What's your television situation?

[undeterred]

Poll question: What's your television situation?

By law, full-power television stations nationwide must begin broadcasting exclusively in a digital format on February 17, 2009.

[onehandle]

1. I've had cable in my households since the mid-seventies.

Rabbit ears are like something out of a history book to me.

[Bonescrat]

2. I cancelled my cable years ago...

when I realized I hadn't watched it in months.

The only time it was ever on was when I had company who wanted to watch something.

I do occasionally watch stuff on the inter-tubes. Mostly nerdy sciency stuff which the boob tube was sorely lacking. And the important stuff, news, weather, is all readily available. No need for TeeVee anymore...

[Warpy]

9. If it weren't for commercial free movies on TCM

and the programming on Link TV and Ovation, I'd probably cancel mine after only 3 years of having the world of 150 channels with nothing on them opened to me.

Oh, there are occasional things I watch on the commercial stations, but it's getting increasingly rare as shows are repeated ad nauseum. While I was a vidiot for the first year, I'm now finding it's just background noise.

[uppityperson]

3. I live behind a hill, no reception so pay 99 cents a month for satellite

Yes, 99 cents. DirecTV has a "local stations" with PBS thing for either 6 dollars a month. It is supposed to be an add-on but I got it as only that. Phone company Qwest offers a bundle including giving a $5 refund monthly for DirecTv thing.

[MADem]

4. I split my time between several locations.

All save one have cable or a dish. The one that has neither has a converter box awaiting the change.

I don't watch much television anyway. I sure as hell won't buy new teevees when the ones I have, and use sparingly, are perfectly good and will do just fine for my purposes.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Not affected because I have cable

[elifino]

6. Dish network for last 8 years.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Same here

[kas125]

52. Me, too. I can't live without FreeSpeechTV!

[L0oniX]

57. Amen

[bikebloke]

7. Used only for DVD's

Most of the week it sits in a corner unplugged, covered with a dust cloth. When I want to watch a film, I'll pull it out and connect everything.

Once a year, as a guilty pleasure, I'll watch the Oscars part way before turning in, via rabbit ears. Lately, the only interesting bit has been the In Memoriam segment. And I bet I can catch that on YouTube the next day.

[undeterred]

8. I've never had cable and I have an old TV.

So I have to buy a coverter or get a new television.

[WI_DEM]

10. Obama wants to postpone the date because he's afraid too many poor and rural people

will be without a converter since the govt program providing a subsidy is running out.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Still deciding whether I care about losing the signal.

[ogneopasno]

13. Other: satellite.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. I have had cable since 1980. No problem.

[Deja Q]

15. DVDs are far cheaper than cable

(what I want, when I want it, no 8000 channels, 7994 of which I will never bother with...)

[AndrewP]

17. Yep. You watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. :)

[shanti]

39. that's the next teevee iteration n/t

[AndrewP]

16. I watch DVD's but don't watch regular TV

So my 1985 TV is just fine for what I need.

[Roxy66]

18. I recieved my coupon last feb..but did not know it had an expiration date.

They won't re-issue coupons after they expire...but their out now anyway. What a joke!

[anigbrowl]

32. Um...I think this is your fault for not bothering to read it.

[greendog]

19. I've never owned a TV and haven't watched since 1975.

[rrneck]

20. If I could

get a la carte cable so I didn't have to put up with Juheezus and the goddamned knife channel I might consider it.

[Harry Monroe]

21. My televisions told me to thank you for asking about their situation

But they are feeling like their IQ's have dropped due to the proliferation of reality shows clogging their brains.

[Lucinda]

24. :)

[Kajsa]

22. The Digital TV transition is delayed.

Obama's team asks for a delay in the
transition from analog to digital TV.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/08/digital-tv-transition-del_n_156346.html

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to postpone the Feb. 17 switch from analog to digital television broadcasting, arguing that too many Americans who rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air channels won't be ready.

In a letter to key lawmakers Thursday, Obama transition team co-chair John Podesta said the digital transition needs to be delayed largely because the Commerce Department has run out of money for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers. People who don't have cable or satellite service or a TV with a digital tuner will need the converter boxes to keep their older analog sets working.

Obama officials are also concerned the government is not doing enough to help Americans _ particularly those in rural, poor or minority communities _ prepare for and navigate the transition.

"With coupons unavailable, support and education insufficient, and the most vulnerable Americans exposed, I urge you to consider a change to the legislatively mandated analog cutoff date," Podesta wrote to the top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate and House Commerce committees.

[Statistical]

31. Urging is not delayed.

Obama can't delay it on his own.

The law didn't give the authority to the President.
The law has a fixed date so a new law would be needed to change that.

So in order for the date to change Congress would need to pass a new bill and Obama sign it before Feb 17th.

Given everything that is going on it is no guarantee that will happen.

[Kajsa]

35. You're right.

n/t

[Statistical]

36. Hopefully Congress gets it done because it is obvious we aren't ready...

then again the FCC kinda already sold the frequencies so the new owners are expecting to use them.

Kinda funny that the govt sells things before they are even available to be "delivered".

[Kajsa]

37. That doesn't surprise me, Statistical.

It doesn't sound like this was as well planned as they
had hoped it would be.

They need to get more coupons/converter boxes for
those who have analog TVs.

[AndyTiedye]

23. No Digital Signals Make It Through the Trees and Hills

[Statistical]

34. Do analog signals?

Joking aside.

The radio wave is the same. The reach, reliablity and suspetibility of the radio wave will be the same.

The one problem is digital is all or none.
So while before if you had a ghosty or "in and out" picture with DTV it will be nothing.
No static like your post shows just nothing "no signal".

On the other hand if you currently get good analog reception you will get good digital reception.

Either case it is a radio wave running at a certain frequency. The only thing that changes is what information is carried on that radio wave.

[guitar man]

40. not necessarily

Digital is going to occupy the bandwidth where channels 14-50 in the UHF band currently reside. In hilly or otherwise obstructed locations, VHF signals can often reach where UHF will not.

[Statistical]

41. Thanks for clarifying.

I guess I should say...
if you currently can receive analog UHF channels clearly you likely will be ok with DTV.
If you currently are having poor reception with analog UHF then DTV is going to be bad.

Since DTV is all or nothing for those with poor/marginal reception the transistion will be worse.

[guitar man]

44. there still a lot of unknowns

Once the analogs shut down and clear the bandwidth for all digital signals we may see an improvement there. Also, reports that digital transmitters for a given market or station are operating at "full power" can be misleading. Some stations may only be operating a one or two tube digital transmitter right now and have plans to build out more cabinets to increase the power output after the transition. Sure, a one tube rig may be reporting that they are operating at 100% power, but a 3 tube rig at 100% is a whole different animal.

Also, when the real info comes in on who is/isn't receiving signals, station groups may proceed with getting their signals on repeater/translator stations and even building out new repeaters etc. The first thing that needs to happen though is to get the analog transmitters shut down and get that expensive monkey off our back so that we (the stations) can invest money into building out and improving digital instead of throwing more money down the rathole of operating the power sucking maintenence hog analog transmitters.

It's going to take some time, but in the long run I think digital is going to be better for the most part.

[surrealAmerican]

48. This is not strictly true.

Stations that are currently licensed to broadcast VHF, will, in most cases, retain those frequencies. They are currently broadcasting their digital signals on UHF, but will switch the digital signal to their VHF frequencies once they are no longer required to broadcast in analog.

[guitar man]

49. yes, there are vhf allocations

good luck getting them to run in the lower VHF band (2-6) Channels 7-13 are doable, but I'm wondering how many stations will eventually file to move to UHF to make keeping the transmitter tuned a less hair pulling daily exercise. :crazy:

[AndyTiedye]

45. The Radio Waves Are Not the Same. Almost Everything is Moving to UHF

and staying there, at least around here. There will only be 2 VHF stations after the changeover,
one is already there (and we can't pick it up). We might get the other, maybe.

UHF is pretty much unwatchable here, even on analog due to hills and trees.

[frebrd]

25. Will not be able to watch TV

I have 1 new digital TV, 2 converter boxes and an expensive VHF-only antenna which will be useless. (When we got it there was no UHF programming here, except wild-eyed preachers). I have to get a whole new roof, so won't get another antenna until that's done (whenever that is).

:(

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. Couldn't get shit on an antenna here if I wanted to.

Analog OR digital. So I'm stuck with Comcast for both TV and Internet. I refuse to be suckered into their ridiculously overpriced VOIP phone service though.

[HillWilliam]

27. Other: Dish

Got to have FreeSpeechTV, Link, Science Channel, History International, and of course DIY and HGTV (Hers and Gays TV). My husbear got us a 1080i HD projector for Solstice so I can now oogle Jason Cameron's muscles on an 8' wide screen. Ooo, daddeh :evilgrin: (I toldja it was Hers and Gays TV!)

[guitar man]

28. Watch for DTV "soft cutoff" tests in your area

Even if you're on cable, some of the smaller rural cable providers still may not be ready for the transition. I've been working on this for months, contacting cable providers and trying to co-ordinate our engineering staff at the station where I work with the engineers at the cable companies to test and upgrade for compatibility. Some of them were downright stubborn about it, so if you want to make sure you can still get local channels on cable, check with your local stations for soft test dates and times.

<edit typo>

[deoxyribonuclease]

29. I don't even have a TV

The only watched 2 or 3 channels when I had TV service. When I moved I decided that the cost just wasn't worth it. Most of the material I 'watch' is online.

[Initech]

30. All I watch it for are DVDs and sports.

I'll probably wind up getting a new TV at some point since mine is a piece of shit.

[LeftinOH]

33. My TV is for DVD rentals/library DVDs only. TV programming is crap.

[KamaAina]

38. Other: I am ready to go digital on *Thursday*.

Seems the transmitter site on Maui is in the nesting range of some sort of endangered bird, so now all the stations in the whole state have to do it on Thursday, so they can be finished before the birds show up.

Meanwhile, I hear some guy from Punahou School is going to be on the news Jan. 20. I sure hope nobody misses that...

[ThomWV]

42. Direct TV Dish, had it for years, love it.

[csziggy]

43. Digital satellite user for 15 years - no problem for us except during emergencies

I do miss the ability to listen to the local CBS affiliate on the radio. It used to come in on 87.9 FM but they have already moved over to digital and no longer broadcast on that frequency. We found that out when our power was out after TS Fay. the local NPR station is OK but has little weather coverage. We never found a local station either on AM or FM that gave us updates on local conditions for roads, power restoration or other important info. The weather radio coverage told us a lot about conditions on the Gulf but nothing about road conditions on land. That local TV station used to do that during emergencies.

If we had not been able to drive to the Obama HQ and use computers to check on things, we would not have known anything about local news. And the second day, we were doubtful about getting home - there must have been a dozen places with water flowing over the roads. Most were places there had never been water over the roads, even after past hurricanes. Fortunately none of the streams were deep and our truck had no problems fording them.

[bigwillq]

46. Ready to go (nt)

[Alexander]

47. We get basic cable and I barely watch it.

I remember some yutz of a DUer chastising me for thinking I was "too cool for TV".

Yeah, right. As if, in this mindless corporate hellhole of a state, I have nothing better to do with my time than watch more mindless corporate crap in lower resolution.

:eyes:

[Kip Humphrey]

50. We were HDed in'07. There's no going back.

[tammywammy]

51. I have cable, so I'm ready. n/t

[canetoad]

53. Don't watch television.......

But have already been the digital route and abandoned it. BTW, here in OZ the full conversion to digital was planned for this year I think but has been delayed until about 2011 due to 'poor user takeup'.

Living in a hilly area, analogue reception was never perfect so I purchased a digital converter four or five years ago. When it's good, the reception is very good, when it's bad, instead of a snowy, so-so but watchable picture, there is absolutely nothing.

As TV content deteriorated I became less interested in mounting the antenna on a higher pole to receive good digital signal. As I write, the TV has not been turned on since August 2008 and I don't miss it at all.

[undeterred]

59. When I can't watch it I don't miss it.

But every now and then I get addicted to a show.

[NoPasaran]

54. Cable here

Although I am tempted to get one of those gigantic flat panel TVs anyway and retire the 20" jug.

[Codeine]

55. Stolen cable.

:evilgrin:

[L0oniX]

58. LOL

[L0oniX]

56. Other: Dish Netowrk ...so I can watch FreeSpeech TV and Link TV

[Touchdown]

60. I don't have a TV. I have a 65" Monster screen!!!!!

I don't have kids, so I have to brag about less important things.:D

[Swamp Rat]

61. I like YouTube

:)



Rowan Atkinson - Conservative Conference