[Electronics-talk] Digital TV Transition

[Gerald Levy]

For the benefit of other listers who want more information about the digital 
TV transition on Feb. 17, visit the web site below  for a list of FAQs. 
Unfortunately, the FCC has exhausted its supply of $40  coupons to offset 
the cost of purchasing DTV converter boxes to use with old analog TV sets. 
There is now a waiting list of more than three million households for these 
coupons, and it is uncertain whether Congress will allocate additional 
funding for this program or extend the Feb. 17 transition deadline. Needless 
to say, many blind consumers may well find themselves in the dark on Feb. 18 
(no pun intended). I have cable TV myself, so I won't be affected.  But 
there are undoubtedly thousands of other blind consumers  who rely on 
inexpensive analog TV's  or portable radios with built-in TV bands as their 
only means of listening to TV, and they are going to be in for a very 
unpleasant surprise in a few weeks.

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

Gerald
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ckrugman at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] Digital TV Transition


> Thanks for posting this as this is the first I have heard of this. I 
> seldom listen to TV and have two sets in my house that are not hooked up. 
> When I need to I will generally go to a stations web site on the Internet 
> as our local cable provider is Comcast and I haved issues with them both 
> for their inaccessible digital service as it involves pointing at the 
> screen and touching a part of it as well as their reputation of 
> unionbusting and contracting out much of their labor so that it is done in 
> a substandard manner. If this hasn't been addressed it might be too late 
> now.
> Chuck
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Gerald Levy" <bwaylimited at verizon.net>
> To: "Electronics Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:19 AM
> Subject: [Electronics-talk] Digital TV Transition
>
>
>>
>> Hi listers.  As most of you are aware, The FCC has mandated that TV 
>> broadcasters switch from analog broadcasts to digital on Feb. 17.  Many 
>> of us use small portable radios with built-in TV tuners to listen to the 
>> audio portion of the analog TV signal.  However, after Feb. 17, these 
>> will no longer work.  From what I can determine, the cheapest digital TVs 
>> currently available cost at least $150, and require sighted assistance to 
>> navigate their inaccessible set-up and options menus.  And the digital TV 
>> converter boxes that are currently being offered that connect to analog 
>> TV sets to convert digital signals into analog format also have menus 
>> which are totally inaccessible.  And there are presently no radios 
>> available with built-in Digital TV tuners, and probably won't be any time 
>> soon.  Why hasn't more attention been paid to this issue, which could 
>> have a profound and devastating impact on the lives of thousands of blind 
>> folks?
>>
>> Gerald
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