By Jim Barry, CEA’s Digital Answer Man

In the midst of the “Digital Answer Man Tour” in Texas last week I did a last-minute DTV reminder segment live on the morning news on KDFW, the Fox affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth www.myfoxdfw.com, I expect this will be my last DTV transition explainer, but then I thought that in February too!

With its flat terrain and powerful broadcast stations Dallas is a market with some of the lowest cable penetration in the country meaning that the DTV transition resonates more there than in many other cities. The recent Nielsen figures also put it as the second “least ready” for the transition (behind only Albuquerque) with many viewers still “unprepared.”

As part of CEA’s DTV education efforts I’ve travelled to hundreds of TV stations in the past decade but no station I’ve encountered is doing more to educate its viewers about the DTV transition than KDFW. Along with the now ubiquitous ads, infomercials and on-screen messages the station has – like many broadcasters — a terrific website with clear information and links to other key resources.

Even better though, KDFW’s excellent consumer reporter Steve Noviello (who incidentally won an Emmy for his CES coverage a few years back) has not only done many on-air explainers, he’s gone out to viewers’ homes to help them connect their converter boxes. He asked viewers to contact him if they needed help and they did. Interestingly, many of his viewers who are reluctant to give up their analog TV have nevertheless embraced the digital world of the internet and contacted him via e-mail

In what has become a familiar refrain most of the issues involved reception or integrating other devices with the antenna, TV and converter box, including VCRs, DVD players and recorders, and a TiVo!

As I write this, there’s just a week left before the analog cutoff – Finally!! If you’re reading this after June 12^th, you know what transpired. If it’s before there’s still time to get a converter box and help a neighbor hook up that ’92 Magnavox. In either case check out the link to the DTV section on the KDFW website and the videos of Noviello’s helping-hand visits to his viewers’ homes.

As one who has been involved in the DTV transition for almost 20 years, it’s been a pleasure to see these excellent grassroots education as the days dwindle down to the analog cutoff.

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