“The Way You Watch TV Will Change …”
January 6th, 2009: Dean Stephens did a fantastic job of filling in for his Channel 4 colleague, Victoria Hansen, on short-notice. Both are recognized local personalities and the message concerning the affects of the federal mandate to transition to “digital” no later than February 17th, 2009 came through loud and clear no matter who was holding the microphone.
As a sportscaster, Dean opened his talk with a “college football” bowl discussion to the delight (and chagrin) of our members depending on which teams were your picks. He quickly moved into a review of TV as we knew it:
– “Rabbit-ear, black & white, ” the only remote was “Dad snapping his finger…”
– First coast-to-coast color transmission? “The Rose Bowl Parade” (1966)
– 2005: Congress mandates the transition to all – Digital TV: Why? We need to make room in the bandwidth spectrum for 1st responders and provide better TV color and clarity service to all customers.
The financial impacts to those few customers without satellite, cable, or other digital TV input may be mitigated by going to most electronic stores and asking for the 2 $40 coupons to which they are entitled to purchase the digital converter box.
Dean engaged our club in a robust, 20 minute Q&A that exceeded in scope, sports jokes, and serious assessments of the future of the TV industry any speaker in recent history.
Submitted by Bill Crowe, The Keyway Committee