As of February 17, 2009, that non-digital TV of yours won’t work, at least not without a converter box. (And pray to God you’re not working at a TV station that day and taking phone calls.) The NAB is rolling out its first PSAs to educate the public about the upcoming digital deadline. It sent a 30-second spot to broadcasters. Here’s the script, via B&C:
Notice how digital’s made pretty much everything better? Especially television. Digital TV’s got better picture, better sound, more channels — in fact, digital’s so much better that, by law, ALL broadcast TV has to be digital by 2009. But there’s a catch: Some TVs need an upgrade to get digital. You could even lose your signal. Get the facts. Visit DTVAnswers.com to learn about television’s switch to digital. Or call this number to see how you can stay connected.
Very weak language. “Notice how digital’s made pretty much everything better?” That’s a lead? They need something that screams “Your TV ain’t gonna work on this date!” You can see the ad at DTVAnswers but, in another poor choice, the NAB isn’t making it embeddable. The one message that the TV industry badly needs to go viral can’t, because they haven’t included an embed code. I encourage them to change this. 2/17/09 is going to be one seriously crazy day, and we need to use every possible method of communication at our disposal to get out the word.