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Forums - General - A detterent in action against HDTV in 2009

bardicverse on 02 October 2008

Was watching TV before, a rare event, and I've noticed that the cable companies have joined to set up ads explaining that cable customers will not be affected and that they can still use their regular TVs. Plus they are also offering a basic converter for people who just want the basic tv channels.

While this isn't necessarily news, it IS interesting that they are actively going out to inform people what they can do besides buy a HDTV. I think that these alternate options will keep HDTV percentage in the market somewhat subdued for at least another 4-5 years.

Thoughts?



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Onyxmeth on 02 October 2008

This was a law that was passed allowing everything to go digital. I would presume this advertising and free converter boxes were a mandatory side effect to get the law passed.

Will it affect HDTV market share? I don't think so. There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.



akuma587 on 02 October 2008
Onyxmeth said:

This was a law that was passed allowing everything to go digital. I would presume this advertising and free converter boxes were a mandatory side effect to get the law passed.

Will it affect HDTV market share? I don't think so. There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.

This.

Lower level HDTV's are already pretty affordable.  You can find 32" at Wal-Mart for around $500 and smaller sizes in the $300-450 range.  A lot of manufacturers are just axing SDTV production altogether since there really isn't much money in it anymore.

 



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halogamer1989 on 02 October 2008
Onyxmeth said:

This was a law that was passed allowing everything to go digital. I would presume this advertising and free converter boxes were a mandatory side effect to get the law passed.

Will it affect HDTV market share? I don't think so. There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.

Federal converter coupons are offered but the boxes are not free.  http://www.digitaltvtrainer.com/national/coupon-program

 



Onyxmeth on 02 October 2008
halogamer1989 said:
Onyxmeth said:

This was a law that was passed allowing everything to go digital. I would presume this advertising and free converter boxes were a mandatory side effect to get the law passed.

Will it affect HDTV market share? I don't think so. There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.

Federal converter coupons are offered but the boxes are not free.  http://www.digitaltvtrainer.com/national/coupon-program

 

Ok let me rephrase. The converter boxes cost $40, so once you get your $40 off coupon from wherever you get it from, it will essentially be free. Better?

 



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.



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bardicverse on 02 October 2008
Onyxmeth said:

 There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.

 

You're missing the point of what I'm saying. There are commercials informing people of the process, basically telling them that they DON'T need to get an HDTV to continue watching tv. These are commercials on syndicate networks, where the bulk of the viewing audience is. These previously uninformed people would have gone out and bought a HDTV, thinking it was their only option. Now, with these commercials, they have choices. The big push for the whole conversion to digital was in part to spur consumer markets in television sales, which seems to have thwarted itself. What could have been a much larger market share of HDTV vs SDTV by 2010 may delay itself a few years more now.

The theory I hold is that if there were more HDTVs out there by new customers, it might make them think about getting a HD gaming console, simply for the whole HD segment. Tack that theory with the availability of PS3s with Blu Ray, the PS3 market has quite a shot to expand with the potential new HDTV customers. These infomercials might hurt that potential though.

 



Onyxmeth on 02 October 2008
bardicverse said:
Onyxmeth said:

 There are still plenty of uninfomed people that think they're going to need either cable or an HDTV come January 2009. If anything this is helping it push HDTV sales along.

 

You're missing the point of what I'm saying. There are commercials informing people of the process, basically telling them that they DON'T need to get an HDTV to continue watching tv. These are commercials on syndicate networks, where the bulk of the viewing audience is. These previously uninformed people would have gone out and bought a HDTV, thinking it was their only option. Now, with these commercials, they have choices. The big push for the whole conversion to digital was in part to spur consumer markets in television sales, which seems to have thwarted itself. What could have been a much larger market share of HDTV vs SDTV by 2010 may delay itself a few years more now.

The theory I hold is that if there were more HDTVs out there by new customers, it might make them think about getting a HD gaming console, simply for the whole HD segment. Tack that theory with the availability of PS3s with Blu Ray, the PS3 market has quite a shot to expand with the potential new HDTV customers. These infomercials might hurt that potential though.

 

Ok fine, fair enough. My original point stands that there is a 90% chance they have no choice in the matter and are required to properly inform the public on what the changes mean, which means informing the public they don't need an HDTV if they get a converter box or stick with cable. So there really is no reason to ask why they are doing this and killing HDTV upswing. It's probably mandatory.

 



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.