We had a brief discussion in last night’s IS 7010 class about digital television and business models. This Cnet article reports that 21 million viewers in the USA are still watching broadcast TV with a good old fashioned antenna. It’s free television, of course, but the channel selection is very limited.
In January 2009, analog television will be replaced by digital television in the USA. The FCC is giving away US$40 coupons for digital converter boxes so that viewers can still use their old analog TV sets. I guess you plug in the converter box and keep your analog set tuned to channel 3 or 4, like it was a video game.
That same Cnet article also reports that less than half of the viewers surveyed would buy a converter box. It’s a small sample of 1,153 households, but there are indications that the average American has no idea why their TV service might change.
Cable and satellite television companies have hoped for a one-time bump in subscriber revenue, as some broadcast TV viewers might decide that it’s easier to have the cable guy hook them up to digital television.
The survey also discloses that only 12 percent of the respondents would consider switching to pay TV. Oceanic Time Warner and Hawaiian Telcom will have an easier time recruiting customers, as the digital television broadcast signals are weak or nonexistent for many island residents. According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, CBS affiliate KGMB finally agreed to let Oceanic carry its digital and HD signals last week, after 2 years of negotiations.
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