A nationwide telephone survey of 500 high-definition television owners in the United States found that almost half (49 percent) aren’t utilizing the high-definition capabilities of their televisions.
The survey, conducted by Scientific-Atlanta, found that over one in four (28 percent) of HDTV owners surveyed reported they didn’t get any special equipment from their service provider to watch HDTV channels because the picture on their HDTV set was already improved compared to their previous television equipment. Further, 23 percent of respondents reported they didn’t get any HDTV equipment because a message at the beginning of broadcasts indicates the programs are being shown in HDTV. An addition 18 percent reported they weren’t aware they needed additional equipment to display high-definition channels.
Even among HDTV owners who have equipment to view HD channels, HD offerings from cable companies and satellite operators can still confuse consumers. For instance, many operators offer HD versions of broadcast channels in a separate range of channels, yet, out of years of ingrained habit, many viewers unwittingly continue to watch those channels via old channel numbers.
According to Forrester Research, roughly 16 million HDTV sets will be im U.S. households by the end of 2005, but only seven million will actually be watching HD programming.
“Unfortunately a large number of HDTV owners are missing out on the opportunities to watch true HD,” said Dave Davies, vice president of strategy and product marketing, Subscriber Networks, Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. “The key is to educate consumers on the fundamentals of HDTV, and then help them get connected with the service that will bring their HDTV to life as it is intended.”
Of course, some (ahem!) technophobes still find industry and government’s push towards HD television and broadcast puzzling, wondering if the nation can’t find higher priorities than deploying a technology which will primarily enable viewers to count local sports anchors’ nasal hairs. I mean, come on: isn’t the benefit obvious?
