Time to buy converter box

Media General News Service
Published: December 3, 2008

The time to get a digital converter box is now, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Robert M. McDowell said at a town hall meeting yesterday.

The transition from analog television to digital broadcasting will take place Feb. 17 at midnight. People who get their television from cable or satellite TV companies will not have to do anything to continue receiving a signal.

“But if you have any TV in your house that comes from antennas . . . you’ll have to get a digital TV converter box,“ McDowell said, speaking at the Virginia State Capitol.

The digital television transition was mandated by Congress as a way to ensure the use of better technology. A digital signal not only provides better pictures and sound, but it also uses considerably less bandwidth, meaning that local television stations can offer many more channels as a free alternative to cable and digital companies.

Part of the spectrum that will be opened up by the change will go to making broadband Internet service available to rural and underserved sections of the country that cannot now receive it.

“This is the biggest thing to hit broadcasting since, I think, the beginning of TV,“ McDowell said. “I think this is going to be bigger than color.“

People with antennas who do need converter boxes do not need to use government-issued coupons to buy them, and at this late date he suggested they buy them now without the coupons, if possible.

Some televisions with antennas that have been purchased in the past three years may already have a digital tuner inside and thus not need the box. These sets have the letters ATSC (for Advanced Television Systems Committee) on the back.

At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17, and again on Jan. 17, broadcasters around the country will broadcast a message for at least one minute, and possibly two, that will inform anyone who sees it that they will need to get a converter box. The message will not be visible to people who have cable or satellite TV, and who therefore will not need a converter box.

Other so-called soft tests will send out a similar message at other times between now and the transition date in an effort to inform people who will need to buy a converter box that the time to do so with uninterrupted service is running out.

“This will be a little bit messy,“ he said. “I don’t want to gloss over that. On Feb. 17, 2009, people will turn on their TVs and not be able to see their television.“

McDowell recommended that those who need the boxes buy ones that are marked “analog pass-through,“ which will allow viewers to continue seeing low-power stations such as community stations, college stations and foreign-language stations — or translator stations, which make some channels available to rural locations.

The date of Feb. 17 was chosen to be as non-disruptive as possible, McDowell said. Legend has it that the day was chosen because it is after the Super Bowl and before March Madness, he said.

Daniel Neman is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.