Michael's Insight

HBO/Showtime Digital Migration in Louisville

Our Louisville system is in the process of having our last remaining premium channels migrate from analog to digital.  In this case HBO,  HBO2 and Showtime will be removed from the analog lineup and be made available only on digital.

Several customers have posted comments on this blog about this move. 

Michael asked,

Why is it necessary to make users pay for additional digital boxes to see HBO and Showtime.  Is the government driving this change.  How come i don't need a digital box to see all of the other channels?

The digital transition, as clear as it gets

I sat down with WHAS TV reporter Andy Treinen on Wednesday to talk about the digital television transition that will be happening next year on February 17th.

Andy put together an excellent story that helped to clarify what consumers need to know to successfully transition from the current analog television transmission to digital. His story also mentioned Insight's transition of HBO, HBO2 and Showtime.

Leaders in Learning Awards and then on to our first Insight DTV forum in LaGrange, KY

Short post today as I am traveling to Washington for Cable in the Classroom's Leaders in Learning Awards Gala.  I get to present one of the awards to one of our very own customers, Diane Downs of the Louisville Leopard Percussionists, a music education and community-building program that seeks to educate 7-to12-year-olds.  Congratulations Diane!  I'll see you in DC!

Then, it's on to Louisville for our first Digital Transition Forum for our customers in LaGrange, KY.  It will be held on Thursday night.

One blogger's take on digital transition public service advertisements

Over at the Undercurrent, a blog run by the Louisville-based Current Marketing agency, Katy Miller comments on a PSA about the digital television transition:

Here's what's confusing to me - the spot ran on cable. So, if you are watching using rabbit ears, you would never see the spot. Why is that spot running on cable? Did someone PAY to run that spot on cable? Or did it run as a PSA? Either way, why is that air time being wasted? I feel sure there are plenty of other deserving and more appropriate PSAs that could be run in this time.

Here's the spot:

Here's the scoop Katy.  We are running the spots for free.  We're doing so for several reasons.  First, the cable industry, along with the broadcast and consumer electronics industries all agreed to a Congressional request that we create and execute a communications program to educate the public about the coming broadcast digital transition.

Getting ahead of the digital transition deadline

I read an interesting story in Broadcasting and Cable about Las Vegas TV station KVBC's strategy to help their viewers get ahead of the digital transition that will occur in February of next year. To prepare their viewers for the transition, KVBC conducted a test by temporarily "pulling the plug" on their analog signal. From Broadcasting and Cable:

While the transition won't affect viewers who watch KVBC through cable, since the station already provides both analog and high-definition feeds via fiber to local operators, it will disrupt service for over-the-air viewers who don't buy a digital-to-analog converter box or a new digital set.

So during each of the station's seven daily newscasts on May 2, the station stopped feeding its normal programming into its studio-to-transmitter link and instead ran a brief clip of simulated static.

[...]

The simulated blackouts, which included footage of an actual cable being pulled, began with Friday's 5 a.m. newscast. KVBC anchors explained to viewers that those who could still see them after they "pulled the plug" have nothing to worry about come February 2009—those who got only white snow, however, need to act now to make their sets DTV-ready.

The story goes on to detail the result of KVBC's DTV test. I was surprised

Get ready America - digital television is coming

Get ready!  The mandatory conversion from analog to digital broadcasting in the United States is only nine months away.  It may sound like a long time from now, but it really isn't. 

Many older, standard TV's do not have digital tuners in them and they won't automatically work after February 17, 2009.  But there are things you can do to avoid replacing every TV in the house.