U.S DTV Awareness On The Rise

News has been low lately about the DTV switch. But today a survey reveals that 6 out of 10 Americans now are aware of the U.S. transition to DTV. BroadcastingCable reports about the survey made by Frank N. Magid Associates. In September 2007 a survey found that only 34% knew about the transition. U.S consumer awareness is on the rise and that is good news. However, it is still a good deal of work that remains. The next question for consumers to be asked is more crucial, that is: If they know if they are affected by the transition at all. Cable and satellite viewers are not affected directly.

In Sweden, one of few countries that has completed a national transition, the DTV switch is over and done. Last survey sheds new light on the transition. First, Consumers who were most negative to do the switch, now is among the most positive – their low expectations were exceeded. Second, now one third of elderly people are actively viewing a greater amount of channels than before the switch. Third, most people had a converter box installed before the actual transition – that proofs that the information awareness campaigns worked well. Mission completed!

Anders Bjers

State Of The DTV Transition – Mixed But Going Forward

Yesterday was the big day for DTV stakeholders and officials. At the Best Buy meetup in D.C the NTIA:s DTV coupon was unveiled as a red “look-a-like” credit card that is worth $40 each.

Media is reporting about the event but with mixed results. It seams to me that even the stakeholders don’t really know for sure how many households that are really affected by the transitions.  Also,  the level of knowledge among consumers are unclear. Recent reports and surveys give varied results. Kim Hart at Washington Post writes, “consumers don’t know the transition is coming and have never heard about these converter boxes”. She also notes that this will be an interesting year.

U.S newsagency AFP writes about the event headlining it as “U.S gears up or the DTV switch” and cites FCC Chairman Martin saying ” more needs to be done” to inform the US consumers about the upcoming transition. AFP also sorts through some stats about the state of the transition as of now.

Media and bloggers love statistics and love when facts are unclear. Clear facts should be provided in sync among stakeholders, thats bascis Especially when they are on stage together. Wired blogger Bryan Gardiner picks up just that and keeps the ball of uncertainty rolling in his post.  Gardiner is citing Best Buys spokesperson Brian Lucas who comments on converter box sales, saying: “It’s a difficult situation because nobody has done this before. So, yes, there’s some uncertainty.”  My questions is – why don´t best buy send a team overseas to study sales and retailers efforts in Europe where actual transition has taken place. In Sweden for example the retailers really had a second Christmas season because of the transition. And during times of economic instability that shouldn’t be to bad. And I am firmly believing that consumer behaviour are just about the same in the U.S as in Europe. As well as retailers situation.

The Insignia converter box that Best buy will sell is a very simple box. Electronic house reporter Rachel Cericola writes about that box.

The Consumer Electronics Association, CEA, released new results from research that revealed the top sources consumers are using to learn about the transition. The prime source is television (72%), family and friends (39%) and the Internet (26%).  I think in any case this showes what important role the media itself will play to “move” the consumers into action.

I am astonished that either NAB or any of the stakeholders made a podcast or webbcast of yesterdays event. If there is anything important in a transition to do, it is to bring out unified messages. To bring down the level of uncertainty. I think this event was a great opportunity to spread the word from the top stakeholders to everyone involved in the mission. Also, it would be a great source for media to embed and pick up along with their own reporting. Even if the transition will be a hyper local event there will be few moments when the heads of the stakeholders share the stage together as they did yesterday.

Anders Bjers

Exec Nervous About Supply Of DTV Converter boxes

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Best Buy Inc.’s chief executive Brad Anderson is reported to be very nervous about the supply of converter boxes.Will the retailers meet the demand? In Bussiness Week Anderson looks at the possible lack of converter boxes in store saying: “I think it’s one of the biggest risks our industry has.”

Steve Eastman, VP at Target thought more the transition as a great marketing force and about his own business, saying “From a category standpoint, I think it’s great _ it’s getting people to talk a lot about HD
and what technology they have in their home,” he said according to Washington Post.

(Once again a proof that the “HDTV hype vs DTV transition needs” will be a challenge for under-informed consumers to figure out and relate to.)

In my mind this is one of the worst scenarios you can imagine. Consumers are pushed by infomercials and government sponsored information campaigns to act on a very specific alert, if they can’t fulfill that it is a very deep crisis that will put consumers trust at stake. And the whole transition as such!

I think the background is this:

Most of the converter boxes are manufactured overseas. Parts for converter boxes is a global commodity. Many other countries like U.K and other European countries are gearing up for transitions. That means many markets are competing for converter boxes to be delivered to the domestic consumers.

We experienced in Sweden some critical moments of supply shortages of converter systems for apartment buildings but never for consumers. Some components where flown in from China on passenger airlines and rushed to factories to be assembled in a rush. One of the reasons Sweden didn’t have dips in supply, is that Sweden has the same technical DTV standard as most other countries. US has picked a different version together with Japan and South Korea. That means in my mind, U.S will have a different position to be able to have supply from manufacturers general production lines. That also creates a shrinking market of supply for the U.S.

Also, the tests for converter boxes in Sweden,were changed and made slimmer during the transition to become faster and to a lower cost. At one point they were free to speed up the process and lower the threshold to enter the market.

Converter boxes that are to be sold in the U.S is the first generation of boxes. That will always mean more problems. Look at the first generation of Iphones for example. The difference is that it is easy to update the software in an Iphone. For an elderly consumer it is pure rocket science to download new software to their converter box manually. You have to do that if the box can’t make it automatically. And boxes will probably differ on this. NTIA should demand that boxes can update software automatically. Today that is not the case. It would probably increase the cost.

Boxes that are to be eligible for the converter box coupons must meet certain rules and, I think, must be tested before they enter the market. NTIA should make sure that the testing is made as easy and swift as possible so it doesn’t become a bottleneck that delays boxes to enter the market. Today no one have asked any questions about the procedures for testing and how the boxes are made.

This is one of the most important parts of a transition to keep track of. If there is a lack of boxes in stores consumers will become very very upset.

Anders Bjers

Mobile TV Gets Go In The EU – How Will U.S Follow?

Today the European union has issued a statement that names DVB-H as the standard for mobile TV among the member countries. In the statement it reads:

“Following the Council meeting today, DVB-H will be published by the Commission in the list of official EU standards. As a result, all EU Member States will have to support and encourage the use of DVB-H for the launch of mobile TV services, thus avoiding market fragmentation and allowing economies of scale and accordingly affordable services and devices. In addition, the Commission intends to work closely with the Member States in the coming months on the authorisation and licensing regimes, and to look together with the industry at issues such as service layer interoperability and right management applied to mobile TV“.

This practically makes DVB-H the mandatory standard for many stakeholders in Europe.

Nokia, the worlds leading cellphone maker, has been a driving force behind picking DVB-H as a standard, as AP reports. The Finnish company has made several models of phones with built in TV and larger screens. Tests in Sweden among else, went very well and people loved the idea of watching streaming or broadcast TV in a cellphone. Some people who took part in the trials even liked the idea to bring the phone to bed to watch late night favorite TV shows…

In the U.S, Bloomberg reports that Apple and AT&T today announced that a new version of the IPhone will soon be out with greater download capacity. Making it possible to get videos from YouTube to stream “faster” to the phone. AT&T is continuing to serve television via telephone lines, competing with cable,satellite and over-the-air TV operators.

Broadcasting TV to mobile phones requires a DTV transition to make room for frequencies, the debate about what the white space should be used for has a connection to how and who will bring TV to your mobile phone in the future. One thing that Google has discovered the potential of, and are planning to place a bid for in the upcoming auction, as reported by NY Times. Making it possible to launch a wireless device – with TV included?

But, hey, when will all this be packed together in an Iphone. TV in the Iphone would look great and connect then content to Itunes and Apple would have a really strong product. Something that keeps Jobs up in the night thinking about? Well, if you read consumers minds it wouldn’t be rockets science to figure out and deliver. The EU has taken a clear step towards creating a sound platform for mobile TV. Yesterdays FCC commissioners meeting didn’t have anything like this on the agenda. So what will be the US move when it comes to mobile TV? Can FCC create a great context to unleash the powers of giants – the TV industry, telecom operators and silicon valley will be stakeholders and creators of the future for mobile TV in the U.S. Maybe Apples Iphone will be a possible spearhead into the future.

And bookworms beware… Your spouse might want to keep the light down for the sake of, thats right, TV in bed, a different kind of sneak peek…

Anders Bjers

U.S Consumer DTV Education Campaigns Reach Full Steam

NAB has announced that the second phase of the DTV consumer education campaigns is in full swing. This phase is long awaited for by stakeholders, decision- and lawmakers. Also, NAB have launched ads to reach lawmakers and stakeholders in D.C, awareness is not only a goal among consumers. Probably is the awareness among lawmakers just as low, even if this matter should concern them more. NAB and the DTV coalition has in fairly short time succeeded in putting together unified messages to reach out to consumers in the effort to prepare consumers to act well in time before the actual transition in ’09. The question remains though how well they will reach out and make people take action.

A difference compared to other countries is that there are no converter boxes in stores yet.

The campaigns consists of the following parts:

· DTV Action” television spots

· Crawls, snipes and/or news tickers during programming

· 30-minute educational programs about DTV

· 100-day countdown to the February 17, 2009, DTV deadline

· Public relations elements, including earned media coverage in newspapers and online

· DTV Road Show that will visit 600 locations nationwide

· DTV Speakers Bureau that will reach one million consumers

· Online banner ads on TV station Web sites

About a 1000 U.S broadcasters are using these tools to reach out. I think that is a great move – the transition is a hyper-local event. People will turn to their local stations for information and local retailers, talking with neighbours for advice and tips. A truly glocal example in todays flat world.

NAB has learned much from campaigns in Europe. It is almost a blueprint off the campaigns successfully carried out in Sweden. And the key components as the ticker, roadshow and earned media are the core components used in both Sweden and U.K. But why should the U.S invent the wheel? A transition is not really rocket science (any more) but a great effort and a real challenge for stakeholders and communication professionals. It isn’t very often you come across projects with these very special features and circumstances. Think about it: limited time that are constantly shrinking – a constant countdown, A complex mass of stakeholders that you want to coordinate to walk and talk in the same manner and direction, a limited budget, a broad range of targetgroups where the hardest to “move” and educate are in many ways the hardest group to reach with any message, a political dimension that is delicate to handle because if the project should backfire – people in the political sphere will be directly effected. And add to that a huge opportunity and challenge for retailers to provide the hardwear needed to make the transition possible on an individual level. It might even be material for a reality show…

But the greatest ally will be silence, how strange it may seam. Because if it is silent the days before a transition everything will work fine. A bold assumption but also the true reciept of a successful transition in Sweden.

It will be interesting to follow if silence will be the state of the transition on the 17th of February 2009, with two days to go..

Right now there is little silence. NAB estimates that the campaign will generate 98 billion audience impressions during the course of the campaign. If there is silence among stakeholders at this point something is very wrong. But I believe the DTV transition will be smooth and great.

Anders Bjers

Today Sweden Completed Nations Transition To Digital TV

Today at 9.45 AM the Swedish Secretary of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, switched off the last analog TV-transmitter in Sweden. During two years time and in five phases, Sweden has converted all it’s analog tv-transmitters to digital. A process that has been smoother than anyone anticipated in the beginning of the transition. Allthough consumers have been able to recieve digital-tv since 1999 in Sweden, many waited until the last hour to convert. However, it is a minority left who were still using analog only reception. The main part of Swedens consumers affected by the transition has allready made the transition. During the two years many more made the step to buy a converterbox than to wait and see until the very last minute.

The transition is overall a success, both for the Swedish government, the stakeholders and the consumers. TV viewers in Sweden has more than doubled the number of channels compared to analog broadcasts and the quality is superior. Even if many complain about the pricetag for a converter box, during the first phase of the transition, the prices has decined steadily during the remaining phases. Today it is possible to buy a converter box in Sweden for $80. And the market is fairy well developed with a great selection of different brands and capabilities and the price range varies.

So, today a fairly important piece of television history was written in a corner far up north of Scandinavia. And less than 500 days from now TV- viewers in the U.S has to be as ready as Swedes are today to be able to watch TV as usual, even if the TV-land is going through changes at the same time that are hard to imagine the outcome of. How TV as the main media will be transformed in a not too far away future. That is a major piece of history to be written – and we are a part of it, right now.

Anders Bjers, in Stockholm Sweden, for the moment.

Senators Bill May Put Stakeholders On A Thrill

Senator Herb Kohl (D) of Wisconsin has made a bill that could bring major changes to the DTV coupons program and also for the DTV information campaigns that is running in the U.S. The bill focuses on the elderly and how they are affected by the transition to DTV. This is reported by Broadcasting cable.com.Today it is very much up to the stakeholders how they are bringing information to consumers.  Earlier critizism has focused on the only spanish speaking audience. Since then infomercialls has started to run on major TV-networks to bring the message out.

So what help are we to be expected to be present among the elderly affected by the transition?

Senator Kohl thinks that only analog households should be able to use the coupons. Not as today when any household can use the coupon. Since the budget is limited it is a wise move. Also, information campaigns should be on TV. Well that is up and ruinning already. And not only households but also nursing homes and assisted living facilities should be included as recievers of coupons. Thats a great move in one way. But, isnt most of these facilities using cable TV? Can anyone tell me how that works? I think time is crucial here. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities would be better of if they had information sent to them or even people calling them och paying them a visit to alert them in time about the upcoming transition. for eldelry the TV is a important connection to the world. And remember they belong to the real TV-generation. For them the TV was the new thing, once bringing something really new to their lifes. We better treat them with respect.

Our experience in Sweden is that the talk and worries about the elderly that has to do something to be able to watch TV after a transition did not match the actual outcome. There have been very much less cases with elderly having serious troubles due to the transition than anyone could expect. It is hard for some to connect the converter box to a tv-set. It is harder to adjust to the fact that one more remote control is needed to make the channel selection. It is an adjustment and the products are often to complicated for people with little computer knowlede to handle. If you are used to computers you are often used to think in terms of “menus” and setup systems. We alerted the local stakeholders in more than nine months ahead of the acutal transition to make shure they had enough time to adjust and make wise decisions.

The makers of converterboxes dont usually think in simple terms. I often think that Apple should make a converterbox, because they are experts in simple user friendly formats and products. Think about it. What if the Apple TV also included a converter for DTV?  That would be neat and great I beliave. There is a lot of tuners that makes your Apple computer become even a HDTV reciever. How bout the other way around?

Anders Bjers

FCC Seeks The Publics Comments On Digital TV Switch

This week belongs to the Federal Communications Commission, FCC. For the first time FCC wants to open it´s doors to the public, regarding digital TV. FCC seeks comments from everyone who cares on the proposed DTV education initiatives for the transition to DTV. Ad to that FCC member Adelstien´s call for a DTV transition task-force during yesterdays ACA meeting in Monterey. Last but not least – FCCs vote on the auction of spectrum in the 700-megahertz band.

I think FCC goes out of it´s way to listen to the audience, stakeholders and everyone involved or engaged in the transition -while there is time. Or is FCC seeking to refine it´s own role in the transition?

Here is what FCC is looking for better understanding of:

The NPRM seeks comment on proposals to help convey the timing, logistics and benefits of the DTV transition to consumers, including:
• Broadcaster Public Service Announcements, other Consumer Education Requirements, and Reporting
• Notices in Cable, Satellite, and other MVPD Bills
• Notices from Consumer Electronics Manufacturers
• Employee Training by Consumer Electronics Retailers
• Adjustments to the DTV.gov Partners Program

This can be viewed as the most critical parts for the moment of the U.S DTV transition. The first thing that comes to my mind is that this is a great effort but very formal. Why don´t FCC invite stakeholders, NABs TV Coalition and everyone else to a physical meeting in D.C. Use technology to have a real interactive and engaged meeting to listen in to everyone’s ideas and proposals to make the transition successful and deliver the comments that FCC asks for?

The second thing that comes to my mind is the question if this is what FCC wants to have more knowledge about – isn´t this very much the same that NAB and the DTV Coalition is preparing to launch?

The third thing is that nothing is mentioned about information campaigns as such and budgets. Two fundamental parts of the transition.

Another concern that may be important is that the DTV information campaigns will run during a election year. Usually it might be hard to compete with the audiences attention when political ads and news events are taking place.

From experiences made in Germany, U.K and Sweden suggests that much of the work in the beginning of the process leading up to transitions, was focused on getting the stakeholders and the industry to work together. In Sweden it took about a year to get the stakeholders to agree and work together on unified messages, campaigning efforts as well as shared budgets. In UK there is a huge organization working with different parts of the transition since a couple of years back. They have even sorted out what might happen with all the litter, old TV-sets and how to take care of it all.

A year ago I visited NAB, FCC and stakeholders in D.C. When asked if there was or would be some kind of a hub that would manage the U.S transition – everyone tilted their heads, had a short silent look at me and said: “Well you know United States doesn´t work like that”. I guess one proof of that is FCC now seeking to refine its role in the transition as such.

Anders Bjers

Is Politics Good For A Transition To DTV?

Yesterday the blog Digital TV facts reported about the DTV caucus in the Congress, led by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va). The caucus focuses on the evolving transition to DTV. This was also reported by The Bend bulletin and earlier in april by Tech Daily Dose, when the caucus was first announced. But it is interesting that a caucus has set out to be part of the efforts to bring the DTV message out to the consumers.

Mixing politics with the transition to digital TV is a difficult exercise that you want to handle with care. My own experience from Sweden is that politics can blur the information and reasons for a transition to digital TV. Politics brings in values and ways that both the audience / consumers and stakeholders have to take in and process. That itself may make it harder to communicate a transition than easier. In my view, a transition is easier for consumers to embrace if it is kept as a practical step to improve the television as they know it.

So my question is if politics are good for a smooth transition?

The flip side of the coin is about responsibility. Who is responsible for the different parts of a transition if it backfires. Since TV is the prime information source for the public it can be a disaster if a transition would stall. In that case maybe politicians would like to keep a transition at arms lenght. What would the caucuses standpoint be in that case? Hopefully they would still embrace the transition and make it work great.

In any case, media will be tracking a caucus about DTV in a different way than caucus’s about potatoes and other commodities. Why? Because media loves media and a transition is a milestone not to be missed to report about. That will probably put a DTV caucus in the local limelight.

Bring the shades dear Representatives – you may be out for a ride.

Anders Bjers

P.S. Digital TV facts is one of the best sources for interesting news about DTV. I have it on my Google reader and check it out on a regular basis. Often Steven Sande picks up and writes about DTV stuff that no one else have tracked. They work hard to put out clear and good information about the basics of digital television. D.S.

DTV Stats vs Medias Attention

Many consumers in the US do not know anyting about the upcoming transition to DTV and its implications for them. The vast majority is totaly unaware. I read Dean Takahashi´s TechTalk in San José Mercury News with great interest. I love to pick up the paper every morning from our driveway and take a first sniff of the soft and fresh morning air in Menlo Park. Dean wrote an article about the DTV transition the other day. I enjoyed it mostly because he put together the basic statistics of transition. Here are some of the stats that Dean gathered.

About 60 percent of the consumers do not know anything att all about the transition today. About 20 million households are affected by the transition with an antenna as primary reciever of TV-signals. Another 14.6 million households have secondary TV-sets that are also affected. All in all around 70 million TV-sets need a converterbox to function properly, but no one really knows for sure how many TV-sets that are analog today. About 92 percent of broadcasters are transmitting both analog and digital TV as of today.

In comparison, Digital Media Europe reports that 38 percent of the viewers in the UK are not aware of the DTV transition and approximately 26 million TV sets are analog only today. And only 7 percent is aware of when the actual transition will take place in their region. I think the US has an easier task communicating the transition. Since its the same day for the whole country. But the common knowledge about the transition in the US is way to low right now. How do you bring that up? One thing that really matters is medias attention. UK media has covered the transition for a long time. and not only from a technical perspective. I think medias focus on technical aspects of digital television to often overshadows the consumers little interest in technology.

There is a widespread confusion about DTV – digital TV and HDTV. Most of the people I have met thinks this is all about HDTV. I think that is unique for the transition in the US compared to european countries. In Europe HDTV is not that common. Its starting to take of on platforms like satellite and cable but it is mostly for premium content. In that way it is easier to conduct a transition to digital TV in Europe since the improvement is a bigger bang for the TV viewer and you dont have to be dealing with another confusing acronym. Even if the US is in the early hours of the operations preparing for the actual transition, I am astonished about how poorly mainstream media is covering digital TV or ways of recieving TV. Tech media knows much about the subject but I still miss discussions about antennas, converterboxes and how to deal with reception for apartmentbuildings or buildings with central antenna. That are issues that needs more attention and more time to manage to be prepared in time for the transition date.

Anders Bjers