Are there really this many Americans still getting their TV signal "over the airwaves"?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:00pm

Congress delayed the big switch over date by 4 months to give people more time to prepare. Honestly, how much more time do they need? How could people not be aware of this by now? I see tons of ads about it all the time.

And really...2.5 million people are either using analog signals or don't have cable? Wow.
Congress delays digital switch

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:05pm

Well in all fairness, maybe not everybody has recieved the equiptment they need for the switch yet.

I know around here the cable box or whatever it's called has been on back order. I'm sure it's available online or in other places that people around here could get them, but I'm sure there are plenty who haven't yet.

[danmag]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:13pm

That's 2.5 million people that have missed "Bromance" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County"?? That's unimaginable.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:17pm

"Many lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households are not ready for the switch, which requires owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV."

Yes, it's quite true. Many in this country are not as fortunate to even afford basic cable on a monthly basis.

As we sit at home in our theater rooms enjoying our HDTV's, BluRay players, DirectTV Channel "Super Packages", don't take it for granted. There are many in this country who can't afford it.

Updated On: 1/26/09 at 09:17 PM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:19pm

*Has never had cable*

I watch TV at my grandma's house when I visit.

[Yawper]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:19pm

many have trouble affording food and electricity

[morosco]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 9:59pm

Switching to Digital TV

[snl89]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:04pm

Ok, I actually have a question about this:

My school doesn't have cable, so I have rabbit ears. BUT, I was told that if I got digital rabbit ears I'd be fine. The set I got said "digital" on the box, so I assume that means they're digital rabbit ears.

Just curious though, does anyone else know more about this? I just want to make sure I'm definitely going to be good. It makes SENSE that digital rabbit ears would be fine, but it's just I've only gotten this info from one person and I feel the need to double check.

Anyone happen to know this kind of stuff?

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:05pm

oy, we all got up on our high horses mighty fast didn't we?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:11pm

snl89, any TV made (and bought) after a certain date is fine. I forget the date, but it was not recently. If you bought that TV within the last couple of years, you are fine. This is only for the very old TV's.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:12pm

hey now... my sister-in-law's parents refuse to get cable or direct tv because they didn't want their house to be drilled with holes to run the wires through the house... and i have friends who canceled their cable because they couldn't afford the bill anymore...

my only problem are the people who have no idea about the switch... i mean come on.. they've been announcing this thing for over a year or so with tons of advertising everywhere... i don't buy their excuse that they were unaware of it!!!!

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:32pm

So what if you don't believe that they were or were not aware of it? How does it affect you in the long run? I mean really think about what you are saying. If it doesn't affect you why are you even worrying about it?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:39pm

What I don't understand is why those ads aired on cable channels?

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:40pm

I have a tv with the rabbit ears antenna, it's analog, and I keep failing those tests they put out on the air.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 11:53pm

Well, have to study harder!

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 11:56pm

I bought my analog tv about a month ago and it isn't fine, according to the tests.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 12:22am

My partner had "accidental" cable that was knocked out during December's ice storm, so he's back to antennas and converter boxes largely because he doesn't watch that much TV and doesn't think actually paying for cable is worth it. And he has me to DVR stuff at my place as well.

The coupons arrived last week and I bought the converters and set everything up over the weekend. He gets 19 channels, almost all of them crystal clear except for the local Fox affiliate, which is pixilated within a inch of its digital life. He can turn off the box and still get decent reception with the antenna alone.

Looks like the whole thing might be delayed for four months anyway...looks like June 12 might be the new target date.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 1:40am

What amazes me most about the whole thing is this. That the FCC (or whoever is directing the switch) basically pulled the original switch date out of a hat a good few years ago. When, they had thought that down the line this would be a time where digital cable was going to be a basic, run of the mill thing that everyone would have.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 2:08am

because i want to worry about it!

[nmartin]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 6:39am

I refuse to get cable. I don't watch enough tv to justify it. The one time I had cable when I had a roommate I never watched it.

[LotteTBS138]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 8:06am

My mom at her work has a little tv with the rabbit ears (well, this antenna is actually a circle...) because she watches it maybe 20 minutes a day if that (between clients).

So during the summer, opposed to waiting til last minute, we went to a Radioshack with the coupon and bought two. Well, I installed the one at her job and channels are already broadcasting digital and she received like 5 different versions of NBC and local channels she was not getting before.

But, this was in LA opposed to BFE Wisconsin!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 8:21am

What is the point of them doing this anyway?

I would die without my cable. Well, ok that's an exaggeration.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 8:31am

i never had cable for the 15 years i lived in the nyc area. i didn't need it. i had the networks and at least 3 pbs stations. plus pax and hsn. i had probably a total of 17 to 20 stations depending on the atmospheric conditions. that seemed like plenty. i had to get it when i moved upstate because there's absolutely no reception. at all.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:52am

I've never had cable (at home) either, and frankly don't really want it.

[sidwich]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 1:42pm

I totally believe it. A number of people I know don't have cable. And some people we know who don't speak English were honestly totally unaware of the digital switch. (Apparently, it wasn't covered all that much in some of the non-English news)

A lot of my friends just honestly don't watch television or are fine with just the networks and PBS. My grandmother would never have gotten cable if my parents hadn't gotten it for her.