Engage Blog

The digital television transition still has a lot of us asking questions. Luckily, the latest guest in our “Five Good Questions” series was PBS Chief Technology Officer and digital television expert John McCoskey.

Here at PBS, John oversees our efforts to comply with the federal mandate to transition from analog to an all-digital television broadcast. John answered your questions about DTV and how to prepare for the transition.

How have you prepared for the digital television transition? Let us know and keep the conversation going in the comments below!

What is the timeline for all locally broadcast stations to transmit digitally? Robert Bradford

The FCC mandate requires television stations to stop broadcasting in analog by February 17, 2009.  They can already transmit in digital format, and most stations are already transmitting in digital at this time – in fact, many have been on the air with their digital signals for several years.  However, for those stations broadcasting in digital today, some are not yet operating at full power and others will have to change their channel after the transition date, so there will still be some final transition clean-up items left to complete.

I wish to know what websites you might recommend for someone without technical knowledge. There seems to be more than enough websites but many have very specific technical information and putting all this together becomes very confusing. Bernard M. Stein

There are several good websites that clarify the whole DTV transition and options.  At PBS we have one that gives a good overview and helps sort out questions and issues:  www.pbs.org/digitaltv .  This site walks you through a series of interview questions to help solve your specific situation and issues.   I also like the www.dtvanswers.com and www.dtvtransition.org sites.   For DTV Coupon questions, the www.dtv2009.gov site says it all.  Finally, www.antennaweb.org is a good site to help sort out local antenna and reception issues.

What's a person like me to do, who can't afford a converter box? JS

The DTV converter coupon program was created for just this situation.  One converter manufacturer has a box that sells for $40 – so in that case it’s "free" to viewers.  Many others are available for a few dollars more than the coupon redemption value.  For viewers who have lost or let their coupons expire, it looks like there may be an addition to the program to provide them a second chance, according to a broadcast industry publication [ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6598284.html ].  I suggest you watch the www.dtv2009.gov site for possible changes to the coupon program.

With the rollout of digital broadcasting, does the technology now give the networks the ability to actually track what people are watching, to the point where if, say, a couple of people are tuned to a station, the broadcaster of that station would be able to "sense" that two viewers are watching, or worse, who those two viewers are? Is this a likely future possibility? Hy A.

Digital broadcasting does not allow networks or stations to track what you and your neighbors are watching – just like the analog system it is replacing, broadcast DTV is a one-way service.  As broadcasters, we still count on third parties like Nielsen to help us estimate viewing audiences.  If you receive television through a cable, broadband or satellite receiver, the operator of that system has the potential to gather specific usage and viewing information.  Digital video recorders like TiVo also have this capability, even if you use them to receive broadcast television over the air.  Tracking media consumption habits is the “holy grail” for advertisers and the opportunities to target television advertising is possible, but much less developed than what you experience using the internet today.

I'm curious to hear more about your patents! What was your first patent, and what inspired that particular invention? Amanda

I’ve been lucky enough to always work in technology organizations and roles, often at companies that had a formal Patent strategy in place.  So, although I have a number of issued or published Patent applications they are all frankly related to just doing my job rather than from me being some sort of professional inventor.  It is still personally rewarding to go through the process and to be recognized for original ideas.  My first patent [number 5,414,431] was for a “Satellite communications system.”  The inspiration came from trying to figure out how to modify a common satellite approach used to build very large networks and to make it work for much smaller networks.  My employer was able to leverage this technique to grow the business, which was much more rewarding than having a plaque on the wall.