G'bye, analog TV

We're going to be hearing a lot about this in the coming year and a lot of what we hear will probably be confusing and contradictory. In brief, over-the-air television stations are scheduled to change from analog to digital signals in February 2009. At that point, older television sets that receive their signals from an antenna will no longer be able to receive a signal that they can use. If you receive your TV signals from a cable provider, satellite dish, or something similar, such as Verizon FIOS, your provider will deliver a signal that you can use.

The federal government is making coupons available for those people who need to purchase a digital-analog converter. (We'll need one at the camp, for example.) You can find out more on the federal digital television web site.

Testing is showing, not surprisingly, that there are some uncertainties in the transition process. The problems haven't yet resulting in a delay in the changeover date, but stay tuned (if you can).