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Digital Television (DTV) Transition Campaign Overview

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Page 1: Jonathan Collegio

Digital Television (DTV) Transition Campaign Overview

Page 2: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

American DTV Transition Basics  Original transition date: February 17, 2009  Obama Administration delayed date to June

12, 2009, but 421 stations transitioned on original date

 Broadcasters spent over $5 billion updating infrastructure

 Most stations (93%) already broadcasted in digital at time of transition

Page 3: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

DTV Transition Basics   Spectrum loss – 700 mhz band

•  Auctioned for commercial, wireless use •  Allocated to “public safety” uses

 Most TV stations simulcasting in both analog and digital during transition •  Legislation allocated extra “simulcast” channels for

digital broadcasts •  After transition, analog broadcasts disappeared

Page 4: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

DTV Transition Basics  Upside: Viewers Benefit

•  Crystal clear pictures and sound •  More channels through multicasting •  High-definition (HD) broadcasting available in all U.S.

media markets

 Downside: Upgrade requires action •  Viewers must take action to upgrade, or will lose

reception

Page 5: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Consumer Options   Purchase a new TV set with a digital tuner

•  All new TV sets have digital “ATSC” tuners •  Cost: $99-up (some DTV sets are not HD or flat screen)

  Purchase a digital-analog converter box •  Cost: $40-70 •  Available an 20,000+ retailers nationwide •  Federal government provided $40 coupons

  Subscribe to multi-channel service •  Cable, satellite or telephone company (fiber optic) TV service

  Some consumers may need to upgrade antennas

Page 6: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition Consumer Education Campaign Audience

Broadcast Household Universe   17% (19.6m) of American households are exclusively OTA   14% (14.9m) households have some antenna TV sets   31% (34.5m) of American households have at least some OTA

Disproportionately Affected Groups   Seniors   Minorities   Low Income   Rural Areas

Page 7: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Awareness

General awareness fully saturated at 98% by April

Page 8: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

U.S. Government Actors  U.S. Department of Commerce/National

Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) •  Oversee $1.5 billion coupon program and marketing

  Federal Communications Commission (FCC) •  Chief regulator, focus on consumer education and

broadcaster mandates •  Ran DTV phone call center

Page 9: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Government Resources Dedicated  U.S. Department of Commerce: $1.5 billion

•  Coupon program, outreach   FCC: $25 million

•  Consumer outreach •  Public Relations •  Phone center

  “Stimulus” legislation •  $650 million for coupons, outreach

Page 10: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Industry Resources Dedicated   Television Broadcasters: $1.2 billion

•  Television spots, crawls, snipes, programming •  Grassroots efforts •  Voluntary efforts

 Cable Industry: $200 million •  Public Service Announcements •  Marketing efforts

Page 11: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Coupon Program Basics   Part of 2005 DTV Transition law   $1.5 billion allocated to coupons to help viewers

upgrade   $40 coupon toward purchase of government-certified

converter boxes   Certified boxes are basic

•  No DVD players, special features

  Two coupons allocated per household

Page 12: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Page 13: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Retailer Participation  Retailers must be certified to participate in

program, to avoid fraud   20,000+ retail locations selling boxes with

coupons   Includes 8 of 10 top retailers, including Best

Buy, Circuit City, Sears, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Radio Shack, Target

Page 14: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Coupon Statistics   Coupons Requested: 64.1 million   Coupons Redeemed: 34.5 million   Redemption Rate: 55.0%   Average Daily Orders: YTD 108,000   Retailers/Locations: 28,000+   Phone/Online Retailers: 8/22   Government-certified converter boxes: 191

Page 15: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Converter Box Coupon Problem   Coupons have 90 day expiration   Redemption rate is 55%   Government must account for all outstanding coupons

as spent funds – even though all would not be redeemed

 The government cannot issue more coupons until unused coupons expire

 Waitlist created 1/5/09  Talks to delay transition date began on 1/8/09

Page 16: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Date Delay  Wait list: Millions of viewers would not get

coupons before transition date   President-elect Obama (1/8/09): DTV Transition

date must be delayed  Congress: Debated date change until 2/4/09;

passed date change

Page 17: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Date Delay Complications   Law allowed stations flexibility to go on 2/17

schedule if they chose •  Many had to transition due to transmission tower

leases, equipment sales, etc.   421 stations chose to go digital on 2/17  Result: Smooth transition

•  12.4m over the air households in affected markets •  50,000 calls to FCC – mostly on re-scanning

Page 18: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition June 12, 2009

Consumer awareness: 98%+ Unaided Date Awareness: 66%

•  Tax Day Date Awareness: 58%

Consumer readiness: 88% of OTA •  3% have take some action (have coupon) •  9% have taken no action •  2.1 million unready as of last Friday (25% have coupons)

Campaign reached point where remaining households refused action

Page 19: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Preparedness

Page 20: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition Results

Page 21: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition Results Consumer side went well

  Only 1-1.5 million out of 20 million affected households did not take action

Some technical issues   Stations broadcasting in low-VHF spectrum had issues

reaching viewers in digital •  Some requested power expansions from FCC •  Some power expansions interfered with other stations •  Many had to help consumers purchase better antennas

Page 22: Jonathan Collegio

How did we get there?

Broadcast TV Industry’s Consumer Education Campaign   Airwaves  News and PR  Grassroots initiatives

Page 23: Jonathan Collegio

Outreach: DTV Action Spots On-Air Campaign

  Spots •  16 spots per week per station required by FCC •  Spots by NAB, cable industry, local stations

  Programming •  30 minute program required as long-form information •  Produced by NAB, local station versions

  Crawls, Snipes   Analog “shut-off” tests

•  Stations simulate analog shutoffs during programming to demonstrate what will happen. (Note that these tests are not perfect).

NAB created industry plan; FCC made NAB’s plan the “baseline” for station action

Page 24: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Public Relations

Media Outreach   19,000 contacts with reporters   Over 17,000 stories generated   Reporter briefings and demonstrations:

•  New York •  Chicago •  Silicon Valley •  Washington DC •  Various state capitals

Good PR is key to calming anxiety among lawmakers and educating consumers in-depth

Page 25: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Web Outreach

Online  While only half of broadcast-only households

had Internet at home, still a key to distributing in-depth information

•  DTVAnswers.com •  DTV.gov •  DTVTransition.org •  Antennaweb.org •  LPTVAnswers.com •  Facebook.com

Page 26: Jonathan Collegio

DTV Transition

Grassroots Initiatives  DTV Transition Coalition

•  241 organizations  DTV Speakers Bureau

•  1000+ speakers, 8300+ speeches  DTV Road Show  Church Outreach   Local Government toolkits to 10,000+ officials

Page 27: Jonathan Collegio

Outreach: DTV Road Show

600 Events Nationwide

DTV Trekker stop in Laredo, Texas

Page 28: Jonathan Collegio

Central Challenges

Antennas maximize reception… But in some cases, are necessary to upgrade

•  Problem: VHF-UHF issue •  Problem: Changing signal contours

Re-scanning is crucial •  Many channels changing in the broadcast spectrum •  Viewers must re-scan to get all the channels available

Some stations changed coverage areas •  When signal contours change, viewers must be alerted •  Difficult to communicate to viewers

Page 29: Jonathan Collegio

Key Lessons

1. Synthesize government efforts   In U.S., two government agencies were tasked with

different goals, held different leaders, and communicated poorly. Best to have all government operations under one roof.

2. Coordinate messaging   NAB’s DTV Transition Coalition of 241 organizations

got all parties using the same message, instead of different messages from different industries.

Page 30: Jonathan Collegio

Key Lessons 3. Don’t schedule Transition after an

election   U.S. DTV transition scheduled one month after new

president took office. Bush and Obama had different priorities, and government change created leadership transitions at tops of government agencies.

4. Coordinate initiatives among major actors   Example: Broadcasters took lead on consumer

education, so commercials by government agencies were unnecessary. Avoid duplicate initiatives.

Page 31: Jonathan Collegio

Key lessons

5. Engineers must communicate  Crucial for broadcast, cable, and satellite

engineers to coordinate with one another. Periodic conference calls are important.

6. Phone Center is crucial  Make sure some party (government, cable,

broadcasters) is coordinating a robust call center to answer viewer questions.

Page 32: Jonathan Collegio

Key Lessons

7. Some viewers will need help   Some viewers will need more than financial

assistance to upgrade; for example, some older viewers may not be able to connect the box or move a TV set. Plans should be made by private industry and government to help these viewers, but also to avoid any fraudulent activities.