The End of Television

RAIN

2009-08-24T20:11:00.001-07:00

Stanley Cup and the End of TV

2009-07-06T14:47:00.001-07:00

thanks tENT

THE END OF TELEVISION

2009-06-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

The End of Television went down in history without a hitch. Here are some photos of the event.

Thanks to all the artists who participated and thanks to HiTEC, Sound/ Unsound, and Valentine Trio for performing. If you are curious about the future of The End of Television, contact Ian at ----> ian (dot) f (dot) page (at) gmail

THE END OF TV is NEAR - JUNE 12th

2009-06-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

With Work by:

Allen Riley
Antoine Catala
A. Bill Miller
BATHAS Internationale
Brett Kashmere
Brittany Gravely
Chad Laird
Chris Coleman
Chris McDaniel
Clint Enns
Cody Darling
Colleen Keough
David Hebb
Daniel Maw
Emile Bokaer
Ian Page
Jason Bernagozzi
Julie Mink
Ken Paul Rosenthal
Leslie Supnet
Lorne Bailey
Lucy Englemann
Lydia Moyer
Moyi Zhang
Pat Tremblay
Paul Turano
Patrick May
Sara Krugman
Shaun Slifer
Sofy Yuditskaya
Steven Ball
Steven Strauss
tENTATIVELY,a cONVENIENCE
Tianna Kennedy
Tim Stoetling
Z Collective

and more...

SUBMISSIONS STILL OPEN ~ show at THE NERVE (PGH)

2009-05-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

SUBMIT VIDEO TO THE END OF TV

2009-04-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

My Countdown Countdown

~Call for Submissions in Video~

2009-03-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

The End of Television is a video program beginning where analog television ends. On June 12th, 2009 the U.S. television broadcast signal will change over from analog to digital. No television will receive a signal without a special converter box.

On June 12th, The End of Television will air through analog broadcast TV on channel 2 in Pittsburgh. When broadcasters turn off their analog transmitters The End of Television turns it's analog transmitter on and broadcasts the program. Using a restricted and nearly obsolete medium (broadcast TV) , The End of Television re-imagines the omnipresent idea of "broadcast yourself." We are accepting all videos submitted before the deadline and there is no submission fee.

for questions contact: ian.f. page (at) gmail (dot) com

send videos to:
The End of Television
331 S. Aiken st
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

- Please have the video postmarked by May 25th.
- Work should be submitted on miniDV or VHS.
- Work will not be returned unless a SASE is included.

*It should be noted that this program will accept all work submitted, but the program reserves the right to not include a video if it is deemed unsuitable.

DELAYED~UNTIL~JUNE~12TH

2009-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

The House passed the DTV delay bill this Wednesday, delaying THE END OF TELEVISION until June 12th, 2009. The video program will be broadcast on that day, the final day of analog television signal. We are now extending the submission deadline until May 20th. THE END will only be bigger and better than ever with further to fall and more to lose, so continue to submit video and await the date. For questions concerning submitted material or submissions please contact ian(~dot~)f(~dot~)page(~at~)gmail(~dot~)com

~Stay~Tuned~

STILL ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

2009-02-01T08:13:00.000-08:00

Due to the confusion that this Congressional delay is causing, we are going to continue to accept submissions up to the last minute. If it gets here before Feb. 17th, it will go on the air. Should the delay pass the House, we will plan on broadcasting the program on June 12th. Either way, get your submissions in!

Chairman: FCC has no coherent plan for digital DTV

2009-02-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

The U.S. will have significant problems switching from analog to digital television if the transition goes forward as scheduled on Feb. 17, the recently appointed acting chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Friday.

The FCC has had no "coherent and coordinated plan" to transition the nation from analog to digital television during the past two years, Michael Copps said during a speech before the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee. Copps, a Democrat appointed acting chairman last week by President Barack Obama, ripped into digital-television transition efforts under his predecessor, Republican Kevin Martin.

"At this point, we will not have -- we cannot have -- a seamless DTV transition," Copps said. "There is no way to do in the 26 days new leadership has had here what we should have been laser-focused on for 26 months. That time is lost -- and it's lost at a cost. There is consumer disruption down the road we've been on. We need to realize this."

Copps said he's focusing on minimizing and repairing problems with the DTV transition. The transition is necessary after Congress, in late 2005, passed legislation requiring U.S. TV stations to move to all-digital broadcasts and abandon analog spectrum between channels 52 and 69. Much of the cleared spectrum, in the 700MHz band, was sold in auctions that ended in March 2007, and many spectrum experts say the spectrum is optimal for wireless broadband services.

However, Robert Gibbs, spokesman for Obama, said he expects Congress will delay the DTV transition until June 12. The Senate has voted to delay the transition, but the House of Representatives on Wednesday wasn't able to get the two-thirds of the votes it needed to suspend House rules and rush a delay vote through. But the delay did receive 90 more votes for it than against it in the House, and Gibbs predicted the House would take up delay legislation next week under regular rules, with only a majority vote required.

"We never really dug deep enough to understand all the consequences that would attend the DTV transition -- not just the intended good results, but all the unintended consequences, too, the ones that usually cause the big problems," he said. "It's because we didn't have a well-thought-out and coherent and coordinated plan to ease the transition -- a plan to combine the resources we needed to avoid disruption."

There's been a "patchwork of disjointed efforts" to address the DTV transition, Copps added. "We didn't have a sense of real urgency until it was too late," he said.

The FCC is taking several steps on the assumption that the DTV transition will happen Feb. 17, Copps said. The agency is focusing on consumer outreach, including field operations and its Web site, to inform people about the transition, he said.

The agency is also working to figure out which consumers will be most at risk of losing all TV reception, and it is "coordinating nonstop" with the NTIA and private groups on education efforts, he said.

House Rejects DTV Delay -> Senate Repasses Bill Again

2009-01-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

The House unexpectedly rejected the delay bill that the Senate had unanimously passed earlier this week. On Thursday night the Senate repassed the same bill. The House will vote again on Wednesday (possibly Tuesday) to accept the Delay. The Obama administration is still backing the delay and the bill will need more than half of the votes in the House to pass. In the last go round the bill was defeated 268-164 (61%), but was introduced as a non controversial bill for expedited passage and needed 2/3 the vote. Unless there are some rather convincing opponents, it looks like the bill will go through this time.

As for The END of TELEVISION-> KEEP SUBMITTING TO THE END, WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN!

JUNE 12th is THE END OF TELEVISION

2009-01-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

After a long and hard fought battle, The End managed to convince the Senate to delay the switchover.

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12.

Stay tuned for up to date information on developments concerning the scheduled February 17th broadcast.

THE U.S. SENATE IS ANALOG

2009-01-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

Senate Republicans Sign On to June DTV Delay

An effort to delay the impending switch to digital TV signals got a boost Thursday night after Senate Republicans agreed to a plan that would push the transition to June 12.

GOP members were initially hesitant to support the delay, blocking consideration of the legislation when it was introduced on January 16. After a little negotiation and some amendments to the bill, however, Republicans are now on board.

GET YOUR COUPONS!
The bill also extends the deadline to apply for a coupon from March 31 to July 31.

Rockefeller stressed that the bill "is not perfect, but it represents a turning point—a start."

"Senator Rockefeller's personal commitment to me to not seek another delay provides needed certainty to bring this transition to a conclusion," Sen. Hutchinson said. "Significant challenges remain, however, and I will continue working with my colleagues in Congress to ensure a smooth transition."

"Barring unforeseen emergencies, we should not have another delay," Rockefeller said.

Senate nears deal to delay digital TV transition- S@#*!

2009-01-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Congress did not vote on the 21st as they planned, but instead postponed the vote to delay the switchover. AGH!

The Senate appeared close to agreement late Thursday the 22nd, on a bill to delay next month's planned transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — setting the stage for a vote early next week.

Congress is driving The End of Television insane. Get it together congress and vote early next week.

As for submissions, keep them coming in. The original deadline is nearing, but we here at The End will will do our best to include late submissions.

Congress Votes on the End of TV on January 21st

2009-01-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

Democratic committee chairmen in both houses of Congress are proposing to delay until June 12 the date for major TV stations to stop sending traditional analog signals. The change is now set for Feb. 17 at midnight.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to vote Jan. 21 on whether to delay the changeover until June 12, the date proposed by Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who heads the committee, aides said today. The bill by Rockefeller, who’s the next chairman of the Commerce Committee, was introduced yesterday and offers the same date.

“Congress is likely to pass some sort of delay, given lawmaker concerns about likely disruptions to some TV viewers and a possible backlash,” said Rebecca Arbogast and David Kaut, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Washington, in a note to investors today.

Obama’s team called on Jan. 8 for postponing the date, citing a funding shortfall a program that subsidizes digital equipment. The program offers $40 coupons toward the cost of converter boxes, which sell for $40 to $80 at retail outlets.

Coupons are mailed out using third-class bulk mail and take four to six weeks to arrive, Podesta said in his letter. He reminded leaders of the Jan. 8 request and said that since then “the situation has only gotten worse.”

Still Accepting Submissions for The Slow Decline of Television

2009-01-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

Despite the President-elect’s determination to stop The End of Television, we are still accepting submissions for the February 17th broadcast. In the event that Congress approves the delay, The End of Television will do a second broadcast somewhere down the line. Submit well and submit often!

Obama delays The End of Television...

2009-01-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to postpone the Feb. 17 switch from analog to digital television broadcasting, arguing that too many Americans who rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air channels won’t be ready.

In a letter to key lawmakers Thursday, Obama transition team co-chair John Podesta said the digital transition needs to be delayed largely because the Commerce Department has run out of money for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers. People who don’t have cable or satellite service or a TV with a digital tuner will need the converter boxes to keep their older analog sets working.

SUBMIT VIDEOS TO THE END OF TELEVISION!

2008-12-05T08:08:00.001-08:00

The End of Television is a video program beginning where analog television ends. On February 17th, 2009 the U.S. television broadcast signal will change over from analog to digital. No television will receive a signal without a special converter box.

On February 17th, The End of Television will air through analog broadcast TV on channel 2 in Pittsburgh. When broadcasters turn off their analog transmitters The End of Television turns it's analog transmitter on and broadcasts the program. Using a restricted and nearly obsolete medium (broadcast TV) , The End of Television re-imagines the omnipresent idea of "broadcast yourself." We are accepting all videos submitted before the deadline and there is no submission fee.

for questions contact: ian.f. page (at) gmail (dot) com

send videos to:
The End of Television
331 S. Aiken st
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

- Please have the video postmarked by January 25th.
- Work should be submitted on miniDV or VHS.
- Work will not be returned unless a SASE is included.

*It should be noted that this program will accept all work submitted, but the program reserves the right to not include a video if it is deemed unsuitable.

Cutting through the digital TV static

2008-12-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

Three months from today, the television broadcast system that most Americans watched growing up will sign off forever.

Through a handful of measures since 1996, Congress has ordered most broadcast stations to phase out their use of conventional analog transmission and switch their signals to digital technology by the end of Feb 17, 2009.

For most TV viewers, the digital transition already has taken place, even if they don’t realize it. About 93 percent of broadcast stations – most affiliates of the national networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS and Fox – are sending their signals digitally today, according to the National Association of Broadcasters.

Cable TV companies have sold digital packages for years, sending programs through digital set-top boxes for subscribers. Other TV service providers, such as satellite companies and Verizon Communications, tout “all-digital” lineups that have severed their customers’ connections to the old format.

Still, in more than 9 million households nationwide and an estimated 44,500 in Hampton Roads, the old analog TV picture is the only one some people watch, according to statistics released last month by The Nielsen Co.

When they go to turn on their televisions Wednesday morning Feb. 18, their screens will show dead air.

Unless they get ready.

When asked about the reason for the switch to digital TV, Federal Communications Commission and industry officials tout the public benefits. They emphasize that the use of digital technology – which can compress more channels into less spectrum – will free up room on the broadcast airwaves for public-safety uses, particularly communications between police, fire and emergency rescue departments.

New space on the broadcast spectrum also gives telecommunications companies an opportunity to bring more services, such as wireless broadband, to consumers.

And digital signals offer better picture clarity and sound quality.

The digital switch clearly benefits business as well. Wireless companies can use freed-up frequencies to sell additional services to customers. Cable operators can multiply the number of channels in the same bandwidth they needed for a single analog channel, allowing them to offer more program tiers and packages.

“It’s about using this national resource more inventively,” said Deborah Taylor Tate, an FCC commissioner, during a panel presentation that the National Association of Broadcasters organized a week ago to mark the 100-day countdown to the digital TV transition.

These benefits, though, aren’t so much the reasons for the government’s digital TV mandate as the results of it. Lawmakers got involved because, as the broadcast industry pushed to upgrade its technology, they saw a need to protect the public interest.

First, they sought to ensure that the change would leave no analog TV owners in the dark. Second, Congress wanted to reclaim the old analog spectrum – and to garner the proceeds from the sale of it – as broadcasters abandoned it for digital channels.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2006, to complete the transition. The following year, another law added the provision that the final switch to digital couldn’t occur until at least 85 percent of viewers in each TV market were able to watch digital programming.

By 2004, federal officials and broadcasters saw that they wouldn’t reach that minimum by the end of 2006. New laws in 2005 set Feb. 17, 2009, for the end of analog broadcasting and scheduled an auction of the recaptured spectrum, which took place earlier this year and raised $19 billion for the federal coffers.

Analog signals transmit pictures and sound in electronic pulses over continuously changing frequencies on the airwaves. They can carry only so much data at a time and can encounter interference.

A digital signal breaks an image and sound into binary code, with each bit of data represented by a series of zeros and ones, and transfers it to a receiver that reassembles the numbers into the original video and audio. It’s a more efficient way of transmitting. It can compress much more information and data into the same amount of spectrum that an analog signal uses. The bandwidth used for one analog channel on Cox’s cable system can carry 10 digital channels, said Leigh Woisard, spokeswoman for the cable company’s regional operations in Chesapeake.

Digital broadcasting is not the same as high definition. High definition is the most detailed, highest-quality version of digital picture and sound. It requires a special, high-definition receiver to translate the information-packed signal.

Viewers don’t have to upgrade to a high-defintion TV for the digital transition. Those without one will see digital pictures in standard definition.

Most TV viewers in Hampton Roads and elsewhere don’t have to do anything to go digital. If they subscribe to a paid-TV service through a cable or satellite company, they are ready.

Local cable providers Cox Communications and Charter Communications and satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network will convert the digital signal back to analog for customers who view on analog TVs.

For cable subscribers, that’s the case whether they run the cable from their wall into their TV or use a set-top box to receive programs. The cable operators will retain their analog lineup, which includes as many as 70 channels, for a minimum of three years, as the FCC requires, and could extend that past 2012.

In April, Verizon Communications removed the few remaining analog channels from its Fios TV lineup, offering the handful of customers with analog TVs free converter boxes to adapt the digital signal.

Analog TV owners who get over-the-air signals now with an antenna on the roof or on the set, like rabbit ears, must buy a converter box by Feb. 17 to stay tuned. The box will translate digital signals back to analog so they can watch programs.

As of mid-October, according to Nielsen’s research, 11 percent of U.S. households and about 14 percent of Hampton Roads homes were “partially unready” for the transition, meaning they owned at least one TV that could receive digital signals but at least one that still needed a converter box. In this region, about 6 percent of TV-viewing residents remain “completely unready,” with none of their sets able to receive digital signals, compared with about 8 percent nationwide.

The federal government allocated $1.34 billion to pay for about 33.5 million coupons for converter boxes. As of last week, 62 percent of U.S. households that rely on an antenna to receive broadcast TV had requested coupons, and they had redeemed about 14 million for boxes, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the division of the U.S. Commerce Department that’s overseeing the program.

Each household can apply for up to two coupons, each worth $40, until March 31. Most major electronics retailers carry converter boxes ranging from $40 to $70 and will accept the coupons, which expire 90 days after they are issued.

One coupon will cover only one converter box, and consumers will need a separate box for each analog TV. They can use a “splitter” to hook two TVs to one box, but the converter can’t show two channels at once, so they’d have to watch the same channel on both screens.

In most cases, viewers won’t need a new antenna for digital TV. If they live in a remote area or have a weak analog signal with an antenna now, they might need to upgrade to receive the digital signals, said Megan Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group for electronics manufacturers.

Pollock suggests an outdoor antenna that goes on a roof. Consumers don’t need to buy antennas marked “digital ready” or “HD ready,” she said.

TVs with digital tuners hit stores in 1998. Sets bought before that time probably are analog.

Starting in 2004, more manufacturers added digital technology to TVs. As of March 2007, federal law required that all new TVs sold in the United States include digital tuners, which wouldn’t need an outside converter box to capture the digital signal. Any TVs purchased since then probably are digital.

Consumers who bought their sets during the years in between probably would have paid more for digital technology. Those who still aren’t sure should find their product manual or go to the manufacturer’s Web site with the model number and look for indicators such as “digital” or the letters ATSC, which stands for Advanced Television Systems Committee, which developed the industry standards for digital TV.

Analog TV owners can buy a converter box at any time to make the move to digital TV. Once hooked up, they will see clearer images and enhanced sound.

“You should notice a dramatic difference in your picture,” said Linda Yun, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

Consumers who own analog or digital TV sets hooked to cable or satellite service won’t see much difference in February, as those systems will deliver the signal the same way they do now. And those who own HDTV sets, using the proper equipment to capture those signals, already experience the highest-quality picture.

Most local broadcast stations’ digital signals will appear on their current analog channel numbers. Digital newcomers might see broadcasters “multicasting,” or streaming several program options on one channel.

For analog TV users who don’t get converter boxes, the screen also will look different on Feb. 18.

“People who haven’t taken any action at all would see snow,” Yun said. “It would pretty much be a fuzzy picture.”