WASHINGTON - The Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. (EIC) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) gathered the nation's leading consumer and grassroots organizations most affected by the DTV transition. The forum also included entertainment industry representatives to develop ways the industry can help to communicate the digital television (DTV) transition to the American public by using television content and programming. The event, "Picture This: DTV and the Faces of Transition," held at NAB headquarters, included more than 30 key organizations committed to getting the message out to their constituencies of millions of television viewers.
Entertainment industry panelists included John Schneider ("Smallville" and "Nip/Tuck"), television writer and producer Michael Winship (president of the Writers Guild of America, East), executive producer Mark Wolper ("Salem's Lot," "Helter Skelter," and the upcoming remake of "Sybil"), development executive Kelly Goode, Diana C. Diaz, director of Corporate & Community Relations for Univision Communications (the first broadcast network to launch a DTV consumer education campaign) and Margaret Tobey, vice president of Regulatory Affairs for NBC Universal. The panelists spoke about the industry's role in educating the public about the DTV transition.
"NAB is spearheading an aggressive and thorough national outreach effort to ensure that no one is left unprepared when the government-mandated transition from analog to digital television broadcasting occurs," said NAB President and CEO David Rehr. "I applaud the efforts by the organizations represented at this event to coordinate efforts to target and reach out to the people who will be most affected by the DTV transition."
"We're pleased to have been tapped by NAB to be a part of the coalition that is working on this transition, bringing the influence of the creative community to bear so that those most affected - older Americans, people of color, rural residents, tribal communities and people with disabilities - do not lose one of their most important access points to information," said EIC President and CEO Brian Dyak.
On February 17, 2009, full-power television stations nationwide will cease transmitting analog signals, affecting approximately 20 million households that only receive over-the-air broadcast signals. In order to avoid losing television signals, these viewers must either purchase a converter box for their existing analog TV set, upgrade to a new digital TV set, or subscribe to a paid television service such as cable or satellite.
While the DTV transition may seem like a cut-and-dried issue to some, the fact is that a lot of people either may not be aware of the impending transition, or may not know what to do about it-people like John Schneider's 75-year-old mother.
"She has no idea this is going to happen," Schneider said. "She'll grab some tinfoil and see if it will help. Those are the folks we're talking about."
Schneider's mother lives in California. "As long as nothing happens on the 17th of February next year, perhaps people will figure it out. But if there's a wildfire-what happens? People are not going to get the information they need. This is going to affect people's lives drastically."
Mark Wolper noted the entertainment industry's role in communicating this information to the public. "It's better to give 50-60% of information if it's entertaining than 100% if it's boring," Wolper said. "We need to make people aware that the advantages of transitioning to DTV are great-better availability of public service information, better picture and sound quality."
Kelly Goode said "this is going to be an ongoing dialogue between the people in this room and creative professionals. Let us know that we need to get the word out about it."
Michael Winship delineated the goals for communicating information about the DTV transition to the public:
- Inform the public that a change will occur on February 17, 2009.
- Tell people what they need to do to make sure they'll have a TV signal on and after the transition.
- Tell people how to get the coupon.
- Tell people where they can buy a converter box.
- Tell people where to go for more information.
Winship also suggested creating PSAs and online viral videos to get people talking about the transition. He pledged to encourage WGA members-especially news writers-to communicate the DTV transition to the public.
Margaret Tobey explained that stations are spending billions of dollars currently to send out both digital and analog TV signals in preparation for the transition. She said once the transition happens, both money and electricity will be saved. "This phase of the transition is consumer education," said Tobey. She credited NAB with supporting public awareness of the transition through its Web site, DTVAnswers.com and other outreach programs. Tobey said there's a great need to focus on Spanish-speaking viewers, who are among those at the greatest risk of not getting the message.
Diana Diaz supported Tobey's statement: "In California alone, 1.9 million households are Spanish-speaking. Hispanic households are at a great, great risk of not having the tools available to them." Diaz detailed Univision's campaign, which launched in September 2007, to let people know about the transition. She said PSAs began to air on October 1, and in December coupon awareness began with a half-hour special on DTV and the history of television. In January, Univision informed viewers that now is the time to get the coupon and she said on March 22, 2008, the second DTV awareness special will begin to air, focusing on coupons and how to acquire and install converter boxes.
Following the industry panel, panelists worked with constituency group representatives in attendance to develop suggestions for ways that entertainment television can deliver the message to viewers through storylines on TV shows.
"Working together with such a diverse set of interest groups, our writers can play an important role reaching audiences with news of the digital transition," said panelist Winship.
The hardest-to-reach populations are at the greatest risk of not knowing about or not knowing what to do about the transition. Without increased awareness efforts, millions of people could potentially wake up to find only static, or "snow," on their TV screens. If a major hazardous event occurs in any given area, this could be catastrophic; it also could be hazardous to the television industry itself, which could lose millions of viewers and see ratings drop.
According to Schneider, the message is pretty simple: "Friends don't let friends watch snow."
A report of possible ways to incorporate the message will be distributed throughout the entertainment industry's creative community. Both the Writers Guilds of America East and West are in discussions to assist EIC and NAB, and will be reaching out to their writer members, encouraging them to help spread the word.
