NAB, Churches Team Up on DTV Education
National Association of Broadcasters, National Black Church Initiative Join Forces
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/3/2008 5:26:00 AM MT
Can we have a DTV “amen?”
As promised, the National Association of Broadcasters is teaming up with African-American churches to help spread the word about the coming transition to digital television.
On Tuesday, the NAB and the National Black Church Initiative were scheduled to unveil the effort at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
As NAB president David Rehr told B&C last week, the goal is to put DTV-education materials in every church bulletin, as well as to have ministers talk to their congregations about the coming Feb. 17, 2009, switch-off of full-power analog-TV signals.
In addition, applications for government DTV-to-analog converter box coupons will be handed out, and churches will train volunteers to help the elderly and disabled fill out the coupon forms and install the boxes.
“Uniting broadcasters and churches is a necessary approach to bring digital television into the living rooms of African American families,” NAB Executive VP Marcellus Alexander said Tuesday in announcing the program. “A monumental collaboration is key to informing as many households as possible about what they need to do.”
NAB says brochures have already been provided to 5,00 churches in D.C.. and Virginia.
The NAB also plans a similar outreach effort in tandem with churches reaching out to Hispanic populations.
Minorities are one of the government’s target groups, since a larger percentage of TV viewing in those homes is to over-the-air TV.
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