Web site techradar.com published an article this week about a DTV transition gone bad. The article, Digital TV switch 'caused madness and mayhem' describes what happened in the Borders region of England when analog TV was shut off.
The title comes from a quote from Stuart Allan, joint partner of Border Video and TV Services in Galashiels.
"It has been madness and mayhem," Allan said. "If something isn't done to sort this confusion out, I dread to think what the switchover will be like in more densely populated areas."
The main problem, according to the article, was inadequate information provided to both retailers and consumers. Problems arose from the need to retune digital equipment due to interference following the switchover. Two channels switched to digital at different times, requiring two service calls to retune customers’ equipment.
While the U.S. DTV system allows consumers to easily rescan channels to find stations that switched channels, readjusting antennas if transmitter sites change, or changing out antennas to pick up TV channels on a new band (VHF, for example), isn't as easy. Education is critical. Ideally, the analog nightlight program will help reduce the confusion here on Feb. 17, allowing markets to avoid "madness and mayhem."
