Electronics Makers Offer Analog TV Makeover
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when “The Lone Ranger,” Sid Caesar and all your other TV favorites came in over the air and via an antenna.
The Consumer Electronics Association and the National Association of Broadcasters want to find the people who remember those days … and give one of them all the gear needed to upgrade to a digital signal.
On May 1, the two trade organizations launched an online contest to find “America’s Rabbit Ears Pioneers.” Announced by Florence Henderson—TV’s “Carol Brady”—the competition is soliciting photos and short stories about individuals who still rely on analog TV sets and rooftop or set-top antennae for their broadcast signals.
Entrants can nominate themselves or friends and family members. They’re asked to post a photo and a short essay on what the nominee likes about broadcast TV, when they bought their first set, and their favorite TV memories of the past. Entries can be posted to www.antennaweb.org.
Four winning entries will be chosen from those submissions in June, August, September and October and given a digital converter box and digital antenna so they can continue using their existing analog sets.
A grand-prize winner will be chosen from among those four finalists in November—about 100 days before the federally-mandated changeover to digital TV signals on Feb. 17, 2009, and also in the run-up to the holiday shopping season. The winner will get a $6,500 home entertainment makeover, including a flat-screen high-definition TV, a Blu-ray disc player, and a surround-sound audio system. Entrants who nominate other friends or family members will also be eligible for the prizes.
“CEA and its member companies are thrilled to offer this unique and fun public education campaign,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro in a statement. “We want to make sure that everyone is ready well in advance of the ‘digital deadline.’”
Manufacturers, broadcast groups and industry organizations are running several public-information campaigns designed to let analog viewers know their options, including upgrading their TV, subscribing to a closed service such as cable or satellite, and hooking up a converter that will change digital signals to analog broadcasts on their existing sets.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is currently issuing $40 discount coupons for digital converter boxes through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
