LAS VEGAS – Now that we have our digital deadline in Canada, it might behove us to keep an eye on just how the American television industry is handling its transition from analog conventional broadcast TV to digital, since there are a scant 308 days until analog shut off here.
After a session yesterday on the upcoming transition here at NAB – which included American broadcasters and cable companies – there is one inescapable conclusion: With just 10 months left until analog OTA TV is shut off in the States, there is a lot for them left to do to ensure a smooth switch.
While PSAs are already running (as most living near the U.S. border will have already seen), advising viewers that in order to continue to receive their TV signals over the air, they have to either a) take advantage of a federal government coupon for a cheap decoder box that will allow them to see digital OTA TV; b) sign up for cable or satellite – or if they have a kitchen or bedroom TV with rabbit ears, to connect them, too; c) buy a new television with a digital receiver.
However, as of now, cable and broadcasters are “still in the awareness campaign, working parallel to each other and have only begun to work together,” noted broadcaster Paul McTear, president and CEO of Raycom Media, which operates 42 television stations in 18 states.
The national ad campaign, paid for by broadcasters and cable companies, is costing upwards of $200 million, said Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable Telecommunications Association during the panel session.
His cableco members have deployed tool kits across their companies so that at the very least, every one of their employees knows how to guide anyone who asks through the transition.
McTear said his company has worked with cable giant Comcast in many markets to co-produce and co-air spots that feature Raycom news anchors.
But there are so many issues remaining, it’s impossible to come up with one omnibus solution for everyone. Issues over signal power, whether or not an SD and HD signal has to be carried at the same time, how cablecos receive their off-air signals, multiplexed digital channels, dealing with closed captioning and emergency alerts and SAP, that much of the transition work will be left to local general managers to massage their local idiosyncrasies to ensure they don’t lose any viewers in the switch.
“We want no TV set to be left behind,” added Jack Sander, vice-chairman of Belo Corp, a 20-station owner which reaches 14% of the American population.
What lies ahead, still, is a “monster education program,” added Sander. “We need to know where, at the critical moments, are the calls going to go?” And any remaining confusion or people left out come February 2009 must be almost completely mitigated. “Anything we can do to prevent that is to our interests,” he said.
Cable has also proposed – and broadcasters appear to like – a new skinny basic tier to be offered on digital for $10 to $14 a month to consumers who only want their local broadcasters – plus a few other channels like educational stations and C-SPAN. Cable, by law, like in Canada, must carry their local broadcasters.
Cable is calling it a “lifeline package” said Brad Dusto, president of Comcast’s Western region (sounding not unlike Bell ExpressVu’s proposed Canadian HD solution, except for the monthly fee).
This type of option would certainly help cable grow its subscriber base and upsell to cable tiers (not to mention home phone and broadband) but broadcasters have no qualms about that helping cable along in this fashion.
“If we want no television set left behind, we’re going to have to embrace some of these new ideas,” said Sander. “The spirit of this lifeline package provides us with a lot of opportunity.”
The most difficult aspect of this doesn’t appear to be getting the broadcast and cable engineers together, because they can make it work technically. (However, they have to do it soon, so the right headend gear is ordered and in place, on time.) And even educating consumers isn’t the hardest part. It’s getting them to understand that they need to act.
Consumers may think, well, fine, I have satellite, or I have cable, so I’ll be okay, forgetting their kitchen television isn’t hooked up. Or, they may take one of the cheap government-sponsored receivers and think they have digital cable – and they won’t.
“There is awareness, but there’s that call to action… it has to get a lot more personal to be effective,” added McTear.
It will be interesting for Canadian distributors and broadcasters to watch – and hopefully learn from – the U.S. transition. The advantage in Canada, come our August 31, 2011 deadline is that far more Canadians will have new televisions – and many more will be digital cable or satellite or telco TV customers.
Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien is in Las Vegas this week covering NAB.
