said by PDXPLT :

The scary thing is, thanks to ARRP lobbyists, they're still allowed to drive, in most states without any additional testing. Like the 80 year-old senile relic that ran a red light and hit me.

Even scarier is that they're still allowed to vote.

Those sleazy local TV neporters that do the evening human interest stories (you know, the ones about the sad family with the kitten that got eaten by the neighbor's pit bull) must be salivating. I'm sure they're all set to do a bunch of stories in February about all the depressed Depends wearers who can't watch Lawrence Welk on PBS anymore, and can't figure out why.

said by PDXPLT :

Even scarier is that they're still allowed to vote.

said by murdok610 :

I barely watch TV anymore. Nothing but crap, reruns, clutter, and commercials.

said by murdok610 :

Oh yeah and, Digital either works, or it does not work. At least with analog there might be enough data (audio) to inform you that the infrastructure of the United States has been damaged and will give you clear info on what to do in a real emergency.

said by en102 :

Instantly, they had 58 OTA channels, including the subs (Los Angeles area).

said by chucky5150 :

I would bet that most of this Seniors have a family member or at least maybe a friend at the coffee shop that will know what happens when their TVs don't work.

said by IanR :

We should start a neighbor care project.

Don't expect anyone to close the gap here, unless it is a caring neighbor.

said by georgec :

Couple of things here. An antenna is an antenna, it knows not if the signal is DTV or NTSC (analog). There are good ones and bad ones. SOme VHF analog stations migrated to UHF. Some took the bull by the horns and maximised power levels to replicate their old analog coverage , and then some. Some took the cheap way out. Some of those are big four network outlets. They will have a problem, and there has been a whole lot of head in sand on the part of some marginal broadcasters. Some poured millions into each station. Those signals will be ok.

Now in analog coverage, some people were accustomed to watching a snowy picture. Here's where the problem will have one origin. Marginal signal. No snowy picture in DTV. Those who had marginal reception before may very well have none, unless an outside antenna is installed.

Another factor. Hundreds of VHF Highband (ch 7-13) analog stations who currently may have marginal DTV UHF stations will be switching to their analog channel on Feb 17 for digital. This should be locally announced, and will require all receivers to re-scan. It will still show the same channel number, this is controlled by PSIP information transmit by the station. The user, remember, has no real link to the actual channel, but really sees a "virtual" channel number. In these cases current marginal coverage will improve greatly. But many of these cheap bookshelf antennas (and even the not so cheap ones) are UHF ONLY.

Now to grandma. What you youngsters (I'm 55, I can say that)don't see is that many seniors just don't believe that TV is something you should pay for. In the 50's and 60's, when I grew up, for example, we had an antenna on the roof of the house to watch TV. worked fine, and most homes did the same. This is what grandma remembers. Next, many seniors cannot pay $100/month for TV. But some missed points in this thread are that a good number of the over the air viewers are not grandma, but folks who cannot afford cable at all, making choices between foor and cable, guess what wins. Its the person paying rent and food with an income of $800/month. They still need a lifeline for information. And I'm not talking Brian and Katie every evening, I'm talking about getting local information in times of emergency. You know, from the local version of "Ted Knight", with info on the impending hurricane, flood, etc.

How do I know these things? 33 years in TV Station and corporate level technical management dealing with about 30 tv stations, and for ten years this DTV thing has been what I have worked on.

said by Austinloop :

Really compassionate, aren't you?

said by Hehe :

The cable, sat, FIOS and HD-TV people don't need to know.

Just require the analog over-the-air broadcasters to tell their viewers "Your screen will go blank soon!". Maybe give a demo and require all analog TV to go off-line for 1 day each month until the end.