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What is the digital television transition?
At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting. Digital broadcasting promises to provide a clearer picture and more programming options and will free up airwaves for use by emergency responders.
What is the TV Converter Box Coupon Program?
Congress created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets after February 17, 2009. The Program allows U.S. households to obtain up to two coupons, each worth $40, that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes.
A TV connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service does not require a TV converter box from this program.
Consumers have a variety of options. Options to explore include:
Keep your existing analog TV and purchase a TV converter box. A converter box plugs into your TV and will keep it working after Feb. 17, 2009, or
Connect to cable, satellite or other pay service, or
Purchase a television with a digital tuner.
Do I need a Digital Converter Box?
You will need to take action before February 17, 2009 if you currently watch TV on an analog TV set that is not connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service. If you own a television with a digital tuner or subscribe to a pay TV service, you will likely continue to receive TV programming as usual after the transition.
If you want a $40 check to help in bankrolling your household’s switch to digital television before analog channels go dark next year, you should start filing your requests now. Some 70 million television sets are expected to need digital converter boxes to continue functioning. According to Wired magazine, coupons are running out and digital converter boxes are in short supply, so it is imperative that you act now!
Most Sponsored Electronic Retailers accept the $40 coupons, which are limited to 2 per household.
Coupon-Eligible Converter Box or CECB is a specification for converter boxes that are eligible to receive subsidy coupons through the United States federally-sponsored digital television converter box coupon program. This program was put into place in order to provide over-the-air TV viewers with an affordable means with which to continue to receive free television services after the digital transition takes effect. The specification was developed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), with input from the broadcast and consumer electronics industries, as well as public interest groups.
The United States Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, which is a part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, requires that, among other things, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires all full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasting by midnight on February 17, 2009 (now June 12, 2009). Recognizing that consumers may wish to continue receiving broadcast programming over the air using analog-only televisions not connected to cable or satellite service, the Act authorizes the NTIA to create a digital-to-analog converter box assistance program. Consumer education plans for the coupon assistance program were targeted to low income, elderly, disabled, inner city, and rural Americans, because these groups mainly watch analog antenna TV more than any other groups.[1] The Act also establishes a new Treasury fund, known as the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Fund, and directs the receipts from the FCC’s analog spectrum return auction to be deposited into the Fund.
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The Act directs NTIA to implement and administer a program through which eligible U.S. households may obtain a maximum of two coupons of $40 each to be applied towards the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter box. The Act defines the term “converter box†to mean “a stand-alone device that does not contain features or functions except those necessary to enable a consumer to convert any channel broadcast in the digital television service into a format that the consumer can display on television receivers designed to receive and display signals only in the analog television service, but may also include a remote control device.†The Act, however, does not define “eligible household.â€[citation needed]
To implement the coupon program, the Act authorizes NTIA to use up to $990 million from the Fund for the program, including $100 million for program administration. Those funds will support an initial "non-contingent" program that is available to all requesting households. NTIA is also authorized to expend up to $1.5 billion for the program, including $160 million for administration, if the $990 million is insufficient to fulfill the non-contingent coupon requests. In that case, a "contingent" fund will be available for U.S. households not serviced by cable or satellite.[2] Notice and certification of fund insufficiency must be made to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
An initial funding of $990 million was expected to allow all households an opportunity to apply for coupons, which expire in 90 days. After that money was used up, $510 million in additional funds was available to households that state they do not already subscribe to cable or satellite television services. Neither allotment has a "means test".
By the end of 2008, "About 40 million coupons have been requested, but to date 16 million have been redeemed, compared with an estimated 35 million televisions that will lose a signal."[3] Institutions such as old-age homes were initially excluded from the program; while this was partially remedied (to allow one coupon per nursing home resident) prisons,[4] homeless shelters[5] and residential hotels remain disqualified from the coupon program.
On January 4, 2009, the NTIA began placing coupon requests on a waiting list after the program reached its maximum allowed funding. Only after unredeemed coupons expire can new requests be fulfilled.[6] By January 7, NTIA’s growing waiting list represented unfulfilled requests for just under a million requested coupons. A week later, the waiting list had grown to two million coupons.[7]
On January 7, both Consumers Union and Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey (who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s telecom committee) advocated that the February 17, 2009 analogue shutoff date be postponed due to the lack of coupons and inability to handle expected public enquiries.[8] On January 8, the Barack Obama transition team contacted key legislators, expressing support for a delay largely because of problems with funding coupons for converters.[9][10] The delay passed early in February (see below).
The NTIA Specification is arranged in three categories, describing required, permitted, and disqualifying features.
NTIA absolute requirements
These requirements are absolutely required, but may vary in the way they are provided by the box.
CECBs must convert all ATSC formats to NTSC.
The units must support a 4:3 center crop of a 16:9 transmitted image, and a letterbox rendition of a 16:9 transmitted image.
An RF output, as well as baseband video and stereo audio outputs must be supplied.
All CECB’s outputs must produce video at an ITU-R BT.500-11 quality scale of Grade 4 or higher.
CECBs must include a remote control and be controllable by universal remote controls.
Must support decoding of Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages and Parental Control (V-Chip) descriptors and Closed Captioning streams.
Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data must be decoded, and the units must provide the user with tuned channel and program information.
CECBs must consume no more than an average of 2 watts of power when passive (no video or audio display).
CECBs must provide an automatic power-down feature [that can be turned off] when operator input has not been detected for a certain time.
Various RF sensitivity and interference rejection performance parameters are also required.
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[edit] Optional features
Manufacturers can self-certify compliance with these requirements, but must provide test results and two units to the NTIA for ad hoc testing. The FCC may also test converter boxes at the request of NTIA. Among the optional features permitted but not required are the following:
Support for a smart antenna, through the use of the CEA-909 Antenna Control Interface.
Promotional pricing of smart antenna and CECB combination.
MTS (BTSC) stereo at the RF output, and S-Video.
Analog passthrough, as needed for LPTV, broadcast translator and foreign signal reception.
Electronic program guide (EPG), and software update.
Additional support of the Canadian television ratings system to allow the manufacturer the ability to sell the same model CECB in both the Canadian and American markets.
Suitable secondary audio channel and accessible menu support for descriptive video services for visually-impaired users is also optional.[11]
While an outdoor antenna is required for adequate digital reception in most locations beyond 10–25 miles from TV transmitters and smart antenna interfaces are an optionally-permitted feature of coupon-eligible converter boxes[12], there are no subsidies for antennas per se and consumers using coupons to buy smart antenna-compatible converters must retain the option to buy the identical converter without the bundled smart antenna.[13]
[edit] Energy Star
DTV converter boxes may earn a United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ Energy Star label if they consume no more than 8 watts operating, and 1 watt in sleep, and automatically power down after 4 hours of inactivity [14]. Such units will have lower electrical power costs, when compared to other units.
[edit] Limitations
Simultaneous TV watching and recording of different programs requires two converter boxes if the recording device lacks a digital tuner. Most video recorders will also be rendered unable to change channels under control of built-in timers, as channel selection is now handled by the converter.[15]
Specifically excluded from coupon eligibility are high-definition video output and DVR functionality, as well as digital cable and satellite set-top boxes. These output features are prohibited: Component video, VGA, RGB, DVI, HDMI, USB video, IEEE-1394/iLink/Firewire video, Ethernet video, and IEEE-802.11/Wifi video outputs.[16]
Small battery-operated portable TV’s, while valuable in time of disaster, may be poorly-adapted to digital conversion. While at least one CECB (Winegard’s RCDT09A) is operable from an external battery pack,[17] the combination of television, converter, external antenna and power supply provides limited portability.[18]
The inability of some boxes to add new digital channels without a full rescan (wiping out all existing channel settings) renders them unusable to viewers which rely (or will soon be forced to rely) on directional antennas and rotors to receive distant stations. Signal strength meters, where available, are awkward, typically only displaying information for channels that have already been found.[19] This is problematic as digital signals are most often transmitted on higher frequencies or with far less power than their analogue counterparts,[20] requiring careful antenna installation, orientation and location to avoid obstructions, fading and multipath interference problems.
Since NTIA did not mandate the inclusion of MTS in CECBs’ RF modulators, THAT Corporation (which licensed the now-expired patents to MTS’ dbx technology, and still holds patents on some digital implementations of MTS) claims that consumers using RF-only connections with CECBs will lose stereo TV sound.[21] This problem may be avoided by using the TV’s line level inputs. Connecting the CECB’s RCA connectors to a home stereo system, to a stereo VCR’s AV inputs, to computer sound card speakers (with a Y-adapter attached to their mini phone jack) or to a separate RF modulator are other possible alternatives.
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[edit] End of subsidies
NTIA’s TV Converter Box Coupon Program reached its $1.34 billion ceiling on January 4, 2009, approximately six weeks before the end of US full-power analogue broadcast TV. Any additional consumers requesting coupons were placed on a waiting list, eligible on a first-come-first-served basis as funds from expired coupons become available.[22]
In December 2008, FCC commissioner McDowell advised "those who don’t need the government subsidy not to wait on that process before purchasing a converter box for themselves or as a gift for someone else. During the weeks it takes for the government to process coupon requests, you will lose precious time to hook up the box, check antenna connections, and start enjoying free digital broadcast TV right away."[23]
As US economic conditions continue to worsen, demand for the converters is increasing. Nielsen Media Research had estimated in August 2008 that 25% of affected viewers would opt for inexpensive converters instead of replacing existing televisions or switching to expensive cable and satellite television subscriptions. By November 2008, 38.3% were planning to buy the less-costly converter boxes.
Many retailers had stocked boxes based on coupon use[24] and shortages of the converter boxes themselves remain possible. In early February, the Consumer Electronics Association estimated three to six million converters available while Nielsen estimated 5.8 million American households are completely unready for digital transition. Currently-available stocks will be depleted sometime in March 2009.[25] Manufacturers who had halted production ahead of the original February 17, 2009 deadline were to resume converter box assembly but this new stock was not expected in stores until April.[26] An average US household uses 2.8 television screens.[27]
Minority populations (including black and Hispanic households) and persons under 35 years old are among the least digital-ready groups, although many Spanish-speaking viewers will continue to receive Mexican analogue border stations[28] until the end of 2021.
[edit] DTV Delay Act
A bill extending the end of digital transition to June 12, 2009[29] was signed into law on February 11, 2009.[30] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, part of a larger appropriations bill signed into law on February 17, 2009, added $490 million in funding for coupons, giving a total of $1.83 billion available for additional converter boxes, not addressed in the DTV Delay Act.[31][32] By February 18, with 36% of US full-power stations digital-only, five million of America’s 115 million households remained entirely unready[33] with requests for 4.3 million coupons remaining on an NTIA waiting list.[7] While additional coupons began to be issued in early March 2009,[34] at least an additional two to three weeks (above normal delays) were to be needed to clear an existing backlog.[35]
While 93 large-city network owned and operated stations (controlled by CBS, ABC, Fox TV and NBC) would continue analog broadcasts until June 12,[36] many small-market broadcasters were unable to justify the extra cost, with non-commercial and independent stations very adversely affected. No funding is provided to reimburse broadcasters who will incur additional costs due to the DTV Delay Act.
Public Broadcasting Service CEO Paula Kerger had estimated a $22 million cost to the nation’s PBS member stations to extend simulcasting until June 12;[37] more than a hundred PBS stations ultimately elected to stick to the original deadline.[38] Some individual commercial station groups, most notably Sinclair Broadcast Group and Gray Television, shut down the vast majority of their analogue signals on the original deadline. Others left the question to their individual local stations. Many local markets, ranging from Burlington, Vermont and Sioux City, Iowa[39] to San Diego, California,[40] lost analogue signals from most or all major US stations. Some stations in coastal regions such as Fort Myers, Florida had chosen not to wait until June 12 so as to ensure transition is complete before hurricane season.[41]
In some cases, the Federal Communications Commission has forced stations to continue full-power analogue broadcast of at least a local newscast and information on the digital transition for an additional sixty days – a costly move for individual affected broadcasters. Of 491 stations which had indicated their intention to go digital-only in February 2009,[42] 123 affiliates of four major US commercial networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) were targeted by Federal Communications Commission opposition, precluding or applying additional restrictions to the shutdown of their analogue signals[43] in markets where the only analogue service remaining after the February 17th shutdown would have been an independent or educational broadcaster, an adjacent-market station or a low-power station.[44][45] Of approximately 1800 US full-service TV stations, an additional 190 were already digital-only before February 2009; these included Hawaii (digital since January 2009) and Wilmington, North Carolina (the FCC’s 2008 digital test market), as well as some new stations and a few broadcasters forced to shut down analogue early due to technical problems.
Viewers in markets where individual stations have ended analogue operations on or before the original deadline will not be accorded any form of increased priority in the handling of their DTV coupon requests.[46]
On March 24, 2009, the NTIA announced that the more than 4 million persons on the waiting list had been sent coupons, meaning those whose coupons had expired could apply for new ones. The NTIA estimated 17 million coupons had expired, while 25.7 million, 56 percent of the number issued, had been used.[32] On April 12, Nielsen estimated that 3.6 million households remained unready;[47] key problem markets (according to FCC and NTIA) include Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Fresno, Houston, Brownsville, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Tulsa, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
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