The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Bob Dylan
Almost 85% of Americans who watch TV get their American Idols and cop dramas from cable.
The FCC estimates that about 40 million households are still using analog cable, instead of the higher-quality digital cable. By February 17, 2009, the FCC plans to completely replace analog cable with digital cable (either through digital wiring to a digital cable-ready TV, or through a set-top box).“Analog transmission was the ‘coin of the realm’ for decades, but advances in digital encoding have made it obsolete,” said Stephen Schneider, Director of Technical Operations for Sunflower Broadband.
Several groups have been involved in the switch from analog to digital cable transmission. Individual cable providers have been changing the way they do business gradually. As more and more services are offered by digital cable, many television viewers made the switch on their own. Finally, the federal government stepped in to coordinate the change.
Sunflower Broadband, like other cable providers, must change its delivery method to a digital signal by 2009. The company has been working to accomplish that goal quickly, by offering special promotions. Patrick Knorr, Sunflower’s general manager, said, “We have been working to get digital boxes into as many of our
customers homes as possible, including a free offer that ended August 31st.”
On the other hand, Sunflower is not requiring its customers to make the switch yet. The difference is one of philosophy.
“Our transition to digital is completely voluntary, done for business reasons instead of by government requirement,” Schneider said
Industry-wide, many viewers have made the switch on their own. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association reports 32.6 million digital cable subscribers as of the last quarter of 2006.
“Our Subscribers have seen the benefits in moving to our digital product offerings so much that, at this point we have one of the highest ratios of digital to analog homes in the nation,” Schneider said.
Though an industry shift toward digital cable could conceivably phase out analog cable on its own, it might take a long time. This is why the FCC stepped in. The due date for full conversion of the United States’ 90 million cable subscribers comes a full five years after the original date in mid-2004. Undoubtedly, the governmental push toward a fully-digital landscape has brought the change on faster.
“Due to the nature of the U.S. television broadcasting industry, this change required the federal government to be heavily involved. In fact, it literally took an Act of Congress to make the transition happen,” Schneider said.
That transition may cost customers, however. Older televisions cannot receive digital signals, and require a set-top box, which can cost as little as $50, or several hundred. Sunflower subscribers may rent a set-top box from the company for $3.95 per month, but after 2012, even support for set-top boxes will cease by FCC order.
“I think it will be a bumpy ride for many but we hope it will not be for our customers,” Knorr said.
As Dr. Hunter S. Thompson used to say, “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”