When the first group of 600+ over the air stations made the transition from analog to digital broadcast in February, their transition was met with relatively few, and entirely manageable complaints.

In exactly one week, the rest of the nation’s full power, OTA stations will make complete the transition, capping an effort that began many years ago.  The transition has not been without its challenges, but it represents the culmination of a lot of hard work by broadcasters, consumer electronics companies, subscription television services, and government at every level.  Cable, for its part, has contributed hundreds of millions in advertising to educate consumers on about the transition and so they will continue receiving signals next week.

We have also coordinated efforts between cable engineers and MSTV – the group representing broadcast engineers – to limit any technical problems.  That effort began over a year ago and identified issues early on that might have impacted the transition.  When the first stations moved from analog to digital in February, NCTA Science & Technology office  staffed a “war room” to give cable engineers an opportunity to report on activities in the field. We exchanged information with MSTV to address issues as they arose and in virtually all of such cases, the impact on cable carriage of the broadcast signal in question was minimal, with any problems being resolved in a matter of hours.

In addition, as Kyle McSlarrow noted Wednesday in his remarks before the FCC, cable also initially organized the DTV call center operation and contributed significant sums in cash grants to community groups to educate their constituents or assist them.  In addition, we placed tens of thousands of dollars in advertisements to reach at-risk groups with information.

Cable has gone beyond the call to ensure every American, not just our customers, is aware of, and is ready for transition.  We did this because we realize the transition is an important milestone for our country and we want it to be a success.  Our industry has worked tirelessly and with every level of government to guarantee that next week’s switch goes as smoothly as possible.

Should you, or anyone you know have questions or concerns about the switch, call 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322).  The DTV hotline will be able to assist you.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Customer Service, Digital Transition, NCTA Actions, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.