[opendtv] Will they get the picture? / TV buying gets fuzzy as FCC and industry join to take viewers into the digital age

BRUCE MOHL | CONSUMER BEAT

Will they get the picture?

TV buying gets fuzzy as FCC and industry join to take viewers into 
the digital age

By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff  |  October 24, 2004

Richard Kiley of Boston isn't a Luddite, but he felt like one after a 
recent visit to his local Best Buy store.

Kiley went into the store to purchase a new TV, expecting to pay 
about $200 for a standard analog television set. But his salesman 
pressured him to upgrade to a digital TV costing nearly four times as 
much.

"He tried every tactic he could think of," Kiley said of the 
salesman. The superior sound and picture quality were the first 
selling points. When that didn't work, the salesman told him a 
government-mandated transition to digital TV would render the cheaper 
set useless in two years.

"He was adamant that it would be absolutely no good," said Kiley, who 
walked out of the store in a huff, wondering whether there really was 
some government mandate forcing him to buy an expensive TV set he 
didn't want.

No such mandate exists right now, but pressure is building. Just as 
the Best Buy salesman steered Kiley toward a digital TV, so, too, is 
the government urging all consumers to go digital as part of a 
wholesale shift to the new broadcast technology.

The Federal Communications Commission, partnering with TV 
manufacturers and retailers, recently launched a educational campaign 
called "DTV -- Get It!" The federal agency is also requiring TV 
manufacturers to include digital tuners in more and more of the TVs 
they sell.

The ultimate pressure is the looming deadline for digital TV 
conversion, a drop-dead date when broadcasters will be required to 
turn off their analog broadcasts and transmit digital signals 
exclusively. At that time -- the current target date is the end of 
2006, but it's likely to be pushed back to 2008 or 2009 -- consumers 
with analog TVs will lose their service unless they buy a digital TV 
or a converter box that would allow them to continue using their 
existing set.

...

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/10/24/will_they_get_the_picture/



 
 
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