Picture Perfect
TVs may become useless if they’re not digital

Brandon and Makayla Emerson of Thoreau look at televisions with their father Lester at Sears on Friday afternoon. A new law enacted by the federal government will do away with the old analog broadcast signal that many in remote areas rely on for their TV. Consumers will either have to upgrade their current TV or buy a Digital TV Converter. "Because of the law, I may have to upgrade. I'm kind of old school," Lester said. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

Old discarded televisions sit in a pile at Pete's TV Service on Maloney Avenue on Friday. Due to a new law enacted by the federal government, old TVs will become easier to find as consumers upgrade. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

GRANTS — In a little more than a year, the traditional over-the air-broadcast airwaves, always touted as owned by the public, will be no longer.

The federal government is forcing millions of TV owners who have antennas and received broadcast television signals through the airwaves to convert to digital TV.

A special converter box that converts older analog TVs to digital will be required, and since this is a government program, the TV set owner will pay for the conversion.

Congress however, has set aside millions of dollars worth of free $40 coupons available through the Internet or by calling a special telephone number to help defray the cost of making the conversion.

In Gallup, Pete Gonzales, owner of Gonzales TV Service, said he knows little of the situation, but if he needs to carry the converter boxes and help people, he probably will.

“It’s probably like years ago when television was converted from UHF to VHF and TV sets needed converter boxes for that,” he said.

“Too many people in the Gallup area, however, have little or no money for new digital TV sets or to pay the entire cost of the conversion, so the coupons will help,” he said.

“The government is wanting to use certain frequencies for itself,” he said.

Joe Montoya, owner of Grants TV Repair, said he hasn’t heard much about the changeover, but most people locally have already changed from analog to digital, or high-definition TVs. He said he will provide converter boxes to customers “If we have to.”

Grants resident Ashley Williamson said her family is already on satellite, so she does not have to worry about the changeover.

“It’s unreasonable, I don’t think it’s right. The government is forcing people to change, so the government should pay for it,” she said.

Karen Armstrong, a Pinehaven resident who works in Gallup, disagrees.

“If the government pays for it, who winds up paying for it? We do. How does the government get its money? From taxes,” she said. “All it would do is raise taxes.”

She said she heard the government has done the same thing to the automobile emergency call system, OnStar. “The government has shut that down because it’s analog too,” she said.

Paul Tipton, owner of Tipton TV Service, who specializes in home TV repair calls, said most people in the Gallup area probably won’t be able to afford the converter boxes, even with the coupons because they have little or no money for such things.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he said.

“I understand progress and all that stuff, but so much of the analog stuff is still good,” he said. Whether he will carry converter boxes or not is still undecided, he said.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” he said.

The date of the changeover is Feb. 19, 2009. The free coupons are already available, but they are only valid for 90 days and only two per household. For any homes that have more than two analog TV sets, full payment for conversion, or purchasing a digital TV will be required for any sets above two.

Reportedly, the TV rating company, A.C. Nielson, has estimated that about 13 percent of all TV sets in the nation are still analog. That totals about 14.5 million sets.

The converter boxes are required to provide closed captioning and are about the size of a paperback book.

To date, there has been no educational outreach to explain to the public what is going on or why and what needs to be done to convert to digital.

It is unclear at this point, whether such a plan exists or whether any such program will take place.

A public meeting by the National Telecommunications and Information Agency will be held in Washington. On Jan. 24, beginning at 2 p.m., EDT. The NTIA is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Reporter Jim Tiffin: (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.