DirecTV’s Digital Transition Ads May Be Confusing Viewers

By Ira Teinowitz

Add one more point of confusion to the digital TV transition.

Satellite broadcaster DirecTV is airing misleading public service messages telling subscribers they don’t need to do anything in advance of the country’s Feb. 17, 2009, transition from analog to digital TV transmission.

“Television has gone through some big changes … the transition from black-and-white to color, from small screens to giant screens, from cable to satellite. Now by law local broadcasters must transition from analog to digital. So how will this affect me?” says DirecTV’s message.

“It won’t. DirecTV customers have always enjoyed 100% digital picture, so I don’t have to do a thing. It feels good to be ahead of the curve. Relax. You’ve got 100% digital DirecTV.”

In fact, some DirecTV subscribers get some or all of their local channels over-the-air—DirecTV won’t say how many—and will lose access to those channels if they don’t get converter boxes or new digital TVs. Other DirecTV customers have secondary TV sets that may need to be connected to the DirecTV service or need converter boxes to continue to work.

While the public service ad’s announcer doesn’t mention at all the possibility that steps may be necessary, the message ends by displaying a Web address and, in small type, “If you are not getting your local channels through DirecTV, visit us online for more information.”

On its Web site, DirecTV correctly explains the need for the boxes. The site also offers satellite receivers with built-in DTV converters.

A DirecTV spokesman defended the airing of the public service message, saying most of the company’s customers get their local channels through satellite.

“The PSAs are designed to avoid confusing the vast majority of our customers, who will not be affected by the digital transition because they receive locals via DirecTV, while assisting the small number of customers who receive locals off-air by directing them to our Web site, where they have access to all the information they need to prepare for the transition,” he said.

A spokesman for the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is overseeing the transition, said the agency took no issue with the ad because of its reference to the Web site.

Officials of the Federal Communications Commission didn’t return requests for comment.