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Be Prepared: TV Goes Digital in 2009
Are you ready for some big changes in TV? According to a recent government survey, a lot of people aren't. And that could mean big problems next February 17th when all television broadcasts go digital.
Seventy million Americans use an antenna instead of a satellite dish or cable to watch television. Their antennas receive a signal that television stations broadcast. That broadcast is sent in what is called an analog signal.
Analog signals are sent with old technology, and the US government decided that broadcasters should use digital technology instead. So Congress passed a law saying all broadcasters must go digital.
That means that anyone who is using an analog antenna won't get any more television until they get a converter box that can pick up the digital signal and send it to their TV. Those boxes cost about $50, and the government will give coupons to help pay for the converter boxes. But many people are confused about what to do. More than half of the 800,000 coupons sent out were not even used.
Television sets that were made since 2007 already have digital tuners in them, so newer sets won't need the converters. The government is trying to get the word out so that by February nobody's TV screen goes blank when the big switch takes place.
I'm Isaac and that's what happened in technology this week.
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