Digital Deadline: Oklahoma

Josh Newton, writing in the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.) says "Analog TVs are so 1940s."

He used the recent news about the NTIA converter box coupon program to explain to readers that if they have an old analog TV set that isn't hooked up to cable or satellite they will need a converter box to receive 21st century digital programs.

Newton includes comments from one local resident who owns "two very old TV boxes." "I know there are many homes in this community still using old analog [TV] sets, and they aren't hooked into cable or satellite. For many, buying some box is going to be a burden, whether it's $20 or $2,000, and especially so for those of us with more than one TV. An era is coming to an end. I guess tomorrow's kids just won't know what it's like to sit at home on Friday night and watch free TV in between static lines and emergency broadcast tests."

Another local resident says a new TV isn't that expensive, "unless you buy one half the size of your living room."

Josh Newton's story provides an interesting glimpse of the DTV transition from a local angle missed by most of the nationwide news articles on the analog shutdown.