Newspaper blogger rips DTV test
Cory Bergman July 24th, 2008
I thought it was interesting that a blogger for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here in Seattle made fun of KING-TV’s “pull the plug” digital TV test. You know, the test that dozens of stations around the country are doing — switching to digital for a few seconds to alert analog viewers that they need to upgrade before February. “Skip the fuss, avoid calling KING-5’s ‘experts’; and just go to the store and get a converter box or buy a new TV. It’ll take you five minutes,” writes Moises Mendoza. Clearly Moises hasn’t bought a digital television recently — a buying decision nearly as complex as buying a new car, which can take hours of online research and/or endless wandering through the halls of Best Buy. And for older folks who watch tons of TV, it’s rocket science. Perhaps the promotion for these “pull the plug” tests can get a little too dramatic, but I think they’re very effective. And for local TV, that’s important going into the switchover. (Moises also got the facts wrong in his blog post. KING’s test is 20 seconds long, not five minutes. Full disclosure: I used to work for KING-TV and can’t stand uninformed newspaper people making fun of TV.)
Update: Well, the downside to doing these live tests is you really can’t test it first. KING’s DTV test today also happened to interrupt many cable and satellite subscribers.
6 Comments Add your own
1. Charles | July 24th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
The most confusing thing, I think, for older folks will be is the fact that before this year, everyone kept saying this was the switch to HDTV. This year, everyone is calling it Digital, which is a terrific distinction, but I wonder if enough people know you can buy a $100 TV that will work just fine after the switchover, instead of a $2,000 unit?
2. Anonymous | July 24th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Our local public television station is regularly running thorough explanations clearly targeted to older viewers (with lots of video of white-haired folks using remote controls), and inviting people to call them if they’re confused.
3. John | July 27th, 2008 at 6:43 am
At least it gives the station something to post on their FCC Form 388.
4. Hussman | July 28th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Actually, I think older folks are the most informed. Of the half-dozen DTV conversion educational speeches I’ve given, all but one have been to senior-citizen groups. They care, they know and they want to be ready.
5. Anonymous | July 30th, 2008 at 12:54 am
The most annoying thing about DTV isn’t DTV but equipment failures and STL breakup resulting in a sea of tiles andaudio loss, backed up by engineers that don’t give it a dry run and learn how to use it ON AIR.
Frustration, thy name as shown to thy wretched, weary viewer be KTVB-SD.
6. lilkunta | September 20th, 2008 at 9:29 am
It doesnt take 2 sec 2 but a tuner or a new tv.
STFU mosies.
Not 2 mention that the gov is backed up w sending out the coupons.
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