I have been covering this topic in one of the college courses I teach since 2003. Students have been surprised and shocked to learn that analog television will be shut off in 2009. While there were a few students aware of this in my present class, most had no idea.

Oberving the lack of media coverage of this topic over the last few years, it is my opinion that allowing the public to be uninformed has been a convenient way to pre-empt public involvement and outcry that could have effected the transition to DTV. By the time the public learns of what will happen, the TV frequencies that will be freed up will have been auctioned and the stations will have implemented the new system so it will be too late to stop the forced transistion.

I do, however, think there will be an outcry and that this transition may futher errode the already declining audience for network and local TV.

A. It is likely too early to tell people too much. Ask a marketing expert about the timing.

B. When the most powerful advertising medium - television - starts to 'advertise' the transition then most people will know.

C. Don't advertise the 'demise' of analog - rather stress the benefits of digital and HD - a new and improved way of doing things.

I teach research methods to college students and this "news" is a classic case of biased reporting to make a mountain out of molehill. The important issue of the transition to DTV is public awareness. Awareness is NOT measured by asking people if they know WHEN the change will take place or if they know WHERE to get more information about it. The important question is the WHAT and HOW part of the transition, something not part of the screaming headline. Do they know or not? Do they understand how reception will change? Trumpeting the relative lack of "timing awareness" or "information awareness" is misleading.

If someone's agenda is to call attention to a "problem" (whether it's an industry's agenda or a medium's agenda), then the story is misleading. I'm guessing that cable wants to pat itself on the back for doing a better job of informing its subscribers, primarily by putting notices in the monthly bills. I guess over-the-air broadcasters have been doing an inadequate job with reminders in their own monthly bills to viewers [sarcasm intended].

If the average consumer is confused, it's going to just horrible for the millions of consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing, who rely on closed captioning, or the millions with vision disability who need audio description. No one has stepped up to the plate to spend money on consumer education with the national disability groups about this. The industry expects cash-strapped, over-worked staff at nonprofits to get the word out. There's just no leadership at the top about this!