CEA on DTV Transition: ‘Convert Your Mom’
Florence Henderson to Lead Digital-TV-Education Campaign
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/3/2008 7:39:00 AM
Maybe one of the unexpected benefits of the digital-TV transition will be that parents will get more visits from their kids.
The Consumer Electronics Association launched the “Convert Your Mom” DTV-education campaign, fronted by an iconic boomer TV mom, Florence Henderson of The Brady Bunch.
The goal, the trade group said, is to encourage boomers to help their parents, relatives and older neighbors negotiate the switch to all-digital full-power TV in February 2009. That switch will require over-the-air viewers with analog-only TV sets to either get new sets -- and perhaps new antennas -- converter boxes, or a pay TV service.
“We know that one of the best ways to reach seniors is through their families," CEA president Gary Shapiro said in announcing the campaign Thursday. "With 'Convert Your Mom,' we’re asking baby boomers to help make sure everyone is ready well in advance.”
The campaign was unveiled Thursday at the same time the CEA was hosting a panel on DTV education at its annual Washington, D.C., summit.
Henderson will host a satellite media tour for the campaign in early May.
Seniors are one of the government's target populations for the education campaign, along with rural populations, minorities, lower-income and special-needs viewers.
Henderson played Carol Brady on the 1960s series and along with Jane Wyatt of Father Knows Best, June Lockhart of Lassie and Barbara Billingsley of Leave It to Beaver became something of a TV everymom -- a status the CEA hopes to capitalize on to get the word out.
