Could it be that free analog television is going away April 7th, 2009, Mitch?

No more rabbit ears, aerials on the roof, etc. Time to cough up money to the machine every month to watch this garbage via dish or cable or "bundles" As long as its free, watch it. After they want to change the spectrum again for MONEY. quit watching their crud.

I predict a big drop off on Monday Night football watching and advertising revenue. It will even be sorse after analog television and all youguys with 30 year old Sears and Admirals will have to cough up...or will we?

I haven't watched MNFB in probably 25 years, if that's what you're referring to.

MNFB is the symptom, Mitch. The real problem is televison as we know it (free and you pick up off your aerials) is going away so they can force your into cable, etc.

MNFB has not been on my tube for as many years also, Mitch. Watch mostly VHS and DVD's on the television and cannot wait until the end of it all so we can really see how many people do watch and respond to the box via the losing of advertising revenue.

That is why blogs are great. They are the modern equivalent of pamphleteering or the corner bar for news. You will not find it on MSM so the loss of analog TV will not leave you without ways of finding things out. It will be cutting off the networks nose to spite their face via dictates of the FCC to sell radio/TV spectrum that the analog channels represent.

It will be interesting how much the advertising revenue goes down once analog free TV goes away.
MNFB will be a nice canary in the mine to see what happens.

I hate to break it to you guys, but tonight is the last MNF on ABC. Next year it will be on ESPN. Pay the cable company on no watchee.

Greg opined:
MNFB will be a nice canary in the mine to see what happens.

It's apple and oranges.

Normally, monday night is the busiest night at the gym. The best thing about Monday Night Football is the gym isn't nearly as crowded on monday night during the football season.

I hope this continues with the move to cable.

Wow .. umm, this was announced like 6 months ago, kinda like the new conservative FM station was announced 2 weeks before Mitch (the radio insider) noticed...

Timely stuff there Mitch.

PB

BTW, if you don't like this, it is all a part of the continuing merger chain of events worshipping the almight dollar (called economies of scale and the ability to make folks pay for the service). If you worship at that altar, well, just desserts are served.

PB

I don't get what Digital/analog has to do with anything. When the switch comes over, you'll still be able to get WCCO, KSTP, KARE and the other usual suspects with a simple antenna -- it'll just be the usual crap on a fancier screen. It'll still be free as it is today. Plus, some stations (KSTC and PBS are two examples right now) will carry more than one program at a time.

I heard on a newscast that ABC was losing "millions" on MNFB annually. My guess is that the NFL thinks it is worth much more than it really is -- an attitude most NFL players seem to have as well.

Jerry,
No you will not be able to pick up broadcasts that are in analog at present. You will need to buy a convertor box that will somehow have to be interposed somewhere between your rabbits/aerials, otherwise your tuner will be not pickup or receive the new digitial signals. This unmanufactured/unknown convertor box is supposed to cost $30-100 with limelights of the party like McCain already wanting a 1 billion dollar subsidy to buy convertor boxes for older sets.
At present, all new televisions are still being built only with tuners than pickup analog only and the "drop dead" date is 3 and 1/2 years away!!!
It will be a practical way to kill your TV and MSM partially in one fell swoop.