We are approaching the one year anniversary of the Digital TV transition.  Last June, I asked if our readers were ready to switch from analog to digital TV and provided resources on how they could best prepare for it. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of households have made the switch.  For some consumers, switching was an easy process, but for others, it proved to be more difficult.

One of our service buyers has been on the frontline of the DTV switch. As we are about to hit this year-long milestone, I was curious to learn more about what they witnessed and what their customers were most concerned about.  I spoke with Chris Mauzy, President & CEO of Zip Express Installation to get his perspective and find out what has been the reaction from consumers.

Q: We are approaching the one year mark since the Digital TV transition – what has changed in the last nine months?

A: The thing that has surprised us the most is the recent increase in customers purchasing an antenna to replace their cable/satellite service.  During the DTV transition, customers were buying antennas in order to maintain TV reception and now this has shifted to customers buying antennas to replace paid TV services. I believe the better picture and sound quality that is delivered over the air, and of course the increase in number of available channels and cost savings, has increased this change in consumers.

Q: What are some of the typical concerns you hear from end users regarding the DTV transition?

A: We still receive an amazing amount of calls from customers concerned about getting their new antenna installed correctly. This was definitely apparent as soon as the snow started falling. It seems no one wanted to climb up on his or her roof that was covered with snow.  Other than installation, the second largest concern is around the need for a customer to continue scanning for new DTV channels periodically.  We have seen a lot of stations moving around the spectrum and adding new channels, the customer must initiate a new channel scan in order for these changes or additions to register within their DTV tuner.

Q: What is next with DTV?  Is Mobile TV the next big thing or is it just hype?

A: I personally believe content shifting in general will be the next big thing. Most consumers do not even realize they are already taking advantage of this technology now with their cell phones and iPod type music devices. We, well all leaders in the CE industry, need to do a better job of spreading the message that content shifting in the home is a huge win for consumers.

In the next post, Chris will provide thoughts on what is next for the high definition TVs, as well as how cable companies/MSOs will compete for the consumer in 2010.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Consumer Electronics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.