TVloop Blog

One of the more imprortant and contentious topics within the television industry these days is the Federal mandate for TV stations to disable their analog tranmissions for a couple of reasons according to the FCC’s The Digital TV Transition website:

1. Moving off analog signals frees up the broadcast spectrum for public services such as police and fire, while also paving the way for enhanced wireless services

2. Digital TV provides a better and more stable TV-viewing experience for consumers

The transition was originally supposed to be on February 17, but Congress recently voted to delay the mandate until June due to the potential negative impact on lower income households.  President Obama signed that extension last week.

The delay has caused quite a bit of consternation among TV stations that have been preparing for the better part of two years for the switch - including months of awareness campaigns run across local TV stations.  There are also government-issued vouchers to offset the cost of the necessary converter box for those consumers choosing to keep their rabbit ears.  Despite the delay, many stations are attempting to proceed with the transition as originally planned.  The FCC has already rejected 25% of those applications.

To get a sense of what our TV audience thinks about the delay in the transition, we took a poll of the TVLoop community for Lost, Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, The Simpsons, and The Office.  The results are below:

Overall, TVLoop users don’t think that the date should have changed (~46%) with 27% saying that there should not be a switch at all.  Interestingly, over 15% don’t even know what the transition is.  And from an individual show perspective, it appears as if The Office fans are more knowledgeable about the digital TV issue with 54% saying that it should not have been moved.