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January 7, 2009
Page A3
Avoiding a Blank TV Screen Come February
continued
fro m Front
they needed to do something.
Murray said that U.S. has spent
far less on getting the word out
com pared to other countries, like
G reat Britain. He said that the
NTIA has relied too much on
industry to educate the public.
He said that the incoming ( )bama
adm inistration should initiate an
em ergency outreach effort.
So what do you need to know ?
don't need, like digital televisions
or unnecessary cables.
"It's the basic nature o f sales,"
he said.
You can still get up to tw o $40
coupons (courtesy o f the federal
governm ent) for a digital con­
verter box, which will get your
analog up to speed. They can be
obtained by calling 1-888-DTV-
2009,
or
by
g o in g
to
w w w .dtv2009.go. The coupons
will arrive in the mail with an insert
th o se are out, the N T IA will
issue an o th er 11.25 m illion for
households that rely exclusively
on an alo g television.
According to Todd Sedmak,
spokesm an for the NTIA, there
are still 15 million coupons avail­
able. However, he stresses the
im p o rta n ce o f p eo p le actin g
sooner rather than later because
they take three to four weeks to
arrive and people might hit some
snags setting it up.
Safety Act o f 2005 puts the money
m ade from the auction into a fund
and directed the National T ele­
com munications and Information
A dm inistration to give out cou­
pons for a converter box. The
NTIA can use $890 million from
the fund, and can get another
$510 million with congressional
approval.
The NTIA has no plans to deal
with an increase in dem and, ac­
cording to a G A O report.
However, Sedmak said that the
NTIA spent $5 million spreading
the word and partnered with a
num ber o f private organizations
tohelp. It gave another $4.35 m il­
lion to the National Association
of Area Agencies on Aging and
the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights to get through to the
elderly and minorities, which dis­
proportionately rely on analog.
He added that the television in­
dustry has spent $19 billion on
education efforts.
LIVING
THE LEGACY
TV converter box
coupons provide
a $40 discount
to consumers
who will need
the devices if
they plan to
keep their old
analog TV
working with an
antenna.
Engaging lodays Leaders
■The Or Martin I'lUket'Fing, Jr. ¡rib u t..it i " t l ■
PHOTO BY
TvCJurr I
J ake T homas Z
T he P ortland
O bserver
If you already have cable or show ing w here you can get the
satellite television, you have noth­ box, and are good until M arch 31
or until supplies run out. You can
ing to worry about.
But if you are am ong the 14.3 only use one coupon per box and
m illion A m ericans that N ielsen they expire 90 days after they're
estim ates still rely on an old issued.
A ccording to the N ational
analo g set and an ten n a, you
T
elecom
m unicatio n s and In fo r­
need to get a digital co n v e rter
m
ation
A
d m in istratio n w ebsite
box, w hich is sold at m ost e le c ­
tro n ic s stores. T hey run b e ­ 22 m illion ho u seh o ld s have a l­
ready req u ested m ore than 41
tw een $40 and $80.
M urray said that his organiza­ m illion coupons. In itially the
tion has received reports o f retail­ governm ent m ade 22.25 m illion
ers giving disinform ation to con­ co upons availab le upon a first-
sum ers in hopes o f selling them co m e-first-se rv e basis, w ith no
more expensive equipm ent they elig ib ility req u irem en ts. O nce
11 inner Uiuicd Nations Ambassjtlor
arid Cungrevsnaan
"You either get reception or
you don't," he said o f the poten­
tial problem s viewers may face.
He explained that with analog you
may have poor reception result­
ing in a blurry image, but with
digital a bad signal means a blank
screen.
C o n g re s s
in itia te d
th e
sw itchover with several pieces of
legislation passed in 2005. The
laws m andated that broadcasters
go digital, and auctioned off the
publicly-ow ned airw ays used for
analog broadcasting. The Digital
Television Transition and Public
Sam Adams Era Begins
continued
fro m Front
Portland area.
A dam s d escrib ed the new
C ity C ouncil as, “ A sm all team
w ith big plans. A city council
w illing to take on sm art but u n ­
co n v e n tio n a l ideas th at give
P ortland its standout in n o v a­
tio n s.”
A dam s spoke at a N orth and
N ortheast Business A ssociation
breakfast earlier in the day and
toured the St. Johns business
district in the afternoon.
He said in the com ing weeks,
he will announce his plans for the
first lOOdays inoffice.C ityC oun-
cil also will unveil the city ’s first
local jo b creation and econom ic
7 i
F 1
Andrew Young
¡>y
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 22, 2009
7 PM
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student Union
Ballroom Room 355
1825 SW Broadway
Special Performance
by E [). Mondane & Belief
$10 general public, FREE with valid student ID
Service charges will apply
Please join PSU at other free M l K Day
events including:
• January 19: A DAY ON of community
service. Visit www.pdx.edu/cae/
slsserviceday htm l to register.
• January 22: Interactive student
session at J pm, Smith Memorial
Student Union, room 327-9
•January 23-24: Saul Landau's
documentary screening o f Pau/
Jacobs and the Nudear Gang and
From Protest to Pesrstanre 7 pm, at
5th Avenue Cinema
TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED AT THE PSU TICKET OFFICE,
1825 SW BROADWAY, BROADWAY ENTRANCE, 503-725-3307,
OR AT TICKETMASTER OUTLETS. SEATING IS LIMITED. FOR
MORE INFORMATION, CALL 503-725-5342.
Sponsored by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Office o f Academic Affairs. PSU
Alum ni Association, Aramark, PSU Food Industry Leadership Center, Office of
International Affairs, Associated Students o f PSU, Office o f Diversity & Equity.
Office o f In fo rm a tio n Technologies, PSU Library, Black Studies Department,
PSU A uxiliary Services, PSU Student Fee Committee, SALP M ulticultural Cluster,
and PSU M u ltic u ltu ra l Center
- _
_
_
c’ J □ “ J
t JQ-'
PSU Alumni
Associât,on
stim ulus package, and a “Better
Together" volunteer program.
A dam s also announced a pro­
posed Oregon Sustainability Cen­
ter, to be located in the Portland
State University district. Gov. Ted
Kulongoski has included $80 mil­
lion o f state bonding authority in
his proposed budget to help pay
for it.
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