Rare Medium

If you’re like me, you’ll probably need to add an inexpensive piece of television receiving gear to continue watching television after the full-power, conventional television broadcasts cease on February 17, 2009.

One misconception is that to watch digital television (DTV) signals, you’ll need to subscribe to cable or satellite, or purchase an expensive new receiver. Not true.

You can start watching digital television FREE over-the-air broadcast signals with the addition of as little as an inexpensive DTV Converter. New DTV Converters are announced almost daily my major consumer electronics companies. Full-power broadcasters are already broadcasting in digital and that’s all you need to enter the digital TV era.

Digital TV converter boxes can now be purchased at many consumer electronics stores and major retailers, including RadioShack, Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, K-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sam’s Club. Call before you drive to the store to make sure these DTV Converter boxes are in stock.

The cost of these DTV Converters (like the UHF Converters of old) is $40 to $80 — and because the government is going to auction off the “about to be excess television frequencies” to wireless companies and reserve some for emergency services, the government is providing a maximum of two DTV Converter $40 discount coupons per household. More than a million Americans have already signed up for coupons since they were made available on January 1, 2008. You can sign up to get these coupons at <http:www.dtv2009.gov> - a site operated by the National Telecommunications Information Agency (NTIA).

Another misconception is that ALL terrestrial television broadcasters are required by the Federal Communications Commission to switch to broadcasting their over-the-air signal to digital — signing off their conventional (analog) transmitters for the last time in just 400 days. Not true.

The FCC only says that full-power television broadcasters must switch to digital. However, low-power stations and perhaps equally important relay transmitters and translators are NOT required to switch — at least not under the same timetable as full-power television broadcasters.

Full-power television stations have been broadcasting in both conventional (analog) and digital television for some time — and viewers can continue to watch conventional television until these transmitters are shut off for the last time on February 17, 2009. At that point, viewers with conventional TV sets will need to have one of the digital solutions outlined above or their screens will go blank.

In fact, if you want to watch digital over-the-air signals with rabbit ear or outdoor antennas AND receive additional translator or relay channels over-the-air you can’t just purchase “ANY” DTV Converter — as it could prevent you from being able to watch the non-digital translator stations.

To watch both, you must purchase the somewhat less common, but available “analog pass through” DTV Converter. When turned on, it coverts digital signals so they can be viewed on a conventional television. With their power off, these DTV Converters “analog pass through” translator, relay, and low power stations so viewers can continue watching them on their conventional television sets.

Even if ALL your over-the-air signals come from translators (e.g., several different stations — but all using translators / relay stations to reach you), you should sign-up for the DTV Converter discount coupons <http:www.dtv2009.gov> and purchasing the “analog pass through” type of DTV Converter box described above. Because we still don’t know when the translators will switch to digital broadcasting and, when they do, they probably won’t all begin digital broadcasting at the same time, you’ll already be fully prepared.

There are at least three coupon-eligible boxes that offer the “ANALOG PASS-THROUGH” feature (ECHOSTAR TR-40, Philco TB100HH9, Philco TB150HH9, and Magnavox TB100MG9). For the most up-to-date list, visit <http:www.dtv2009.gov>.

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One thing is more clear than a digital high-definition television (HDTV) picture — and that’s that far too few people are aware that conventional television is coming to an end. Even fewer understand their options may be as simple as the addition of a DTV Converter. However, as illustrated above, the number of choices available to viewers can be overwhelming.

Given so many options, it may be easy for some viewers to conclude that they must subscribe to cable or satellite, but such a conclusion is just plain wrong.

In fact, a case can be made that the highest quality digital television signals (and HDTV) will be available FREE over-the-air and can be received with rabbit ears or an outdoor antenna. More about why in a future post.

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RareMedium is published as part of the Gilbert Authors Network is a small collection of weblogs authored by respected colleagues and friends of Michael Gilbert, the Editor of Nonprofit Online News <http://nonprofitnews.org>. Check out the other weblogs in this network. What follows are short descriptions and links.

Digital Diner, by Gavin Clabaugh

http://digitaldiner.org

Gavin Clabaugh is the CIO at a large private foundation in the U.S. and has played a major role in furthering the effective use of information technology in civil society. He has helped found or lead a number of organizations, including the Nonprofit Technology Network, Aspiration, the Technology Affinity Group of the Council on Foundations, the Innovation Funder’s Network, and the Washtenaw Land Trust. At Digital Diner, Gavin writes with great wit about technology, society, and his many other interests, which include food, wine, song, politics, gardening, literature, science fiction, movies, animals, and travel.

The Guru’s Handbook, by Asher Bey

http://guruhandbook.com

Asher Bey is the pseudonym for a teacher and writer living in the U.S. “in a place where there are trees, mountains, and running water, all of which he quite appreciates”. The Guru’s Handbook is an exploration of the deeper issues involved in being a teacher, such as questions of power, self-knowledge, and responsibility. Recent topics have included: Exercises in Listening, Why Teach When There Are Books?, On Being Done, When the Student Passes You, and Excavating Fear.

The Nexilist’s Notebook, by Burt Webb

http://nexilist.com

Burt Webb has been a popular speaker, columnist, radio host, software developer, and activist. A “nexilist” (derived from a word coined by A. E. Van Vogt in The Voyage of the Space Beagle) is “one skilled in the science of joining together in an orderly fashion the knowledge of one field of learning with that of other fields”. This precisely captures the spirit of insight and connection that Burt brings to this weblog. Recent topics have included: the nature of fairness, a proposal for a better spacecraft, religious typologies, contemporary fascism, and the mysteries of memory.

Tropes of the Times, by Phil Bereano

http://tropesofthetimes.com/

Phil Bereano is an emeritus professor of engineering and public policy and a recognized expert on the ethical and social considerations of technologies, especially genetic engineering. He is on the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union, chairing its Committee on Databases and Civil Liberties. About Tropes of the Times, he says: “Although I have read the NY TIMES almost daily since Junior High School, it wasn’t until my politics matured that I realized its function as the Establishment’s official line of ‘right-thinking’. Even with a different politic, however, understanding the TIMES (and especially the white spaces) is critical to knowing what ‘the Man’ is about. My blog deconstructs some of the pieces in the newspaper and tries to identify the key tropes or “lines.” The newspaper provides a surfeit of examples, but I write about one or two of them each month.”

With, by Michael Gilbert

http://with.gilbert.org

Michael Gilbert is the Editor of Nonprofit Online News and a well known speaker and consultant to civil society organizations around the world. Michael has served as Executive Director or Chief Executive of six organizations, as a board member or officer of more than thirty, and as a communication and management consultant to over 1000 organizations in more than 20 countries over the last 23 years. “With” is his exploration of the nature of connection and the role of networks and systems, particularly in social change and civil society.

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Looking back, it’s hard to imagine how today’s technology has simplified what and how I watch television.

I can still remember the day my Dad brought home the Zenith TV set. I must have been six years old. It was a black & white site, naturally, but I can remember watching test patterns on Saturday mornings waiting for stations to sign-on at 6 am. The test pattern would go to black and the “Star Spangled Banner” would play as fighter jets soared though the sky and my morning of cartoons had officially begun. It seems like only a few years later, I started watching programs on National Educational Television — the forerunner of PBS.

Since that time in 1957, technology has changed everything. Now with an HDTV set (I elected to stay with a modest SONY’s XBR standard set and give LCD and plasma screens another seven years to improve their quality and drop in price), A/V Receiver w/ Dolby DTS, DVD, VCR, DirecTV, and a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) I could watch just about anything at anytime.

But, to my surprise, I didn’t. All that increase in technology had not increased the time I spent viewing television. In fact, it may have made me a lot more selective.

While my wife and I enjoy buying or renting DVD movies as much as anyone, we found our lives only had time for about a movie a week. With the DVR set to record our favorite series, I realized we were watching just a few hours of television a week. With busy lives, I calculated that the cost we paid for DirecTV was $5 to $10 per program.

I realize my viewing experience is probably anything but typical, but the reality of what I was actually watching (vs. recording) was nothing less than what business author, Tom Peters, used to call a “blinding flash of the obvious.”

Now, if I were in a location where it was possible to receive FREE digital broadcast signals — and the mountain between me and the transmitter guarantees I am not — I’d be more than satisfied with free, over-the-air public television stations’ digital signals, captured by my digital video recorder (DVR), and viewed when I chose in HDTV with Dolby DTS 7.1 sound.

Digital television broadcasting and other improvements in technology may do little for commercial network reality series or game shows, but when used with PBS programming that brings the world into my living room the results are stunning.

NATURE, NOVA, FRONTLINE, MASTERPIECE THEATRE, THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and other PBS favorites have never looked or sounded better.

As promised, a future post will describe why the very highest quality television signals may well require you purchase a new antenna. But for now, I’ll settle for defining “television happiness” as my digital PBS TV stations, my DVR, and me . . .

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Strong Marketing of a Weak Success Measure:
Charity Navigator Vital Mission Hides Flawed Rankings

Everyone wants to figure out how to evaluate nonprofits. Grantmakers, donors, volunteers, journalist, and nonprofit leaders.

Individuals who contribute and the nonprofits that use those funds to provide vital services would both benefit from ranking of effectiveness and efficiency. Such evaluations would encourage nonprofits to constantly improve their performance and allow funders to make smarter investments.

Those were the driving motivations behind the creation of Charity Navigator and other nonprofit rating / ranking services. Yet, if you believe Charity Navigator or others have found the holy grail of evaluating nonprofit organizations you’re sadly mistaken — and I encourage you to keep reading.

For-profits have one thing nonprofits do not — a clear set of financial measures of success. Across for-profits is it relatively easy to measure and compare profits. Yet, it is much tougher to measure effective and efficient service – the mission and goal of all nonprofits.

Charity Navigator’s rankings are the result of gross oversimplifications. For example, Charity Navigator’s:

• Evaluation process begins and ends with creating ratios based on almost any two numbers found in nonprofit organizations’ IRS Form 990.
• Presumption is that all nonprofits complete their IRS Form 990’s in the same manner, using precisely the same definitions of what income and expenses are reported in response to a given question on Form 990.
• Ratings do not include an “affirmative confirmation” from nonprofits’ top management to guarantee the accounting basis of specific figures or that the resulting ranking is both correct and fair.

Imagine a nonprofit institution raising capital funds for a new facility. Simply looking at the IRS Form 990 could lead one to believe the organization had a dramatic increase in revenues. That’s good news to the nonprofit — unless, for example, Charity Navigator decides to use that year as a “base year” on which to evaluate future year’s revenues. Future ratings and rankings could show the nonprofit in decline as a result of the decreasing revenue.

Or, consider how you would rate a nonprofit whose mission is to care for people during and immediately following natural disasters? Funding for the organization is like winding a clock-spring. All of the investments in infrastructure are “waste” if there are no disasters.

On the other hand, if there is a disaster and the expensive infrastructure doesn’t exist, the organization will fail to react instantly when conditions demand nothing less. Only when the spring is wound can the organization deploy resources and services when they are most needed.

These situations have me reflecting on the age-old loaded-question, “Are you still beating your wife?” Charity Navigator’s ratings, rankings, and top ten lists are all presumed to be true as published until and unless they are challenged a nonprofit that was damaged by an overly simplified ranking system that is not based on an apples-to-apples comparison.

In my view, Charity Navigator, its ratings, and its top ten lists are nothing more than great merchandising of a weak underlying product.

For example, wouldn’t any donor or nonprofit be interested in the following “Top Ten” Charity Navigator lists?

• 10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of
• 10 Highly Rated Charities Relying on Private Contributions
• 10 Charities Routinely in the Red
• 10 Charities Stockpiling Your Money
• 10 Charities Expanding in a Hurry
• 10 Charities in Deep Financial Trouble

These lists — while attractive — are the “National Enquirer” approach to a topic that demands more substantive evaluation of nonprofits’ effectiveness and efficiency. While not as quick or easy as Charity Navigator’s overly simplistic rankings, it’s fascinating to see Charity Navigator’s own recommendation on how to evaluate nonprofit institutions that it does NOT rate (listed below) far more closely represent the time, questions, and interaction with nonprofits that are required to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency.

Charity Navigator’s Suggestions On Evaluating Nonprofit Success

1. Can your charity clearly communicate who they are and what they do?
2. Can your charity define their short-term and long-term goals?
3. Can your charity tell you the progress it has made (or is making) toward its goal?
4. Do your charity’s programs make sense to you?
5. Can you trust your charity?
6. Are you willing to make a long-term commitment to your organization?

I give up! If these are the questions that Charity Navigator recommends you and I ask of nonprofits, why don’t they use these same questions themselves?

I can think of four answers:

• It would require an enormous investment of time and money to gather the answers.
• Even if answers to the above questions were collected, they don’t lend themselves to numeric ratings;
• Without numeric ratings, it is next to impossible to produce apples-to-apples rankings, and, finally;
• Without low-cost, easy to produce nonprofit rankings, there is no Charity Navigator.

Regardless of their size, the rating of a nonprofit’s service is complicated and highly subjective. The list of provided above by Charity Navigator is a good starting point for discussions with a nonprofit’s leadership, top management and key professionals.

But here in all this complexity and subjectivity is the beauty of making an individual decision to support a specific nonprofit organization.

Over time, you learn about those organizations dealing with the causes you care about most – and are passionate about their mission.

After all, if it were that easy to determine the most successful nonprofits, everyone could invest in nonprofit mutual funds and fund managers would make the investments in only those organizations’ services rated at the top of the list in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

Large donors and small donors. Very well funded and not so well funded nonprofits. In all of these cases, half of the fun of investing in nonprofits – in giving away your hard earned cash – is learning about the similarities and differences between the half-dozen organizations meeting needs you believe are essential.

In the end, a significant contributor only has two good options.

• They can become involved, get engaged, and learn about the organizations they fund.
• Or, they can simply hire me (just teasing) – or any other consultant with substantial hands-on, nonprofit experience, to collect information on nonprofits of interest and provide them with a thoughtful narrative report.

My real concern is that Charity Navigator’s rankings appear to be so powerful and easy to use that:

• Individuals will fail to take the time and gather the information to determine which ratings may be solid and which are gross oversimplifications or just plain wrong.
• Potential contributors will simply discard a deserving nonprofit from their list of giving priorities, and / or;
• Donors will fail to use the rankings provided by Charity Navigator as one of many topics to discuss with the top management of the nonprofit that interests them.

Charity Navigator’s (and other data aggregators / information providers) current ratings, rankings, and practice of publishing the “truth” until proven otherwise fails potential donors, some nonprofits, and its own mission.

I’m not suggesting that every poor rating of a nonprofit by Charity Navigator is incorrect or undeserved. I am urging the nonprofit industry to create better measures and / or methods of evaluating nonprofits’ mission-driven services in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

Until that time, I would urge all nonprofits to be open and accountable and all current and potential contributors to become more involved with and knowledgeable about the nonprofits engaged in the causes that interest them the most.

<http://www.charitynavigator.org>

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If you’re a homeowner in most cities, you have choices as to what television services you receive, how, and who provides them. You’re lucky.

If you live in most apartment buildings, you have only one choice. You can subscribe to the cable company that negotiated an exclusive contract with your building owners or managers or, without the option of an outdoor antenna; you can watch whatever rabbit ears will allow. But all of this may be about to change.

Sunday’s, October 28, 2007, New York Times, reports that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government agency that regulates broadcast and subscription television services is about to strike down the long-existing exclusive contracts between cable operators and apartment buildings.

Tossing those exclusive contracts may do more than give apartment residents more options. It should also make cable companies more competitive and, in the end, that could mean substantially lower monthly cable fees as those companies attempt to retain their apartment subscribers.

Kevin J. Martin, Chairman of the FCC told the New York Times, “Exclusive contracts have been one of the most significant barriers to competition. ‘Cable prices have risen about 93 percent in the last 10 years.’ This is a way to introduce additional competition, which will result in lower prices and greater innovation.”

The FCC’s plans could be of significant benefit to low-income and minority families. FCC officials and consumer groups reported that while 25% of American’s live in apartment building with 50 or more people, however, that figure rises to 40% for Hispanics and African-American households. In situations were competition was encouraged, cable subscribers’ monthly fees declined up to 30%.

Who will compete with cable companies for their current apartment subscribers? This list grows every day. Satellite television companies, small point-to-multi-point wireless television services, and ultimately companies like Verizon Communications and AT&T. Looking into the future, there will be more community based wireless services — much like cellphones today. Even your power company may ultimately provide television programming services; after all few companies have their door-to-door wired infrastructure.

With cable and satellite television programming providers continuing to increase their monthly subscription rates, it’s great to see the FCC encouraging more competition. It’s an especially important step in keeping America from further divisions based on those who can afford information and entertainment and those who cannot.

With the transition from conventional to digital television set to occur in just 478 days, it is a brave new world out there!

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/business/media/29cable.html?hp>

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Thanks to those of you who took action based on my previous post about DirecTV and The Dish Network’s failure to include local public television stations new, High Definition (HD) channels in their “local station packages” as they do for commercial TV networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.

When will the two satellite subscription services begin carrying PBS member stations HD signals? We don’t know. But, to illustrate the challenge, this post describes what DirecTV and the Dish Network had to say when I contacted them as a loyal public television viewer.

I talked or exchanged e-mails with both companies’ customer service teams. On July 6th, DirecTV replied to my inquiry with, “Thank you for writing to inquire about receiving PBS HD in your area. I’m sorry for any frustration this causes you, and I’m happy to respond to your e-mail.”

They continued, “While I do not have any information specifically about PBS in your area, we do value programming like this and realize PBS in HD is important to our customers. Unfortunately, due to limits in bandwidth, we are not able to offer all of the local channels we provide to the Salt Lake area in HD. I have entered a request for PBS HD to be offered in your area. Our programming department take channel requests like yours into account when deciding on new programming to offer.”

And they concluded, “As mentioned in our previous e-mail, we are launching new satellites to increase the number of HD channels that we are able to offer. It is possible that PBS HD may become available at that time; however, I wouldn’t want to speculate on any dates for this or our service provided by other companies.”

The Dish Network reply was more concise, “Thank you for your e-mail. At this time, we do not have specific information when the PBS stations will be launched in HD. We are currently working on offering more HD channels in the future. Please log-on to our website for more information about new programming and services being added to Dish Network.”

Increasingly, public television stations are the only stations in that are owned, governed, and operated within the communities they serve and not by far away profit making corporations.

Yes, many satellite subscribers can receive a digital / HD public television signal over-the-air if they install an indoor or outdoor antenna (if zoning permits it) and plug it into their satellite receiver box. Frankly, I would suggest everyone consider this option if they can receive over-the-air signals.

However, in a world of vastly more choices in television programming services — what were once called “channels” — there is a difference between what people can do to receive a signal and what they will do.

DirecTV and the Dish Network are now providing the commercial network stations’ HD signals as part of their “local channel packages.” Now it is time for them to do the same for local public television stations.

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In my August 7, 2007 post, I expressed the concern that some viewers may be left behind when all of U.S. television transitions to digital transmission on February 17, 2009 — just 537 days from now. While cable and satellite viewers won’t notice the change, viewers with conventional TV sets and rabbit ear antennas will find nothing but a snow-filled screen.

As it turns out, some viewers have already been left behind. Those viewers who value their local PBS / public television stations and who subscribe to satellite television services DirecTV and the Dish Network.

DirecTV’s and Dish Network’s include the traditional analog and new digital program services of your local ABC, CBS, NBC, and the FOX commercial network stations. Local public television stations’ digital signals can only be received via cable or over-the-air with an antenna and digital (HDTV) receiver.

Both DirecTV and Dish Network’s have decided NOT to include the new digital / HD program services of local PBS / public television stations in their “Local HD Channel Packages.”

Obviously, DirecTV and the Dish Network are carrying the commercial network digital signals because they believe the digital and often High-Definition (HD) programming provides “value added” for their subscribers.

Given the nature of many PBS programs, the digital service would provide enhanced picture and sound quality. You have to wonder if I can watch a commercial network “game show” in digital high-definition, why would DirecTV and the Dish Network not want to provide the same enhanced viewing experience to NOVA and NATURE viewers?

Because no one demands it. This must change. We must demand that the new digital / HD services from our local PBS stations be treated equally with the local commercial network stations.

Want to make a difference? Call one or both subscription satellite services and let them know you want your local PBS station’s high-definition, digital programming included as part of their local HD channel package lineup. Call them now:

DIRECTV – Phone: 888-777-2454

DISH NETWORK – Phone: 888-825-2557

Share your passion for the new high-definition (HD) programs available from your local PBS / public television station.

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In 560 days, television broadcasting, as Americans’ have always known it, will cease to exist. At that moment, local television stations will take the last step in the transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

On February 19, 2009 this change — of which far to many Americans are totally unaware — is both exciting and potentially troublesome.

Digital television is exciting because it promises theater quality viewing in your own home. The sound quality is similar to moving from LP’s to CD’s — stunning.

At the same time, the shift to digital only signals could be a problem, leaving many viewers, especially those in rural areas and those with low disposable income, without television at all. That’s a problem.

If you’ve already purchased an HDTV set, tuner, and antenna, you’re probably already receiving over-the-air digital signals. If not, you’ll be able to buy a converter that will pick up the new digital television signals and convert them so they can be viewed on your old receiver — admittedly at lower picture and sound quality. If, as most Americans, you subscribe to a cable television service, you won’t notice the change from analog to digital television because your set-top converter box will function just like the decoder described above.

If you own or purchase an HDTV set, you’ll be able to connect it to the cable converter box and view the highest quality signals available. If you still own a conventional analog set, you won’t lose service — but you won’t get improved quality either.

Most homes in America will notice one impact of all these changes. And they’ll feel it on any conventional TV set in the home that is using an antenna to receive an over-the-air signal (e.g., not connected to a cable converter box).

Many of these conventional / analog TV sets will still be in use in 2009. And if viewers watched a favorite program on February 18, 2009 on one of those sets, they’ll find the set’s screen blank the following morning.

Television is changing and the change will be easier on some than others. There are special challenges facing public media, including your local PBS member station. We’ll hit those issues in a future post.

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Thirty-six years ago I began a life-long career in public radio and television. I’d already worked four-years in commercial radio – when broadcasting was a cash machine with a social conscience. That’s all changed – as how broadcasters, commercial networks, cable and satellite television services give us more of less at greater and greater cost.

Today, I continue to share my passion for and capabilities to strengthen public broadcasting / public media as a consultant. So, it’s not surprising that in writing a blog that I would focus on you, your neighbors, and others’ interests and relationships with their media – from those with the three original commercial television networks to the intimate relationships between iPods and their owners.

I’m not timid. You can count on me to highlight the unique differences between those who simply seek to profit at your expense and those who seek to serve – including the differences between nonprofit, community-owned and operated public radio and television stations and for-profit commercial enterprise.

This is not to say the public media always gets it right. It doesn’t. At times, it doesn’t think big enough or partner well enough. But the public media’s mission and motives are to serve you and your community.

Blogging reflects my life. I reach out, seeking to communicate, to be authentic and clear, to stimulate debate, to kick-start minds, to create and develop a relationships with you – and with others who share – but don’t always agree upon – interests, passions, and dreams. Like most, I seek to have a positive impact beyond myself.

Like the best of relationships, this blog must do more than inform or even entertain. It must be grounded in naïve listening. That means listening to the public at large and, equally important, to your reactions, thoughts, criticisms and suggested improvements. As I am too often reluctant to share my “two cents” with the authors of other blogs, I’ll constantly be encouraging you to do so via the e-mail “contact me” link above.
– Michael B. Soper

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