DTV-End of An Era or Tech Renaissance?
Friday, June 12, 2009SUSIE GHARIB: Ready or not, local television stations are finally turning off their analog signals today and going digital. While the switch was delayed from February, an estimated three million Americans still aren't ready. The transition brings with it better pictures. But when the DTV push began 10 years ago, the promises were much greater with visions of multiple channels, interactivity and information on demand. As Stephanie Dhue reports, the digital revolution has become more of an evolution.
STEPHANIE DHUE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Some things happened on the way to the DTV revolution -- the Internet, for one. Technology strategist Larry Irving says the web changed the dynamics for broadcasters.
LARRY IRVING, PRESIDENT, IRVING INFORMATION GROUP: As they're looking to see what they should be doing outside of their core business, they are looking at the online realities that so many -- particularly the young audiences are gravitating toward online presence rather than broadcasting.
DHUE: Broadcasters were hit with a double-whammy. The Internet took advertising dollars, just as ad spending for autos, consumer products and banking began to shrink.
IRVING: You can't move to some of those new multitasking ideas without the revenue stream and the business models just aren't there.
DHUE: While local stations have added some channels -- mostly news, weather and reruns -- pay channels capitalized on the promise of digital technology. HBO for example went from one channel to 13. David Cohen of Comcast says digital technology also opened the door for high speed Internet and movies on demand.
DAVID COHEN, EXECUTIVE VP, COMCAST: Those are all benefits of the digital transition, but they just don't have anything to do with the broadcast digital transition, which is almost the last piece, one of the last pieces that has been occurring over a 10 or 15 year transition to a quote/unquote all digital world.
DHUE: Individual stations collectively spent about $5 billion upgrading equipment to make the switch. With it, they could now have an opportunity to offer hyper-local sports and news programming, filling the void left by closed newspapers. Jonathan Collegio represents broadcasters. He says today's switch is just the beginning.
JONATHAN COLLEGIO, VP, DIGITAL TV TRANSITION, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS: What we're going to see here in Washington, DC, is free mobile television that you can actually watch on a hand-held device, not unlike this, where you can actually when you're sitting in a park or when you're on the metro or you're on the subway, you can actually watch your local newscast from your palm and that is an incredible new innovation that I don't even know that they appreciate 10 years ago.
DHUE: The digital revolution is creating opportunities elsewhere. Today's shut down of analog TV signals frees up air space for faster wireless connections to your cell phone or laptop. Stephanie Dhue, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.
