JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Matt
Re: Meet the new boss...
said by Matt  :said by BF69 :said by Matt :And if DTV needs to be delayed, delay it rather than half-assing it. Once again 35 days away. Too late. Also we are NOT half assing it. Lots of Chicken Littles out there. In 5 weeks people will notice nothing different. There will not be rioting in the streets because TV went away. I'm sorry, but a lot of people think we're not ready. And while I may in fact be a Chicken Little when it comes to this topic, I do know how to read and research a topic that interests me ... which I have done in this case. A lot of very knowledgable people strongly feel we're not ready for this .. in the Wilmington test market (perhaps 75k people) over 1,000 people called the local stations or the FCC because things went awry. Wilmington had to send the FIRE DEPARTMENT out to help people ... can you imagine what it's going to be like in larger cities who don't have those kinds of resources? Screw 'em though right? They deserve it? So while the stations might be ready and the technology is out there, there is a very large contingent of people who simply don't understand what all this means. If your basis of 'we're not ready' is defined by the fact that some people don't know how to handle this analog shut-off, then we should just shuttle the whole thing right now and forget about EVER going full digital. If you're waiting for every person to be technically literate enough for this transition to go by without someone panicking (who the hell calls the fire department when they're TV goes out?), then just forget the whole thing, because, by that definition, we'll NEVER be ready.
I look to the analog shut-off that Verizon did. They notified us by every means imaginable - fliers in the mail, automated phone calls, e-mails, messages on their site in about a million different places (including a big link off their home page about it), a scroll on one of their cable channels, a message sent to our set top boxes, and even a VOD item that was all about that transition. And guess what? There were STILL people caught off guard! Forget about living under a rock, you had to be living under a mountain to miss this, and yet some people still did. I don't know what else Verizon could have done.
Actually, even if you somehow missed every one of those notifications, they did one final notification (and this IS something I think the FCC should have done as well). When they cut off the TV analog feeds, they didn't shut down analog entirely. For about 10 - 14 days per market, they replaced the analog feed with a red screen of death - a message (on a blood red background) saying in essence 'if you're seeing this message YOU NEED TO CALL US NOW TO GET A FREE DIGITAL ADAPTER!'
I really think the FCC should have transitioned that way too. Cut off the analog TV feeds for about a month. During that month show a 2-minute infomercial on those analog feeds, telling the people who missed the boat what they need to do to get their TV programming back.
Point is, when someone doesn't understand something, they procrastinate on doing anything about it. That's what you're hitting now with this transition - people who don't understand it and are just sitting on their hands (hell, my wife's 93 year-old grandfather knows that this is coming). No amount of delay will correct THAT issue. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
| said by JPL :Actually, even if you somehow missed every one of those notifications, they did one final notification (and this IS something I think the FCC should have done as well). When they cut off the TV analog feeds, they didn't shut down analog entirely. For about 10 - 14 days per market, they replaced the analog feed with a red screen of death - a message (on a blood red background) saying in essence 'if you're seeing this message YOU NEED TO CALL US NOW TO GET A FREE DIGITAL ADAPTER!'
I really think the FCC should have transitioned that way too. Cut off the analog TV feeds for about a month. During that month show a 2-minute infomercial on those analog feeds, telling the people who missed the boat what they need to do to get their TV programming back. That is EXACTLY what stations will be doing. After the shutoff, the analog signal will be maintained with a screen explaining ONCE AGAIN that a cutover has occurred and where to call to get help.
It is called the "Analog Nightlight" program and was passed by Congress late last year.
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···20A1.pdf
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| said by TKJunkMail :said by JPL :Actually, even if you somehow missed every one of those notifications, they did one final notification (and this IS something I think the FCC should have done as well). When they cut off the TV analog feeds, they didn't shut down analog entirely. For about 10 - 14 days per market, they replaced the analog feed with a red screen of death - a message (on a blood red background) saying in essence 'if you're seeing this message YOU NEED TO CALL US NOW TO GET A FREE DIGITAL ADAPTER!'
I really think the FCC should have transitioned that way too. Cut off the analog TV feeds for about a month. During that month show a 2-minute infomercial on those analog feeds, telling the people who missed the boat what they need to do to get their TV programming back. That is EXACTLY what stations will be doing. After the shutoff, the analog signal will be maintained with a screen explaining ONCE AGAIN that a cutover has occurred and where to call to get help. It is called the "Analog Nightlight" program and was passed by Congress late last year. » hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···20A1.pdf Well there you have it. A completely acceptable solution to just saying, "F'em all. Let them wake up to snow and figure it out themselves."
Thanks Tk, I wonder why all the self-proclaimed experts in this thread didn't know about this? |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
|  said by Matt :said by TKJunkMail :That is EXACTLY what stations will be doing. After the shutoff, the analog signal will be maintained with a screen explaining ONCE AGAIN that a cutover has occurred and where to call to get help. It is called the "Analog Nightlight" program and was passed by Congress late last year. » hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···20A1.pdf Well there you have it. A completely acceptable solution to just saying, "F'em all. Let them wake up to snow and figure it out themselves." Thanks Tk, I wonder why all the self-proclaimed experts in this thread didn't know about this? It has been in the news for a couple weeks:
»news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&···coring=n
And I posted this yesterday in the "Monday Morning Links" section of the BBR front page:
»FCC launches 'White Spaces' initiative ....
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
| reply to Matt
said by Matt :Well there you have it. A completely acceptable solution to just saying, "F'em all. Let them wake up to snow and figure it out themselves." Thanks Tk, I wonder why all the self-proclaimed experts in this thread didn't know about this? This the first I've heard of the Analog Nightlight Program and suspect many haven't heard of it because the law was passed at the last minute during the holiday season. Now if Congress will just authorize the NTIA to use the money for the coupons that aren't expected to be redeemed before they expire there really isn't any reason for further delay. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to Matt
said by Matt :said by TKJunkMail :said by JPL :Actually, even if you somehow missed every one of those notifications, they did one final notification (and this IS something I think the FCC should have done as well). When they cut off the TV analog feeds, they didn't shut down analog entirely. For about 10 - 14 days per market, they replaced the analog feed with a red screen of death - a message (on a blood red background) saying in essence 'if you're seeing this message YOU NEED TO CALL US NOW TO GET A FREE DIGITAL ADAPTER!'
I really think the FCC should have transitioned that way too. Cut off the analog TV feeds for about a month. During that month show a 2-minute infomercial on those analog feeds, telling the people who missed the boat what they need to do to get their TV programming back. That is EXACTLY what stations will be doing. After the shutoff, the analog signal will be maintained with a screen explaining ONCE AGAIN that a cutover has occurred and where to call to get help. It is called the "Analog Nightlight" program and was passed by Congress late last year. » hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···20A1.pdf Well there you have it. A completely acceptable solution to just saying, "F'em all. Let them wake up to snow and figure it out themselves." Thanks Tk, I wonder why all the self-proclaimed experts in this thread didn't know about this? I knew about this. appearantly you didn't yet claimed to have done extensive "research". hmmm. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by BF69 :I knew about this. appearantly you didn't yet claimed to have done extensive "research". hmmm. I really knew it too, I was just checking to see if you did.
See how I did that? I can claim whatever I want after the fact to make it seem like I really knew something I had no idea about too. |
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