The FCC has embarked upon an aggressive program to "educate the public" about the digital television transition. Now, all the folks who live in the 15 million or so households that exclusively receive TV over-the-air can merely saunter over to their home PCs and refer to the commission's Flash-studded Web site, which clearly states that they won't be able to watch the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day, 2007.
Actually, the Web site, www.dtv.gov, says no such thing, because the end of 2006 is still just a target date for shutting down analog TV signals. The Web site frames this D-day in the Q&A section with the query, "When will the DTV transition be complete?"
The answer: "The target date for the end of the transition from analog to digital television signals is Dec. 31, 2006. That date may be extended, however, until most homes (85 percent) in an area are able to watch the DTV programming. At that point, broadcasting the current 'analog' channels will end and that spectrum will be put to other uses. Until the transition to DTV is complete, television stations will continue broadcasting on both their digital and analog channels."
FCC Chairman Michael Powell rolled out his "educate-the-public" initiative with great fanfare on Monday, in a press event that included a cavalcade of ENG cameras, and a bevy of television executives and lobbyists, who were all instructed to make nice for the event.
Thus, each of the invited panelists did a three-minute spot on what they were doing and why it was great. Bryan Burns, ESPN vice president of strategic business planning and development talked about that group's ongoing adoption of HD production and distribution. Andy Setos, Fox's president of engineering, traveled all the way from Los Angeles to give a plug to the creative community for working in what he referred to as a "new medium." Robert Seidel, vice president of advanced technology and engineering for CBS, squeezed in the fact that CBS did 800 simultaneous stereo and 5.1 audio feeds at the Grammys, leaving to the imagination the part about live-delaying that workload.
On a later panel, NCTA chief Robert Sachs pulled a punch for cable with a stunning foam-core mounted bar chart that proved inconclusively cable programming was driving HDTV. Shaking his head, MSTV President David Donovan came the closest to inciting a riot by uttering words to the effect of, "no sir."
Meanwhile, and perhaps tellingly, a nearby plasma monitor replayed a video loop from DiscoveryHD that included close-up footage of a preying mantis devouring another insect.
By this time, the Chairman was off to prepare for his appearance during half-time on ABC's "Monday Night Football," where he took his education initiative to the masses, or at least the 14.6 million viewers who were tuned into the game. Won't the 17.2 million people who watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" be surprised.
