FCC wants DTV education ideas

The FCC is seeking comment (PDF) on potential digital TV transition consumer education initiatives, the commission announced today. The FCC wants input on proposals designed to "convey the timing, logistics and benefits of the DTV transition to consumers," including PSAs, notices on consumer electronics equipment and in cable and satellite bills, employee training by consumer electronics retailers and tweaks to the DTV.gov partners program. Lawmakers last week complained about the government's meager efforts to educate the largely clueless public about the Feb. 17, 2009 switch-off of analog TV. APTS, which has been working to secure some of the relatively paltry $5 million the government set aside for DTV education, endorsed a bill earlier this month that would boost such funding to $20 million. An APTS study found earlier this year that roughly 61 percent of TV households that rely on over-the-air analog had no idea that these signals will cease in 2009.