Jan 142009
Original post January 13, 2009
Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman , voiced his concern regarding a postponement in the digital TV transition. Martin told Consumer Electronic Association CEO, Gary Shapiro, “The concern is that whatever date we pick again, people won’t believe…The problem with moving the date is we’ve spent a lot of time and energy to make sure people are aware of the date…but I am concerned about the confusion that could be created.” Another problem is going to be with Nielsen who had planned on dropping the traditional February-March sweeps monitoring that many agencies use as currency for large scale media buying. (From CableSpots 1/13/09)
This raises a lot of questions for even local advertisers. A delay in the monitoring could not only have an effect on the agencies, but the viewers too. If there’s no sweeps, then will the regularly scheduled programs air when they were planned? It’s no secret that the networks reserve the best episodes for sweeps week. If the programming changes, and we’re not even able to measure the viewership, should you reconsider your ad plans for the spring?
Then there’s the cable and satellite operators who can’t wait for the DTV transition. Cable service providers are expecting to see over 1 million new subscribers as a result of the loss of the analog signal. This is an interesting story that is being overshadowed by the economic crisis, but will definitely continue to be a source of confusion and controversy for the next few months.
How has the DTV transition affected you and how you are planning on getting your favorite programs after February 17, 2009 or whenever it actually happens?
