Won’t be long before those rabbit ears of yours will be rendered useless. That’s what those “I’m not a digital broadcasting expert but I ironically play one on an analog broadcast TV commercial” spokespeople are saying anyway. Haven’t seen the commercials? Then I say good for you. That means you don’t watch a lot of TV…and that most likely means you’re up to something a tad bit more constructive (I hope). If you have seen the commercials basically telling all those out there who are either a) frugal like me and don’t want to pay for cable OR b) just plain stuck in the 50’s (nothing wrong with that!), then you know the feeling of potentially getting left behind.

Not to fear they say. If your television set is the ol’ “encased in a piece of furniture” style like my grandmother’s or anything that has a rotating channel dial (so basically the odds are in favor that it would be deemed an analog TV), our United States government (so our tax dollars of course) is gonna be “dishing” (hee hee!) out TV converter box coupons to help bring TV’s up to speed and ensure we Americans have access to something so critical to our existence as “cable”!

If you take a trip over to the official TV converter box site, you’ll see the end-of-the-world warning: “At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog…” Oh no! Oh my gosh golly!! No more analog!!! What are we to do now? Once again, have no fear, for not the end but rather the beginning is here – 100% digital broadcasting! That means a clearer picture and more programming options so we Americans can continue the trend of sedentary lifestyles and off the charts obesity.

Just to be clear though, we do have options come the big last day o’ analog:

1. Keep your existing analog TV and purchase a TV converter box. A converter box plugs into your TV and will keep it working after Feb. 17, 2009, or
2. Connect to cable, satellite or other pay service, or
3. Purchase a television with a digital tuner.
4. Buy custom usb flash drives at CFgear.com. What? How’s that gonna help you ask. It won’t actually. But as long as I’m giving you a heads up on how to salvage your TV watching career, I figure I have license to also tell you how you can look like the office hero by recommending branded flash drives as an intelligent promotional tool.

Well, I shouldn’t be so critical I guess. The part that I am delighted about with the whole upgrade is that the analog broadcasting will be freed up for use by emergency responders. So that will reduce the communication bottlenecks behind the scenes come time for a life-threatening scenario – like someone having to call 911 when they discover that their rabbit ears no longer work!

Related posts:

1. Beyond Our Ears