Digital technology to bring big changes to television

Almost everyone has heard that if you are currently receiving over-the-air television broadcasts with an antenna you will need to acquire a converter box to continue doing so after February 17, 2009. The reason is a deadline set by Congress which requires all full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasts by this date. After that stations will air only digital programming.
   Digital television (DTV) enables broadcasters to offer television with a better picture and sound quality. It can also offer multiple programming choices, called multicasting, and interactive capabilities. The government has established a very useful website at www.DTV.gov. In addition to explaining the changeover, the site has information about a lot of related issues like the television choices available to consumers, different levels of screen resolution on DTV, screen aspect ratio, etc.
   The changeover was mandated because when stations begin broadcasting only in DTV, it will free up parts of the broadcast spectrum which can be used for things such as public safety (police and fire departments, emergency rescue), and advanced wireless services.
   Federal Communications Commission rules have prohibited since March 1, 2007, the manufacture, import, or interstate shipment of any device containing an analog tuner, unless it also contains a digital tuner. Despite the prohibition on manufacture and shipment, retailers can continue to sell analog-only devices from existing inventory.
To continue receiving over-the-air broadcasts with an outside antenna or "rabbit ears" on sets having only analog tuners, you will need to obtain a set-top converter box. These boxes receive digital signals and convert them into analog format for display on analog TVs. Analog sets connected to such converter boxes will display digital broadcasts, but not necessarily in the original digital quality.
   Until March 31, 2009, all U.S. households will be eligible to request up to two coupons worth $40 each, to be used toward the purchase of digital-to-analog converter boxes. These coupons expire 90 days after mailing. You can get more information and request a coupon at www.dtv2009.gov.

Conspiracy Theory

Digital television will bring about the convergence of traditional television broadcasting, the internet and other digital services. Corporations are positioning themselves to profit from this convergence by providing viewers with customized content and an interactive television experience. 
   Like so many things these days, DTV is the subject of a conspiracy theory. The perceived problems with digital television are outlined in a book by David Burke, Spy TV (Slab-O-Concrete Press, 1999) and a website, www.whitedot.org. 
   Critics point out that the two-way nature of digital television, combined with computer technology and digital storage, will allow a huge amount of information to be gathered about millions of viewers. Some people believe that the TV that watches you, predicted by George Orwell in the novel 1984, has now arrived.
   Each time you change channels, interact with a website, or make a purchase online a central computer server could learn more about you. Plans are already in the works to 
deliver commercials based on such gathered data.
   Most people would probably say, so what? It sounds similar to the way the internet already works. But critics such as Burke (who is a computer programmer), point out some differences: digital television is much less anonymous than the internet, and while no one "owns" the internet, your digital television experience will be controlled by only one company.
   Their worry is that interactive TV could be used for more than just trying to sell us a product or a political candidate. Sophisticated computer programs could eventually monitor and control the intellectual life of entire countries, they believe.
   As the anti-television White Dot group puts it, "do you want a machine in your living room that watches you, learns about you and tries to change your behavior, when you have no control over how it is programmed?"
   A few years ago a California State Senate bill which would have prevented companies from tracking and selling records of what people watch on TV or over the internet was killed after it was strongly opposed by America Online and Microsoft. 

David Allday

(The Banner, September 7, 2008)