You may have read last week that
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Sears and other retailers a combined $3.9 million for selling analog TVs without proper labeling. The FCC requires an analog alter label to be attached to older tech TVs to notify customers that these types of TVs will need to be hooked to digital converters starting next year.
Yikes, it just occurred to me that the little battery-operated TV in my hurricane survival bag will be worthless next year. I guess pretty much all of those portable TVs that we take to ballgames, tailgate parties and such will be worthless. They are all rabbit-eared technology.
I have been thinking about this conversion too narrowly. I have only considered what this means to the TVs hooked up in my house. What about the millions of little 3-inch screens people use to watch sporting events?
CNet News advises:
So what are your options if you still want to enjoy some portable TV
action after February 17th, 2009? Well, you'll need to shell out for a
new portable TV with an ATSC tuner. There are only a few options, such
as this
Accurian 7-inch LCD and the
Insigna NS-7HTV,
which isn't even currently available on BestBuy.com. We do expect more
portable TVs with ATSC tuners to hit the market as the DTV deadline
approaches--which will help alleviate this problem--but right now you
should stay away from almost all current portable TVs--or if you buy
one, realize that it's going to lose most of its functionality in less
than a year.
I wonder what you would find on a little shopping trip.
I can't believe that the media didn't write about this....
