Are You Ready for the Digital Television Transition?

The Digital Television (DTV) Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 is a federal law that mandates that all television stations switch from analog broadcast to digital broadcast on February 17th, 2009. The switch will affect the estimated 34 million households that have at least one television that will not be capable of receiving the new broadcast signal.

Citizens are encouraged to obtain the analog to digital converter box for those televisions in your home that are not hooked up to a satellite or cable signal. You can apply for up to two coupons per household online (see related links) or by phone, fax, or mail. Coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed. Requests must be received by March 31st, 2009.

“February '09 is just around the corner", says Media Tech/Web Administrator David Soriano. "Now is the time for us all to get up to speed on what DTV is and how to prepare for it. There are advantages to digital signals that people need to be educated on."

Digital broadcasting allows stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, and digital is much more efficient than analog. For example, rather than being limited to providing one analog program, a broadcaster is able to offer a sharper “high definition” (HD) digital program or multiple “standard definition” (SD) digital programs simultaneously through a process called “multicasting.” Multicasting allows broadcast stations to offer several channels of digital programming at the same time, using the same amount of spectrum required for one analog program. For example, while a station broadcasting in analog on channel 7 is only able to offer viewers one program, a station broadcasting in digital on channel 7 can offer viewers one digital program on channel 7.1, a second digital program on channel 7.2, a third digital program on channel 7.3, and so on. This means more programming choices for viewers. DTV can also provide interactive video & data services that are not possible with analog technology.