BLACK-OUT DAY, February 17, 2009
You could also call it the day “THE FUZZ” goes away. Lately a lot of people, including state legislators, have asked me to write about this subject. Over the past 20 years in the satellite business industry and TV reception in general, if there is one thing I have learned, it’s don’t stand up between a man and his favorite TV program. There is great peril in changing the channel without warning – even greater danger in having no channels at all.

We Vermonters can put up with a lot of things, starting with the weather through high school taxes, almost $4.00 for a gallon of gas, black flies, etc., but an evening without Marcelis is going over the top. It’s enough to drive us to the nearest box store and spend $1500.00 on a new TV set we did not need, or want, or know how to wire and operate, or all of the above.

The numbers are staggering and the fear is palpable. Still, in 2008, after the explosion of such new mediums as cable TV, satellite TV, Telco video services, Internet video, after the advent of DTV, HDTV, DBS, HDMI, SPS (calm down now, I can feel you blood pressure rise), after all this I was saying there are still 17% of us that rely exclusively on rabbit ears, or a good old antenna on the roof to get a TV program. For some folks, that is enough; that is all they need; that is all they want; and that is fine.

Being in this trade for so long has also taught me how easy it is to take advantage of your so-called knowledge – a misplaced cable, a loose connection, an electrical surge - and you can convince regular folks that they need to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in order to fix a problem that could be solved with a $10.00 part. Honesty, trust, knowledge is what all of us expect and rely upon when it comes to dealing with really scary stuff, like losing your soap operas. What is a life without Dr. Phil?

Joking aside, I am very concerned and worried that a lot of folks are going to be taken advantage of. It can be you, your neighbor, your parents, so try to pay attention and retain a bit of this. If you have cable and receive programs now on all your TVs, you are okay. If you have a satellite system and receive your programs now on all your TVs, you are okay. If you are connected to a decoder box of any kind and receive your TV programs now, you are okay. By okay I mean you have absolutely NOTHING TO DO – NO MONEY TO SPEND.

If you have a TV set that is connected to an outside antenna or a set of rabbit ears, or a contraption of coat hangers and tinfoil coupled with some bolts and nuts, or the electric fence in the pasture…WHAT? You don’t believe me? Well let me tell you folks, in 20 years, I have seen my share of creative engineering and you know as strange as it seems, some of it works - somehow, sometimes, some days better than others, depending on the weather and the cows. But I digress.

So as I was saying, if you have one or more of those good old consoles, portables, gigantic and cumbersome, but unbelievably reliable TV sets, it is not quite time to part with it yet, not without a fight, not without exploring other alternatives. The easiest and cheapest way would be to take advantage of the $40.00 coupons that the federal government will make available to all of us, resulting in an approximate cost to the consumer of $30.00 or so. Hook it up to the TVs and you are good to go. Or you could use this as an excuse to justify buying that 46” flat screen, with HDTV and MTS – oh, sorry, I am speaking nerd again.

Bottom line is, don’t rush to conclusions, don’t believe any old salesman that tells you the world of TV is coming to an end. Ask questions. Help your friends, family and neighbors understand what is going to happen, and together we can survive Black-out Day.

Michel Consejo
State Representative Sheldon, Swanton