Several digital developments have evolved in recent months to spell change for people’s relationship with their gadgets. Looming large among them is the February 17 deadline, required by law, for all major television networks to broadcast in digital only. In addition to providing sharper images and better sound, the use of digital signals will free up segments of the airwaves for other uses, such as broadband Internet (see below for more on this). However, anyone with an analog television who uses rabbit-ears or a rooftop antenna rather than a pay service like cable (see specifications in detail here), will find themselves staring at a screen full of snow. Nationwide roughly 21 million people rely on analog televisions, a group that disproportionately includes the poor, minorities, senior citizens and the disabled.
The federal government has taken steps to address this potential problem. In addition to launching an education campaign, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) – a bureau of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce – has made coupons available for purchasing converter boxes that allow analog televisions to receive digital signals. City agencies have joined the education effort, whether including notices in public housing newsletters or ensuring that electronics stores notify their customers that analog televisions will soon require converters to work properly.
Activists, however, are concerned that the message will not be heard by all who need it. According to Mark Lloyd, a vice president at the D.C.-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the $5 million made available by congress for the NTIA to conduct consumer education was far too little. Both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and NTIA, Lloyd said, “have done a good job of communicating with vulnerable populations, whether these are the elderly, disabled, immigrants, or people working two jobs, with the money they have. But they have not been given enough for this very complicated transition,” he said. According to a recent Nielsen report, nearly 4 percent of New York City households are completely unready for the transition.
Thomas Kamber, executive director of Older Adults Technology Services, is also concerned that New York’s seniors may be missing the message. “TV is more than entertainment when you’re 75 or 80,” he said. “For isolated, low-income seniors, TV provides the sounds of a voice and images that carry them through the day. If it goes dark, that will be a real blow.” He also points out that TV is an important source of information for many seniors, and that according to a New York Academy of Medicine report, lack of access to information is one of the top problems facing New York’s elderly. Back in May, Kamber’s organization led one information session about the digital transition at a Staten Island senior center, but was unable to hold additional sessions when 80 percent of OATS’ City Council funding was cut over the summer.
