Broadcasters’ DTV Education Efforts Use Variety of Methods

The plans come as commissioners consider whether to vote for an order circulated earlier this month by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to require all broadcasters air PSAs immediately (CD Oct 18 p7). Although Martin has said publicly that he wants quick action on the order, other commissioners haven’t begun carefully studying it yet, though they will do so soon, said an FCC official. NAB contends PSA or other educational mandates aren’t needed because its members are committed to DTV education. Our survey partly bore that out, with companies including Media General saying they've been touting the benefits of HDTV for years.

Companies who said all or most of their stations have begun airing NAB’s spots include CBS, Cox, Fox, Gray TV, Hearst-Argyle and Media General. They own a total of 167 stations, or 12 percent of all full-power U.S. commercial broadcasters, according to NAB figures. NAB said 939 stations agreed to participate in an education program it called unprecedented in size and scope, to include news segments, ads and other information worth $697 million in lost advertising and cash outlays (CD Oct 16 p5). Companies not participating in the campaign said they may join it later. But Gray TV President Bob Prather said the industry and government should have done more -- and acted sooner -- to educate consumers. “I'm upset with the NAB and the FCC for not being more proactive on this,” he said in an interview. “We're definitely trying to do a lot of education ourselves.”

NAB should have been quicker to encourage station owners to start airing PSAs and it should have spent more time on DTV at the annual convention, said Prather. “They ought to be hammering the NAB members to get on board with this,” he added. A lot of TV companies haven’t “embraced it. I think they should have.” NAB officials have said they can’t dictate members’ education efforts. President David Rehr has said the industry will do its part to ensure a smooth transition, but efforts will vary by market. Prather and other executives couldn’t pin down exactly what each station will do, because such decisions often are left up to local managers. “I don’t believe in sending dictates down from headquarters,” Prather said. “I am encouraging them all to be as proactive as they can.” ABC and NBC were among the companies that were closed-mouthed on their efforts, other than to say they're committed to education.

DTV is the NAB’s top priority, said a spokeswoman, one of five people the group hired to work on it. The NAB began researching the best approach more than a year ago, she added. Although it first sent PSAs to members in September, Raycom and others were running ads of their own many months earlier, she said. “Local stations are taking a very big initiative on their own to advance consumer awareness,” she said. “This is an NAB campaign, but there are lots of local elements to it that are important to reach consumers.” Additional stations have joined the group’s education campaign since it was launched Oct. 15, she said. “We're doing everything we can.”

Fox, owner of 37 stations, began airing PSAs from NAB Tuesday, said a spokeswoman. The company is putting information about DTV on all of its stations’ websites, she said. Any station that doesn’t already have such information will soon, she added. CBS’s 29 stations began airing NAB’s commercials Oct. 17, said a network spokesman. “Each of our stations will also air locally produced spots.” Those ads and the NAB PSAs will air in every daypart through Feb. 17, 2009, “to ensure that we reach the widest audience possible,” he said. Local news programs will include stories on DTV and the websites of every CBS property will alert visitors to the transition. The sites will include a link to NAB’s DTV page at www.dtvanswers.com.

Media General’s stations started running NAB’s first round of ads Sept. 19, the day after the company got them, said a spokesman. The 21 stations have run HDTV spots for three years and carried a 30-minute program in 2006 on the subject, he said. A corporate sponsor helped pay for the show. Gray’s Prather also said he hopes to find consumer electronics retailers to pay for education efforts including PSAs. Media General stations aired a story two weeks ago on Best Buy’s plan to stop selling analog TVs. “Our newsroom used this as a peg to communicate the coming switch to digital,” said the spokesman.

All of Hearst-Argyle’s 27 stations that run local news aired a 2-minute segment on NAB’s Oct. 15 press briefing on DTV, said a company spokesman. The company owns a total of 36 stations, according to NAB figures. Video of the NAB news segment and accompanying text are available on the websites of some of the company’s stations. “Various Hearst-Argyle stations plan additional postings to their websites, some beginning in January 2008,” said the spokesman. The stations have started airing NAB’s educational spots and will develop their own, he added. All of Cox’s 15 stations are running the NAB-produced ads, said a spokesman. “The stations’ companion websites have or will have information both on the HD and digital transition.” In late 2008, all the broadcasters will air one-minute segments on the transition, he added.

Companies that haven’t joined NAB’s effort will still educate viewers. Allbritton hasn’t finalized plans, said Senior Vice President Jerry Fritz. It likely will air stories on NTIA’s digital converter box coupon program and how to dispose of old TV sets, he said. “It’s February of 2009, so we're a year away. You want to modify your message as you go to first of all let people know there is going to be a change and second of all to have a call to action.”