ARTICLES - JANUARY 2008

TV’s Going Digital - What It's All About

By February 2009, the local ”over-the-air” broadcast television stations (i.e. ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), must comply with a federal requirement to transmit signals from an all digital format, as opposed to analog. Following conversion, cable subscribers with analog TV sets that do not already subscribe to a digital tier of cable service will no longer be able to view those channels.

To remedy the situation, the FCC issued rules requiring cable operators to allow cable subscribers to view the digitally broadcast local over-the-air channels by either carrying the digital signal in an analog format or, if the cable provider is "all digital," to have the necessary equipment available to subscribers to convert the digital signal to analog. Costs of such equipment, such as a digital-to-analog converter box, can be recouped from subscribers, perhaps in the form of a charge for the equipment or an overall increase in rates. You can log onto the FCC’s Digital TV consumer website for more information at http://www.dtv2009.gov/

Reprint courtesy of the Texas Coalition of Cities for Utility Issues, January 18, 2008

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