MMMM #21 - Just Switch Me!

If you watch any TV at all, you are likely aware already that THE BIG SWITCH is coming. Early in 2009, analogue TV broadcasting in the U.S. comes to an end, replaced by digital signals. From the amount of newscast time local stations are spending on the change, you would think it was something as important as the economy, or Paris Hilton. Stations are broadcasting hour long specials with call-ins to answer the questions of anxious viewers, and using any excuse they can think of to include a "story" inside their newscasts to make absolutely sure they don't lose a single member of their increasingly small audiences. These "stories" and specials hardly qualify as "Public Service Announcements". The stations have a very big dog in the fight, and they are determined not to allow a single person to turn on their TV after Midnight February 17 and see just static. They may be afraid that viewer won't notice any difference. Back in the good old days around 2000, when the Federal Government was only $18 Billion in debt, Congress voted to help poor TV viewers (and heavily lobbying TV broadcasters) by giving each and every address in America two $40 coupons to help pay for the set-top boxes needed to translate the new digital signal back into analogue for folks who have not bought a new set. TV Week Magazine's November 17th online edition reports mixed results: "...17 million households had requested 33.5 million coupons and 13.5 million of those coupons have been redeemed. ...Of the nation's 210 television markets, NTIA said that in 172 more than 50% of the over-the-air households have applied for coupons and 45 markets have a 75% or greater participation rate. The markets with the highest coupon application rates include Wilmington, N.C., where the nation's first digital switchover took place on Sept. 7; Salisbury, Md.; Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.; Quincy (Ill.)-Hannibal (Mo.)-Keokuk (Iowa); and Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. The markets with the lowest coupon application rates are Juneau, Alaska; Glendive, Mont.; Honolulu; Eureka, Calif.; and Anchorage, Alaska. And those folks who ordered the coupons but haven't used them? They DO expire (uh, mine did..) and you can't get replacements. Course I'm on cable anyway, so I have nothing to worry about. And why did I request the coupons anyway? Uh, cause they're free? As a precaution, in case I finally get mad enough at cable to cancel? Or maybe it was because I knew I would be writing about it and wanted to go though the experience.