More on FCC DTV awareness push

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: FCC to warn TV viewers: 'This is only a test' : To increase awareness, analog sets may go blank : : If you watch an older TV hooked up to rabbit-ear antennas and your screen goes snowy for a moment this November, replaced by a message telling you to call a toll-free number, do not be alarmed. It's not Martians. It's just the government. : Representatives of the Federal Communications Commission are scheduled to visit Chicago on Nov. 20 as part of a nationwide tour to regions that are considered at risk for missing the switch from analog to digital TV signals. While regulators haven't detailed their itinerary for Chicago, one of the options to test local households' readiness is what's known as a "soft test," or temporarily turning off analog signals. : In a soft test, the signal is shut down for 30 to 60 seconds. Viewers who are watching an older TV with rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna will get a snowy screen and a message telling them to call a toll-free number or visit DTVanswers.com, a Web site run by the National Association of Broadcasters. : "We've found that's an effective way to get the message out," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a Monday press conference, during which he announced the agency's nationwide tour. : FCC commissioners will visit 80 regions between the end of August and Feb. 17, when the conversion will take place. The agency is targeting areas where more than 100,000 households or at least 15 percent of households use only over-the-air television signals. : According to data released in July by the National Association of Broadcasters, 801,940 households in Illinois are over-the-air only, representing 17.1 percent of homes. The NAB estimates that 19.6 million U.S. households use over-the-air signals exclusively. : The FCC's tour includes other major metropolitan areas, such as New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston. Other stops in the Midwest include South Bend, Ind., and Milwaukee. : Martin said the FCC will work with grass-roots organizations to help reach senior citizens, households in rural areas, residents with disabilities and lower-income consumers. : The agency plans to host town hall meetings and workshops in conjunction with local broadcasters and government officials to spread the word that a change is coming and what analog-set owners need to do to avoid being blacked out. : The FCC says consumers will need to buy a converter box for their analog TVs to view over-the-air digital programming. Or they can purchase a TV set with a digital tuner or sign up for cable, satellite or another pay-TV service. The government is sponsoring a program to subsidize the cost of the converter box. : Martin said the educational tour was borne out of "general concern" for consumer awareness. More than 80 percent of U.S. households are aware that the conversion is taking place, up from between 35 percent and 40 percent around this time last year, the commissioner said. But he added that many consumers still don't know whether their TV sets will work or what they need to do. : The transition to all-digital broadcasts will free up some spectrum called white spaces, which are unused frequencies that sit in between TV channels. Internet and technology companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. want those frequencies to be used for unlicensed portable wireless gadgets, since the signals generally have better penetration than Wi-Fi. However, the country's major professional sports leagues and wireless microphone manufacturers oppose opening up this spectrum. They say an onslaught of new wireless devices will interfere with those microphones, which also operate in white spaces. : On Monday, Google launched a Web site at www.freetheairwaves.com, which urges consumers to lobby the FCC for unlicensed use of white spaces. The site lets people upload YouTube video testimonials and sign a petition. The Internet search giant said opening up this spectrum will "kick-start a revolution in wireless technology, including universal wireless online access and numerous new products and services that can't even be imagined today." : The FCC is conducting field tests of different devices and is expected to make a decision on white spaces this fall. : (Chicago Tribune)

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