The Digital Television Transition: Part 1

This will be the first of a multi-part series on the digital television transition that is set to take place in the United States on February 17, 2009. This first part will go over in detail what exactly is going to be required, and what isn’t, on February 17, 2009, regardless of how you get your television.

You’re probably starting to see the advertisements on Television about the digital television transition that is taking place in February 2009. And considering the massive amounts of misinformation I’ve been hearing from just my family and friends on the issue I’d though that I’d write a series of articles to educate them and you on what the digital transition is and isn’t about.

The first thing you might think is that you’ll need to buy a new TV. This is unlikely for several reasons. The first and foremost reason is that the only signals that are changing are the over-the-air signals being sent by broadcast networks (your local CBS, NBC, etc affiliates plus and local unaffiliated stations). The stations you only receive over cable or satellite are not affected whatsoever.  The next reason is that even if you do receive transmissions of your local stations over the air, you’ll be able to get a $40 coupon from the federal government towards a converter box (expected to be around $70-80), which is a lot less expensive than buying a new Television. A new 20″ Digital OTA broadcast ready TV (not to be confused with digital cable ready TVs) is about $150 at Best Buy. The same model 27″ TV is $250.

For anyone already receiving their television via cable or satellite, there will be nothing to do on this special day. Nothing will change. Cable companies wont (or at least haven’t annouced) that they’ll get rid of all their analog channels, and satellite companies already have a completely digital transmission. Your from your VCR to your Series 1 or 2 TiVo will still let you record television shows as long as you’ve hooked them up to analog cable feeds, or the appropriate A/V outputs on your cable or satellite box.

The next part of this series will cover the advertisements you’ve been seeing, as well as the website and process to go through that will allow people to obtain the vouchers.