6.5 million households are unprepared for the digital television transition

Nielsen Says 6.5 Million Homes Still Not Ready DTV Transition [Multichannel News]

Twenty-four days until the currently set digital television transition deadline of February 17th Nielsen has released the latest numbers on the households unprepared for the digital transition. 6.5 million homes or 5.7 percent of all American households still aren't ready for the transition. That means 1.3 million homes have gotten themselves prepared to receive digital television since last month, but it's still a lot of homes that won't have a television signal a month from now unless they get with the program.

The latest numbers from the government's digital converter box coupon waiting list reveal that 2 million households are waiting for one from the federal government. Assuming every one of those 2 million purchase a digital converter box with their coupon, that means that 4.5 million homes would still be unprepared if the coupon program were reactivated immediately.

DTV Delay: You Still Need an Antenna [NYT: Gadgetwise]

Have you heard about the Digital TV Transition Fairness Act? Apparently one of the arguments for delaying the digital transition beyond February 17th is that over-the-air television viewers might need a more powerful antenna, in addition to a digital-ready television or digital converter box. Market research firm Centris has released a study that indicates more than half of over-the-air TV viewers will lose channels without switching to a 30 foot tall directional antenna. Only 13 percent of over-the-air households have such an antenna.

That's nothing new.  There were always going to be some people, in fringe areas, who would have to go beyond simply connecting a set top box to an existing antenna.  Of course cable or satellite would solve it or they could buy a stronger antenna. One senator is even proposing the Digital TV Transition Fairness Act that would pay each household $80 for installation of a digital converter box and $80 for a new indoor or outdoor antenna.  But delaying the transition until June will not change that.  It is looking more and more that the Congress will approve the delay.  The House is set to rapidly pass a bill that the Senate approves first.  Here's the catch.  The Senate can only pass it by unanimous consent because of its packed calendar.  That means that if one Senator objects, the transition will go forward on February 17th.

Watch out Wikipedia, here comes Britannica 2.0 [Sydney Morning Herald]

It's been called the repository of all human knowledge and it's one of the web's most popular web sites. It's Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. For years it's been derided by traditional encyclopedias as unreliable and inaccurate, but it's popularity far outstrips the traditional tomes. In a classic case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that it will allow users to edit and post articles in its online version. The changes will be eligible to put into Britannica's printed version, also. If Wikipedia's recipe for success is being adopted by the oldest name in the world of amalgamated knowledge, I'd say chances are good that the user-editable encyclopedia model will be around to stay.

Boxee mulls production of its own set-top-box [EngadgetHD]

I profiled the Boxee set-top software a few days ago. The open-source software can be installed on Mac or Linux computers or Apple TV set-tops. At this point the company doesn't actually sell hardware of it own. According to Engadget, that may soon change as the company is contemplating releasing a set-top with its software installed. I know that pushing broadband streaming video to the television screen is all the rage these days and that Boxee has a popular system among TV techies, but I question whether mainstream viewers will want another set-top for broadband streaming when it appears that television manufacturers are now going to be integrating that capability directly into new televisions.

Comments

[sineswiper]

Hmmm...I understand the need for old-school businesses trying to get a new flavor to keep their business model afloat, but I'm not so sure about this Britannica wiki. I'm not sure it will take off.

Part of the success of open-source (in this case, open-source editing) is that it's the single source, with everybody dedicated to one project. Yes, it's a monopoly, but since everything is open, you can change it, or take the whole code & data, and fork it into a new project. Competition is actually discouraged, since it would split the work, and the "benevolent dictators" of open-source projects try to keep everybody happy, so that a code fork doesn't happen.

Either people will mostly ignore Britannica, or it will split the audiences between the two. If the latter, there's going to be plagiarism going on in both camps, and then you get into the dicey legal ground of GNU-protected text entering Britannica, or copy-protected text entering Wikipedia.

Or it could fail as horribly as LA Times's Wikitorial offering several years ago.

[Steve Huff]

This whole DTV upgrade is being made way to complicated as usual. Why in the world is it the goverment's job to give out money for ppl to get a converter anway? Is having TV a right???

When people realize they can't pick up anything the will go to the store and buy a converter.

[bofkentucky]

Steve, the feds got billions for that spectrum from wireless carriers, kicking back a small precentage of that to keep the landfills from being filled with TV's is a good investment.