Cable Companies to Support Analog Until 2012

Remember the 2009 analog-to-digital TV deadline we've told you about? That affects people who have analog TVs and still rely on over-the-air broadcasts for their TV viewing. But a deadline for how cable companies are going to deal with the analog-to-digital switchover had not been set—until now.

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to require cable operators to continue to support analog TVs three years beyond the analog-to-DTV switchover.

It's been moved to 2012. That means TV viewers who are in no rush to exchange their perfectly good analog TVs for an HDTV will still have local broadcasts available via cable companies. So the cable operators will either have to convert the new digital standard definition signal to analog standard definition and carry it across their cable lines, or provide converter boxes to their subscribers. Both are expensive options, but there's no word yet on how and whehter the operators would pass the costs along.

Ars Technica explains it well. "After broadcasters stop transmitting in analog, cable operators will have two signals to work with: digital standard definition (SD) and digital high definition (HD). Neither will work with analog TV sets, which the FCC estimates are still in use in 40 million homes."

Remember, the U.S. Department of Commerce is offering a coupon program to help analog TV owners who cannot afford the switchover to pay for converter boxes to continue getting analog broadcasts. You can find more information on the conversion and the coupon program in the links below, and on this FCC page.

LINK: FCC to cable: You must support analog TVs until 2012 [Ars Technica]

Related:A Guide to the 2009 DTV Transition
Switch from Analog to Digital TV Two Years Away