional fashion and sell newer high-definition sets like never before? There are also concerns that will come from the advertising industry, and who will make the devices to allow older TVs to tap into the newer digital airwaves? Many questions abound. Read on.
I am quite sure that retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Circuit City will begin cranking up the heat next year in order to ensure all customers know that analog television transmissions are ending -- and that "television set upgrades are needed." But, what will all those analog television sets in garages, dorms, poolhouses, bars, restaurants and in those outside cabanas do when those analog signals go away for good?
It's hard to imagine all those sets being turned into huge doorstops. As such, there will be a need for a small box for every one of those television sets (tens of millions if not more), and the subsidy that the government will have to undertake to provide every American analog television set with a converter box won't be cheap. Who is going to make all those converter boxes? Should you own shares of any company involved in this over the next 18 months? Investigate Samsung Electronics and Scientific Atlanta (now owned by Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO)) if you're interested.
How about television advertisers - how will they fare in this grand change slated to happen in February of 2009? One has to think that maybe sometime in 2008, advertisers and other industry experts outside of retailers will start alerting television viewers that the change is coming. After all, the transition needs to be as smooth as possible unless advertisers want to forgo millions of viewing eyeballs per day while all those analog television sets go dark until fitted with a box to "turn them back on." There will most likely be quite a few analog television sets that will need to be working once that date comes, and the $1.5 billion set aside by congress to help those TVs become useful again using converter boxes is nowhere near enough. Regardless, someone will still be making all those converter boxes.
HDTV transition set to cause confusion and opportunities
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-23-2007 @ 7:06PM
Jeff said...
if only circuit city and best buy sold HD sets now, I could ride the wave to the future.
7-24-2007 @ 7:36AM
Denny Duplessis said...
Consumer interest in free over the air digital- HD TV is definitely on the increase. The number of visitors to our web site http://www.dennysantennaservice.com has skyrocketed over the past year, mainly do to the introduction of free over the air digital - HDTV.
Choosing the proper TV antenna for a particular location is the main issue for most. Many consumer's have a tendency to purchase antennas that are to small to do the job, digital reception is an all or nothing proposition, you're going to want a strong signal. Also, there is a misconception that all digital - HDTV broadcast signals are on the UHF band (14-69) Currently it's true, many broadcaster's are transmitting their digital signals on UHF, because much of the VHF band (2-13) is currently being used to broadcast analog TV signals. However, when the digital transition is complete on February 17th of 2009, the date set when broadcasters will turn off their analog signals, things will change. There are only a handful of broadcast locations across the U.S. that have plans to remain 100% on the UHF band, most areas will have both VHF and UHF digital stations. This means if you purchase a UHF TV antenna now, chances are you may loose the ability to receive a portion of your digital channels in the future. Some areas already have VHF digital stations.
My best advice is to purchase a TV antenna that is large enough to be certain it can easily receive all of the digital broadcast signals in your area, even during poor reception conditions. The antenna should be VHF/UHF capable, unless you are absolutely certain all of your stations are currently UHF, and will remain UHF after the digital transition is complete. To determine the channel number your area digital stations currently broadcast on now, and the channel number they plan to broadcast on after the 2009 analog shutdown date, visit http://hraunfoss.fccgov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf. When you visit this site, start by finding your state and then the city where your area stations are located. The channel number that appears in the first column is the current digital channel number of that station, the second column is the current analog channel number, and the third column is the tentative final channel number destination. The third column is the channel number where the station plans to permanently broadcast their digital signal. VHF channels are 2 - 13 and UHF are 14 - 69. If your not sure where or what stations are available in your area, visit www.antennaweb.org. This is a great site to visit, it will provide the city location of the stations in your area and much more.
6-13-2008 @ 4:03PM
Diane said...
Where do I find the coupons for the adapter to put on an analog tv? I would like to get one asap. Thanks.