Analog people in a digital world come 2/17/09.

[tron3]

You know the type. Usually the older and/or poorer generation. They still use records, 8-tracks, cassettes, and VHS. Their TV is at least 10-15 years old, and was probably bought used from a repair shop.

While there is a government discount coupon program to give these kinds of people a digital tuner converter box, that coupon doesn't give them a proper antenna. In fact, the box may not even contain information regarding the use of a proper antenna to get digital transmission. In short, thousands of people are paying for converter boxes which will not do anything for them on conventional rabbit ears, or roof antenna. A UHF "bowtie" or "loop" antenna won't get them many channels.

I expect there will be a certain degree of "lost and bewildered" OTA only users come 2/17/09. This is the "Y2K" bug for digital TV age. The pay TV services are chomping at the bit to exploit these people.

I may know at least a few people who could be impacted by this transition and completely lose their picture. Anyone else think this problem is bigger than we think?