From the desk of Robert Rappaport on Tuesday, December 16th 2008 at 6:39

WE CONTROL THE VERTICAL, ETC.

If you’ve seen our TV page, you've probably noticed a gold-ish box warning of a service interruption. If you haven’t, click here and come back. I’ll wait.

Waiting....waiting....okay

What you’re seeing is what’s called a “roadblock.” That means TV stations are getting together to push a message, making it hard to miss. The last time I remember that happening was during a meth special, where all local stations aired the same program. Sure, you can flip over to cable and avoid all this stuff, so the goal is not as effective as it used to be.

Anyway, the purpose here is to see if you need to do anything for the digital transition. It still amazes me that some people have no idea what is going to happen in February.

What it boils down to (again) is this...

If you pay a cable or satellite provider, you need to do absolutely NOTHING. If you only get over-the-air free TV, you’re in trouble and need to act. If you don’t understand things like 6-1, 6-2, you’ll need a converter, or you need to get a new TV.

Now, on to HD-Radio. What? You never heard of that? We have some extra stations on there. I admit, I have no idea what they are and I’ve never heard any of them, nor do I plan to anytime soon. There seems to be a point where enough is simply enough. I have cable TV and I think I only watch about three channels.

Why do we need all this stuff? Go outside and see the world and get some exercise.

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