It’s a bit surreal to see the DTV transition come to pass, as I’ve spent much of my legal career dealing with the various factors delaying it. In any event, it looks like it’s coming. For real this time:
At noon sharp Thursday in Hawaii, a message appeared on analog TV sets across the islands: “All full-power Hawaii TV stations are now digital.”
The state shut down old-fashioned broadcast signals, more than a month before the rest of the country is set to make the now-contentious switch.
It was, of course, a surprise to people who can’t actually comprehend what’s been flashing across their screens for months (if not years):
“The calls we’re getting now are from those people who are waking up and saying, `Oh my God, what do I do?'” said Lyle Ishida, the FCC’s Hawaii digital TV project manager, just before the switch.
I alternate between having some sympathy and outright mockery. Maybe the eldery lady down the block simply tunes out whenever see hears the word “digital”. Her? I want to help. But for all these twits who won’t understand why their screens have gone snowy because they couldn’t comprehend the announcements between Judge Judy episodes? They deserve a break from television.
In any event, it’s here. It’s coming. A month from now. For real this time. The incoming administration may delay it a short bit (an ultimately pointless exercise, from a consumer’s point of view, I believe), but that television set in the spare bedroom will very soon need a new box to be useful.
(And if that’s the set your grandmother or dad watches? Maybe you should ask them if you can help.)