L - Future of Broadcast
Rich Cameron
Issue date: 5/15/02 Section: 100x MM Online
The Future of Broadcast
In 1996 the United States started down a road that will dramatically change television in just a few years from now. In a recent lecture we learned about the Federal Communications Commissions' decision to adopt a color system that would, if it had actually happened, made all television sets already on the market and in homes obsolete. Well the 1996 change is likely to make all existing sets --millions of them-- obsolete by February 2009.
In 1996 the FCC issued every television broadcaster in the country a second frequency --free of charge. But there was string attached. The second frequency had to be used to broadcast digital television format, as opposed to the analog format we've had since the 1930s. The turnover was to be phased in over 10 years with the biggest markets, including Los Angeles, required to start broadcasting in digital format by 1999. In actuality, the public wasn't ready for the transition in time for 2006 and the conversion date was changed to February 2009. In 2009 the FCC intends to take back the analog frequencies and use them for some other form of radio traffic. All television will be converted to high definition television format.
That's a problem for you because your analog set will not be able to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts (cable companies likely will find a conversion process, so you can hang on to your set for a few more years). Eventually, however, we'll all be buying high definition television sets that are already on the market.
The switchover will be expensive for broadcasters, who will need new transmitting equipment and new cameras. Some broadcasters have already started broadcasting in digital on their second frequencies AND in analog on their old frequencies.
For the consumer, about 20 percent of the populace still receives TV only over the air (no satellite or cable). And a recent study showed that two-thirds of the nation still does not know about the pending change-over. Those who get TV with cable or satellite will not even notice the difference, though we'll continue to see lots of ads for digital sets.
High definition television (HDTV) will bring exciting changes to TV. Among the changes will be:
The 10-year-plus changeover has not been without controversy. Those broadcasters who were not among the first required to broadcast programming in digital were able to sublease the frequencies out for other legitimate uses . . . thus making double the profit. And there are those who feel they'll wait until the last minute and claim they cannot meet the deadlines. The "granny factor" --the little old lady living on a fixed income that could not afford a new tv set, a cable connection or a relatively inexpensive conveter, was the fear that caused Congress and the FCC to hold back the conversion until 2009.
Learn more about how digital tv works or how HDTV works from the "How Stuff Works" web site.
Reading Assignment
You should be reading Chapter Eight in your textbook to get more information about television and HDTV.
Exercise
Why should you not buy a big screen TV today?
Note that when submitting the answer start the subject line with:
J100x-L -- YourLastName -- BroadcastFuture
Next lecture: Media Effects
In 1996 the United States started down a road that will dramatically change television in just a few years from now. In a recent lecture we learned about the Federal Communications Commissions' decision to adopt a color system that would, if it had actually happened, made all television sets already on the market and in homes obsolete. Well the 1996 change is likely to make all existing sets --millions of them-- obsolete by February 2009.
In 1996 the FCC issued every television broadcaster in the country a second frequency --free of charge. But there was string attached. The second frequency had to be used to broadcast digital television format, as opposed to the analog format we've had since the 1930s. The turnover was to be phased in over 10 years with the biggest markets, including Los Angeles, required to start broadcasting in digital format by 1999. In actuality, the public wasn't ready for the transition in time for 2006 and the conversion date was changed to February 2009. In 2009 the FCC intends to take back the analog frequencies and use them for some other form of radio traffic. All television will be converted to high definition television format.
That's a problem for you because your analog set will not be able to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts (cable companies likely will find a conversion process, so you can hang on to your set for a few more years). Eventually, however, we'll all be buying high definition television sets that are already on the market.
The switchover will be expensive for broadcasters, who will need new transmitting equipment and new cameras. Some broadcasters have already started broadcasting in digital on their second frequencies AND in analog on their old frequencies.
For the consumer, about 20 percent of the populace still receives TV only over the air (no satellite or cable). And a recent study showed that two-thirds of the nation still does not know about the pending change-over. Those who get TV with cable or satellite will not even notice the difference, though we'll continue to see lots of ads for digital sets.
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High definition television (HDTV) will bring exciting changes to TV. Among the changes will be:
- A different screen ratio much closer to movie screens. Today's television screen mimicked early movie screens. But when television caught on and movies started losing audiences, new, wider screens were adopted. For years movies shown on television have had to be altered to fit your television screen. Either the edges have been lopped off or the picture was reduced from top to bottom so the full width could be included. With the new HDTV screens this won't be needed. All television will have the wide format.
- Greater screen resolution. Today's television screen is a series of small phosphorescent dots lit up by an electron gun. The gun scans the television screen at the rate of 525 lines per second telling each dot to light up or not and by how much. But the equivalent resolution of a movie theater is more like 800 lines per second. That means about 40 percent of the image is being lost in the transmission. It is good enough for us to see, but is not the same quality we're used to in movies. And all this time you thought it was because movie screens were just bigger! The new HDTV signals will have resolution potential greater than movie theaters. The result will be a picture quality so crisp it will look like you are looking through a window at the real thing. Images will look more 3-D, as a result.
- Pictures closer to the real thing. Better resolution is one thing. But when a program is broadcast over the air in analog format (and even cable TV is often broadcast at some point in the process) it loses about 10 percent of its information thanks to noise (remember our communication lecture?). With digital each dot is either a 1 or a 0, off or on. There is less chance of noise interring with the transmission/decoding.
- Sound quality will be better. Right now probably the cheapest part of your television set, quality-wise, is the speaker in the set. HDTV sets will feature stereo speakers capable of delivering CD quality sound.
- Multiple content channels. With the new HDTV sets broadcasters will have the choice of sending a slightly less quality picture or slightly less quality sound --differences we probably won't be able to detect -- and use the unused portion of the frequency to send multiple content channels. For us that might mean that the broadcast has multiple languages attached. Or for a football game there might be multiple camera angles broadcast and the user chooses which to view. Because it is digital, the television screen can be configured to show multiple pictures at the same time. For instance, in that football example, your screen might be configured into four panels that each show a separate camera angle.
The 10-year-plus changeover has not been without controversy. Those broadcasters who were not among the first required to broadcast programming in digital were able to sublease the frequencies out for other legitimate uses . . . thus making double the profit. And there are those who feel they'll wait until the last minute and claim they cannot meet the deadlines. The "granny factor" --the little old lady living on a fixed income that could not afford a new tv set, a cable connection or a relatively inexpensive conveter, was the fear that caused Congress and the FCC to hold back the conversion until 2009.
Learn more about how digital tv works or how HDTV works from the "How Stuff Works" web site.
Reading Assignment
You should be reading Chapter Eight in your textbook to get more information about television and HDTV.
Exercise
Why should you not buy a big screen TV today?
Note that when submitting the answer start the subject line with:
Next lecture: Media Effects
