Did you know about the pending death of analog TV?
That’s right, the government has mandated that all analog television signals must cease and desist after February 17th, 2009. What does it mean for you and for the industry? Read on to get started on the answer…
For you, the impact could be absolutely nothing or suddenly not getting any TV. What kind of TV do you have, what kind of service (cable, satellite, airwaves)??? All of that may play into what options you have. For most of us, we already have a TV that is at least digital ready if we’re not already watching HDTV right now. Note to self – be content watching NY Mets games in standard definition (SD) when they’re playing away…
For those of you who may not have as many options, who have an older TV and plan to keep it, well…you may be in for a surprise come 2009. In the link below, there are some bits about options that are available to you, but I imagine this is not to important for most of you.
That brings up another point. Will the 2009 date stick? It might not and it depends on several factors. Still, analog TV transmission will stop and probably sooner than later. The reason why? Lots of money. My understanding is the government is motivated to reclaim the bandwidth because they can auction it off to the highest bidders. Remember what your dad said about ‘them not making any more land so become a land owner?’ – the same thing holds true for frequency space and data transmission inside it!
How does this affect broadcasters and our industry? Again, I think it affects us a lot. Broadcasters must retool a lot of equipment to become DTV transmission compliant. Add to this the move to HD (separate from DTV) and you realize there are an enormous amount of capital expenditures taking place. The industry is going thru a perfect storm of change with analog to digital transmission, standard definition to high definition and finally a multiplication of delivery formats: three screens instead of one.
Take a look at the bright side? There will be more jobs and opportunities for creative professionals than ever before. Oh yeah…
http://hometheater.about.com/od/televisions/qt/feb172009date.htm
11 days until NAB and counting…
on an eclectic note - found a photo of a tower that looks remarkably like the old After Effects logo
http://www.dtvutah.com/images/tower/towerlg.jpg
