http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/listen-up-rabbit-ear-fans-your-guide-to-digital-tv Don’t panic, but one year from today, millions of television sets will be as obsolete as an 8-track tape. Yours may be one of them. Don’t throw away that electronic Edsel, though. If you subscribe to cable or have a satellite dish, your old TV will work just fine as the nation crosses over the digital divide. If, however, you receive television with an antenna, you need to take action. Do nothing, and you’ll be watching nothing come Feb. 17, 2009. Most local TV stations already broadcast in digital alongside an analog transmission. A year from today, the federal government requires stations to shut down their analog transmitters and give those frequencies back. Since March 2007, every new TV set has included a digital receiver. But if you have an older set, you’ll need to get a converter box to decode those digital signals. Again, don’t panic. The government is spending up to $1.5 billion to provide each household with two $40 coupons for converter boxes, which should cost $50 to $70 each. If you have a converter box or a TV with a digital tuner, over-theair television will still be free. “There’s a huge amount of confusion,” said Neal Miller, owner of Total Theater on North Academy Boulevard. “I think it’s important that people know that they’re not going to be forced to do it. To go out and buy a television that’s high definition is a serious investment.” While most people subscribe to cable or satellite, there are still a lot of folks out there with rabbit ears. A 2005 Government Accountability Office survey found that 21 million Americans get their TV over the air, compared with 64 million cable subscribers and 22 million satellite subscribers. Studies by the Association of Public Television Stations have shown that senior citizens are much more likely to get their TV over the air, which is a concern, since those viewers are less likely to be comfortable switching technologies. “A lot of people who are going to be affected by this are not people that come into a Best Buy all that often,” said Brian Lucas, a spokesman for electronics retailer Best Buy. “We don’t want people to come into the store and think they need to get an HDTV.” Cable and satellite companies are stressing that their subscribers don’t have to lift a finger. “We do want our customers to know that they will be essentially unaffected,” said Mark Ewell, director of sales and marketing for Falcon Broadband. “It’s going to work today, it’s going to work next year.” Confused? Concerned? You’re not alone. A Consumers Union survey found that 74 percent of those polled misunderstood how the transition will work and that 36 percent knew nothing at all about the switch. Even the people who sell this stuff have been slow to master the details. Last fall, the Colorado Public Interest Research Group sent secret shoppers to electronics stores in Denver and Colorado Springs to ask about digital TVs and the transition. In Colorado, nearly all (94 percent) of the salespeople provided some inaccurate information about the transition, and a fifth didn’t even know the Feb. 17, 2009, date for the transition. Retailers need to do a better job educating their staffs and customers, said Grady Nesbitt, CoPIRG’s citizen outreach director. “I myself was unaware of this until we conducted the survey in September,” he said. “Those 22 million Americans who are relying on over-theair broadcasting will literally be in the dark in February of ’09.” Best Buy’s Lucas said the timing of the CoPIRG study threw the results off, since even the government didn’t know then how the coupon program would work. “It’s misleading to put that information out now,” he said. “It’s a completely different environment.” Here in Colorado Springs, local broadcasters are sweating the possibility of losing a fifth of their audience if viewers don’t make the switch in time. “Any time that 20 percent of your audience is in jeopardy or in play, it definitely catches your attention,” said Tim Merritt, KKTV/Channel 11’s general manager. Merritt and his counterparts are speaking to groups at senior centers and other venues, trying to get as many viewers as possible up to speed on the transition. “There’s more awareness out there than I thought there would be,” said Steve Dant, general manager for KXRM/Channel 21. “They know something’s coming, (but) they don’t understand some of the details of how it affects them.” Broadcasters are also worried that the government may run out of coupons for converter boxes. That $1.5 billion is only enough to subsidize 33.5 million converter boxes, of which 11.3 million are reserved for homes without cable or satellite service. Many homes with cable or satellite also have a TV in the basement or bedroom that isn’t hooked up. In all, 73 million analog television sets are going to need converter boxes, according to the National Association of Broadcasters. Four million coupons have already been requested. “I don’t know if there’s going to be enough to go around,” KKTV station manager Emily Edwards said. The road to digital television has been long and rocky. Congress launched the program in 1996 and the first TV stations began broadcasting in digital the same year. The original target date for the transition was 2006, but the deadline slid by three years. Once the TV stations shut down those analog frequencies, they won’t go to waste. Some will be used by emergency responders, while others will be auctioned to cell phone companies or other wireless services. Those auctions could raise from $10 billion to $50 billion for the federal government. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the transition, plans to mail the first coupons for converter boxes on Tuesday. If all goes well, 365 days from now, everyone who needs a box will have one. Until then, retailers, broadcasters and government officials will keep beating the digital drum. “It’s like anything else,” Total Theater’s Miller said, “people have to hear it two or three times before it sinks in.” CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0275 or awineke@gazette.com http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/listen-up-rabbit-ear-fans-your-guide-to-digital-tv Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:43:21 -0600 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/viewers-in-the-dark-on-digital-tv The nation is not well-informed when it comes to understanding the pending digital-TV transition, based on a Wednesday congressional hearing and findings from a national advocacy group. The transition, in which local broadcasters turn off their analog signals in favor of digital ones, is set to take place in about a year — Feb. 17, 2009. Consumers who do not have cable or satellite TV, or a digital television, will have to use digital-to-analog converter boxes to view basic programming on local channels such as NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. U.S. PIRG, the state federation of public-interest groups, said it visited 132 major electronics stores nationwide and found that 81 percent of sales employees gave consumers inaccurate information about the converter boxes. In Colorado, 94 percent of staffers in stores visited gave incorrect information. Retailers countered that U.S. PIRG and individual state reports were based on surveys done last fall before many converter boxes and $40 government coupons to acquire them were available. "The PIRG report uses inaccurate or outdated information," said Brian Lucas, a spokesman for Best Buy. At a U.S. House subcommittee hearing on the progress of the transition program Wednesday, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said the $20 million requested by the Federal Communications Commission to educate people about the transition was "woefully inadequate for an educational campaign that must reach more than 300 million Americans." "We are just over a year away from the end of the transition, and much remains to be done," said Dingell in a written statement. "Both the FCC and the several industries that stand to benefit handsomely have responsibilities in this regard." EchoStar Technologies Corp. president Mark Jackson testified at the hearing, explaining how the Douglas County company would be able to offer converter boxes for $39.99, plus sales tax. The national coupon program allots two $40 coupons per household for federally approved converter boxes. "We know something about how to build converters for a digital transition, as our British division is going through this process in the U.K. Those employees helped us come up with useful features," Jackson said in written testimony. Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com Four ways to focus in on converter-box coupons If you have an analog TV and do not have cable or satellite service, you will need a digital-analog converter box starting Feb. 17, 2009. You can apply for two $40 converter- box coupons in four ways: Online: www.dtv2009.gov Phone: Call the coupon program 24-hour hotline at 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009) Fax: Fax a coupon application to 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632) Mail: Mail a coupon application to P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208-2000 Once you get your coupon, you have about three months to use it before it expires. Retail stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Target and Wal-Mart will carry the converter boxes. EchoStar said its $39.99 TR-40 digital converter box will go on sale in limited quantities beginning in March on its website. Larger quantities will be available in June or July and might be available at some stores. EchoStar recommends consumers wait until May to apply for the coupon. For more information, e-mail EchoStar at tr40@slingmedia.com. http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/viewers-in-the-dark-on-digital-tv Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:33:22 -0600 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/rail-time They've been working on the railroad. CU students made major contributions to a new 82-page report on the benefits of public transportation published today by the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) titled “A Better Way to Go: Meeting America's 21st Century Transportation Challenges with Mass Transit.” The report not only outlines the problems with modern commuting and transportation issues including traffic congestion, gas consumption and CO2 emissions, but also determines in precise detail the number of reductions that could be created in each of these categories if certain mass-transit projects that have already been proposed are completed. “Our student interns and volunteers have really put a lot of effort into making people aware of the information in this report,” said Cory Nadler, Student Organizer for the CU Boulder chapter of CoPIRG. Given the speed in which many Colorado communities, such as Boulder, are growing, Nadler said that CU students represent an ever-increasing segment of the population that is ready and willing to use mass transit. “The most important thing is putting on the table that transit is going to be critical in meeting the needs of such a fast-growing area like the Front Range and Boulder,” said Nadler. “The more that students, faculty, and staff are commuting, the higher the need to lower the amount of time we spend in traffic, the amount of money we spend on gas, and the amount of oil we burn to create global warming pollution. Mass transit is really the best way to do that.” According to a press document released in conjunction with the report, the newest numbers indicate that public transit is estimated to save 3.4 billion gallons of oil, prevent 541 million hours of traffic delay and reduces global warming by 26 million tons per year. The sheer magnitude of these numbers suggest why Colorado legislators such as Senator Ken Gordon and Representative Claire Levy helped CoPIRG sponsor an event at the capitol Thursday calling for state lawmakers to expand transit recommendations by approving additional funding for public transportation. “Funding transit saves money,” stated Representative Levy in the release. “The more alternatives that there are to driving, the less congestion there will be on our highways and the less of a burden on our overstretched highway funds.” One of the unique aspects of the CoPIRG report is that it releases its numbers based on transit agency-specific information. For instance, the report determined that RTD in Denver alone reduces carbon-based pollution by 84,966 tons per year, saving its customers $38,228,263 in gas at the pump. “This report shows why we need better transit in Colorado,” stated Senator Gordon in the release. “It puts clear numbers on how public transit reduces oil dependence, traffic congestion, and global-warming pollution. Coloradans need better transportation choices; we need to get these projects off the drawing board and into action.” Kirpal Singh, a staff attorney for CoPIRG in Denver, said that the new report also establishes a guide for legislators on how to better spend transportation dollars by focusing on three things: maintenance and repair of existing roadways as opposed to the creation of new ones, more informed spending habits, and a greater focus on rail and other forms of transportation. According to Singh, the federal system of allocating public transportation dollars is working against the states that do more to conserve. “Federal highway trust fund dollars are distributed to states based on three different types of criteria: the previous year's gasoline consumption, lane miles of federal highway miles, and the previous year's vehicle miles traveled,” he said. “This system actually punishes good behavior. A state that does its part to reduce America's oil dependence would reduce the growth of these measures and would actually be ‘rewarded' for their success by a reduction in federal dollars. We need federal incentives to actually award states and localities for reducing the number of gallons Americans consume and number of miles they need to travel.” Meanwhile, activists such as Nadler are encouraging CU students and local Boulder residents to use the information in the report as a basis to become more politically active in the pursuit supporting mass-transit projects that will be useful in their own communities - from the ballot box to entirely new grassroots campaigns. “Maybe students on campus here could decide to form a mass-transit coalition and run a petition about a ski train that will take them to Summit County and back,” he said. “If the Boulder representatives were to get a couple thousand e-mails from CU students about a ski train, it might become a reality. Students are just as much a viable political constituency as anybody else, and unless we actually head to the polls and cast our ballots, there's no reason for politicians to care about the issues that we care about.” Contact Lance Vaillancourt about this story at (303) 531-4951, ext 125, or at vaillancourt@coloradodaily.com. http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/rail-time Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:05:15 -0500 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/group-retail-sales-staff-ill-informed-on-digital-transition Business Briefs - Feb. 14 Camera Staff Thursday, February 14, 2008 Pharmaceuticals Tapestry cuts staff, pursues bankruptcy Boulder-based Tapestry Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: TPPH, 3.4 cents) has cut a majority of its work force and says it's hired bankruptcy lawyers. In all, 22 people, or 65 percent of the company's work force, were axed Monday. The company is retaining CEO Leonard P. Shaykin, Chief Operating Officer Martin Batt, Chief Financial Officer Gordon H. Link Jr. and nine other workers. The reduction in operations triggers severance payments to its executives, but the company said in a securities filing: "We have retained bankruptcy counsel and initiated steps to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, and we do not anticipate paying any of these severance costs prior to filing." Tapestry said it had about $100,000 of cash and cash equivalents as of Friday and had liabilities of about $6.5 million. Television Group: Retail sales staff ill-informed on digital transition Retail sales clerks are providing misleading information about next year's Digital Television Transition, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday. On Feb. 17, 2009, all television stations will begin broadcasting in digital signals, meaning that analog televisions that receive over-the-air signals will go dark. Consumer advocacy group CoPIRG said its secret-shopper surveys at 132 electronics stores in 10 states -- including Colorado -- revealed that 94 percent of salespeople provided inaccurate information about the converter boxes. For more information about the transition, visit dtv.gov. Internet Yahoo reportedly pursuing deal with News Corp. Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: $29.88)is discussing a possible Internet partnership with media conglomerate News Corp. Both The Wall Street Journal and a prominent blog, TechCrunch, reported that News Corp. is interested in folding its popular online social network, MySpace.com, and other Internet assets into Yahoo -- an idea that first came up last year. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal. http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/group-retail-sales-staff-ill-informed-on-digital-transition Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:37:48 -0600 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/reducing-static-on-tv-conversion Retail chains are providing inaccurate or misleading information to consumers preparing for next year's conversion to a digital TV world, a watchdog group says. "The main thing about the inaccurate information is that the consumer (was led to believe) they would have to purchase a digital TV set," said Grady Nesbitt, citizen outreach director for the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. The group based its findings on visits by 22 "secret shoppers" to about 60 metro area stores last fall, Nesbitt said. One retailer said Tuesday that the survey was done before the government disclosed details of how the conversion program would be handled. About 14 million Americans have analog TVs that pull broadcast signals into their homes with antennas. Those consumers can choose by the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline to buy just a converter box. A converter box typically costs $50 to $70, but the government is offering $40 coupons at the Web site dtv2009.gov to help defray the cost. The watchdog group has scheduled a news conference today in front of a Best Buy electronics store in Broomfield to announce its findings. Nesbitt provided an outline but said he couldn't disclose the full report until today. Nesbitt said that the Colorado survey was conducted in September and October. He indicated that results were delayed to coordinate with a national release of a survey done by the group's counterparts in 10 states. The group isn't singling out a retail chain but is urging better sales training, so consumers can be accurately informed, Nesbitt said. Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas called the timing of the survey "strange." "If it was done in September and October, that was well before the (government) coupon details were known, the converter box details were known," he said. Since then, the government, carriers and retail chains have devoted more effort to educating consumers. The government plans to start sending out $40 coupons next week, chains such as Best Buy are beginning to stock converter boxes, and Circuit City launched an education campaign Tuesday. Even by last fall, Lucas said that Best Buy salespeople had been instructed to tell consumers that getting a converter box was their first option. He said that Best Buy also explains to consumers the difference between a standard- and high-definition TV. He said that many consumers don't realize that a standard-definition digital TV costs and looks about the same as an analog TV. Despite the educational efforts, many experts still predict mass confusion between now and next year. The wrong scoop The Colorado Public Interest Research Group says it sent 22 "secret shoppers" to about 60 Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Target and Wal-Mart stores in the Denver area last fall. Its conclusion: Consumers were being given inaccurate information from big retail chains about next year's conversion from analog to digital TV. The major findings: * 94 percent of the stores' sales staff allegedly gave inaccurate information about converter boxes, suggesting in many cases that consumers need to buy a digital TV. (Consumers can buy a converter box to outfit their TV.) * 81 percent of the sales staff allegedly gave inaccurate information about the government's coupon program. Consumers can get $40 coupons from the government (dtv2009.gov) to help buy a converter box, which typically costs $50 to $70. * 44 percent of the stores surveyed still had obsolete analog TVs on their shelves. Many of the tags were mislabeled or printed only in English. http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/reducing-static-on-tv-conversion Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:45:40 -0600 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/buyer-beware-as-country-readies-for-digital-tv-transition DENVER - If you've stepped into any electronics store lately you know the days of the old analog television sets are numbered. In a year, the nation's television stations will switch off their analog signals in favor of digital signals, and that means big changes in the way you receive stations like 9NEWS. Wednesday, members of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) released a study which suggests you may not be getting the best information available about the upcoming transition. "The results of our survey are clear. Retail sales clerks are providing inaccurate or misleading information about the upcoming digital transition," said Grady Nesbitt in a press release from CoPIRG. "To consumers, it does not matter whether sales clerks were intentionally misleading (shoppers) to sell more expensive items, or if they were simply misinformed," Nesbitt added. "The result is the same. Consumers will pay too much for unneeded equipment or services." CoPIRG and other public advocacy groups around the country sent in secret shoppers into stores last fall trying to see if information they were given was accurate. In Colorado, the survey found among other things: 94 percent of sales staff provided inaccurate information about digital converter boxes, 81 percent of sales staff provided inaccurate information about the federal government's coupon program to help people buy the converter boxes, and 19 percent of sales staff provided inaccurate information about the transition date. That date is Feb. 17, 2009. In the end, CoPIRG's Kirpal Singh says people don't need to complicate this matter too much. If you receive your television signal over a dish or through cable, you should be fine when the switchover takes place, even if you still have an old analog TV. If you receive your signal over the air (with the help of an antenna) and use an old analog set, you will need to get a converter box before the switch happens next year in order to continue using your television. This week some large electronic stores started putting the converter boxes on their shelves. Most of them should have the boxes on their shelves by the beginning of next week. They generally run anywhere between $40 and $70. Each household is eligible to receive two coupons from the government to lessen the cost of a converter box by $40. At ListenUp in Denver, they say they continue to get a lot of questions from shoppers. The store was not questioned in the CoPIRG study. Chris Havekost, the store manager for the South Pearl Street store, says his staff remains dedicated to providing the best information about the upcoming transition. His best piece of advice: "This is true of any buying experience. Whenever someone tells you you've got to do something, get a second opinion." He says if you want to get a digital television set, now is a great time to do so. However, he adds, if you want to hold off, you should weather the transition just fine. Provided, he says, you know the facts. To find out what you need to do for the DTV conversion, click here. http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/buyer-beware-as-country-readies-for-digital-tv-transition Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:37:47 -0600 http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/renewable-energy-advocate-named-to-puc Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday appointed prominent http://www.copirg.org/in-the-news/more-issues/more-issues/renewable-energy-advocate-named-to-puc Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:24:41 -0600