There are now 20 million households that rely solely on over-the-air TV for their idiot-box fix, according to AC Nielsen, the folks responsible for canceling most of the shows I like to watch. A year ago, 13 million households, or 10 percent, were unprepared to switch to an all-digital signal; in October, that was down to 9.8 million, or 8.4 percent, and today, a week before the originally scheduled switchover date, it’s down to 6.5 million, or 5.8 percent. See a pattern?
Just to put it in perspective, unemployment nationally is 11.6 million, or 7.6 percent, according to the latest U.S. Labor Department statistics.
So, we can safely say that most of those households may have bigger things to worry about than their TVs between now and the new mandatory switchover date of June 12. And contrary to the argument made in Congress that the elderly will be hardest hit by the conversion, Nielsen’s own figures show the over-55 age group is all about watching digital reruns of "Law & Order" right now.
The whole idea behind the switch is to move technology forward. Remember the astronomical sums paid by wireless service providers for space in the 700MHz band less than a year ago? They — and public safety agencies — won’t be able to use that bandwidth until the analog broadcasters get off it.
The auction raised over $19.6 billion for the federal government, which has distributed $1.34 billion already in the form of $40 coupons, some of which have expired, or went to people with digital-ready TVs who didn’t need them, or who thought they were the only way to get a converter box — just ankle into a Best Buy and look around — and the Obama economic stimulus package reportedly contains another $350 million for more coupons.
Does anyone really think it’s possible to get every American prepared for anything, no matter how many coupons you hand out or how many times you run an annoying PSA? Ever watch the Jaywalking segment on "The Tonight Show"?
On the other hand, broadcast companies have a lot riding on the switch. In addition to the billions tied up in unusable spectrum, because they are required to continue broadcasting in analog until the switch is made, media companies will continue paying for both.
But, if all the stations would opt to switch to digital as soon as possible, the rest of us could figure out how to get the signal back in our living rooms pretty quick. Or rediscover life away from a screen for a while, which might not be a bad thing.
If our outgoing President can reduce his traditional farewell address to 15 minutes of revisionist history and “Th-th-that’s all, folks,” why can’t the rest of history be reduced to fit the Twitter format?
With only 140 characters to work with, it would be a cross between haiku and headlines.
In fact, back in the day when newspapers employed teams of professional copy editors with facile vocabularies to check facts, spelling and grammar, write headlines and cut copy to fit the space allotted, one of the ways to pass the time between stories was to imagine how historical events would play today.
For anyone who has never had to do it by hand, writing headlines then was all about getting the character count just right so all the lines come out even. Ms and Ws take up way more space than ls and ts, for example.
The Second Coming was never much of a challenge. It would be on the top of the front page, in the biggest type available, and, after 1982, it wrote itself: He’s baaaaack! (and adjust the number of vowels to fit).
But what about a story from the international wire about a girl executed for heresy? Maybe not front page, maybe a three-decker inside, something like:
Joan of Arc has her day: auto-da-fe
What would a live tweet from the scene be like today? “That crazy French girl is so hot” takes up only 32 characters, so the possibilities are endless.
How would you have tweeted from Big Events – and which ones? The Gettysburg address? Pearl Harbor? Inside the second World Trade Center tower?
Let’s call it Twistory: Knock yourselves out with one tweet per event — and leave them right here in the comments box.
If there’s an upside to the current economy, it just might be in New Year’s resolutions. Those promises you make to yourself to become a better person by breaking bad habits and cultivating good ones might be easier to keep with the proper motivation of a tenuous employment situation.
Think about it. The top 10 resolutions Americans make every year just happen to be all about cutting back on food, cigarettes and booze; pinching pennies; spending more time at home; giving more volunteer time and going back to school. Getting more exercise should be the easiest, what with the price of gas about to start upward again, but finding a new job might be the one to work on first.
That didn’t take long, did it? Maybe Shanny can run in 2010.
Or maybe I’ll just leave the real forecasting to people who do actual analysis, especially in the realm of the economy. I’ll drop by the Economic Forecast luncheon on Jan. 15 to hear what we have to look forward to here in Northern Colorado in the coming year. Click here to get the scoop from economists John W. Green and Martin Shields firsthand.
Remember, it’s all about what you know, and when you know it.
