I bet you didn’t know that broadcast television is yet again going through a digital transition. Yes, I know, it hasn’t been that long ago in the United States where we all had to buy new TVs or set top boxes to receive brand new digital signals we never asked for. That was ATSC 1.0 and now we’re moving to ATSC 3.0. What happened to ATSC 2.0? Doesn’t matter. What’s important to know is that the big broadcasters want to force a flashcut date (meaning turning off the current signals and turning on the new ones in an instant) to convert to ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) and as a result you’ll most likely lose all the broadcast channels you watch now if you don’t buy a new TV.
Here’s a good video about the situation.
I have a TV screen in just about every room of my house. Every bedroom, the living room, my office, our basement, and my wife’s craft room has a TV. I’m not going to buy converters for all of those and I’m certainly not going to buy brand new TVs. If the big broadcasters turn off their current signals I just won’t watch them. Heck, I barely watch them now. Think about how much TV you watch that is live and over the air. This is not the way most consumers get their video entertainment. Unless it’s live sports or local news report what are you watching live?
The number of people watching Over-the-Air TV (OTA TV) has plummeted over the last 40 years. According to Grok, well over 80% of people watched OTA TV in 1985 and today that’s down to less than 20%.
It gets much worse when you look at the demographic breakdown of who is watching and for how long. Virtually no one under the age of 50 and no one with incomes above $50,000/year are watching OTA TV.
Another issue with ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV is broadcasters want to encrypt the signal. This means they will be able to control what devices get to view the “free” signal. They’ll be able to charge subscription fees and pay-per-view as well. They will effectively eliminate TV as you watch it today.
I don’t know why they want to do this. With dwindling numbers of people watching right now and only old people like me watching any kind of broadcast television the big broadcasters will be shooting themselves in the heart if they force the switch to ATSC 3.0 and start encrypting their signals. I don’t understand their motivation.
I barely watch any broadcasts right now. I watch some local news and sometimes I watch the Bears when they’re on a national broadcast. That’s it. All my “TV” watching comes via streaming services. Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Paramount+. I can live without seeing a local news broadcast and the Bears. Heck, I can live without the streaming services too. I can see that time coming as I get older because I hate paying subscription fees for everything.
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