Converters Signal A New Era For TVs

(From The New York Times -- By Jacques Steinberg)

At midnight on February 17th, 2009, the rabbit ears and the rooftop antennas that still guide television signals into nearly 1 of every 5 American homes will be rendered useless -- unless they are tethered to a new device, including two versions unveiled yesterday, that the government will spend as much as $80 a household to help families buy.

A digital-to-analog converter box in prototype form, which was part of a demonstration Wednesday, is not much bigger than a cigar box.

The V-shaped rabbit ears, which have stood sentry in some living rooms and dens since the early 1950s, risk going the way of the eight-track tape player or BETAMAX in 20 months because that is when local television stations will cease sending their signals over the analog airwaves, and instead begin transmitting their programming exclusively over the more modern digital spectrum.

The change, which was set in motion by Congress and the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) in the mid-1990s, is being made at least partly to give viewers a better picture and to make it easier for stations to broadcast their signals in high definition.

"The moment coming is the end of something that has been around for 60 years -- conventional television -- and it has been a wonderful era," said RICHARD E. WILEY, a former chairman of the FCC who led a government advisory panel on what was then known as "advanced television" from 1987 to 1995.

"With that ending will come this new digital world, this much greater world," Mr. Wiley said, "but many people aren't yet ready or haven't gotten the word."

Converters Signal A New Era For TVs

John Santamaria, thanks for the post.