October 26th, 2006
HDTV - Only for the Wealthy?
By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Leichtman Research Group released a survey showing that over 80% of the consumers with HDTV make over $50,000 a year. In fact, the average household income for HDTV owners is $89,500 which is 42% above the national average income. In addition, only 1 in 6 households have HDTV which is up from 1 our of 14 households two years ago.
While nothing seems surprising or out of the ordinary in LRG’s assessment of the HDTV space, one thing that surprised me is that only a third of those surveyed knew about Fev 17, 2009, the federal deadline for TV stations to broadcast only digital signals.
While HDTV’s long-term sales are upbeating (about 20% of all households get a new TV set each year), that may not be fast enough to beat the federal deadline in 2009.
“The government has been unrealistic from Day One,” Leichtman says. “The digital cut-off date was originally supposed to be in two months,” before it was postponed.
Source: DVR Playground
Leo says:
You’d think that the people doing this research would know the difference between digital and HD, something does not need to be HD to be digital. So it is not as if people who can’t afford high-def tv’s will not be able to watch tv after the cutoff. By then there should be some really cheap digital tuner that can still output to any tv. These are already around and aren’t super expensive.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Doug Felteau says:
Having written the blurb on DVR Playground, I did skip over the fact that the researchers noted that people could purchase a digital tuner for their current TVs. The blurb would then start turning into a full-blown article.
I was definitely concentrating more on the fact that HDTV really has not become prevalent with lower incomes than $50k/yr as well as the fact that most people have no clue about the Feb 2009 deadline (which was moved from Jan 1, 2007).
October 26th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Rog says:
Or that the cable/dish ‘box’ will be used in place of the cheap digital tuners required by the antenna crowd.
October 26th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Mike says:
Will people ever learn - $2000 tv or food on the table…hmm..let me think. Being brought up in the POOR class has given me a better idea of what happens to us poor people with things like this. Computers hav finaly come down to the point of possibly being affordable using a credit card to buy and pay off for the nest 3 or 4 years!
HDTV has not caught on because it is too damn expensive..PERIOD.
drop the prices of the widescreen 50″ tvs to $500 and I bet it will take off like a rocket…then of course include the hd programming at no extra cost…WOW…that would be…human.
oh and I picked the 50″ mark since a widescreen tv has to be larger than a full screen for the same amount of screen real estate.
Mike
am I a bitter person..NO. I just cant stand the comparisons between money and technology. Do the poor go out and buy a $500 video card..NO….will we buy a widescreen HDTV that we have to then pay extra ( or buy an antenna if you are lucky enough to have a built in tuner and reception )for the HD programming.
for future reference - anyone in the high middle class to the high class can afford almost anything…everyone below that it takes a small miracle to get the new stuff without having to go into MAJOR credit card debt and pay it off for YEARS.
THAT is why nes tech does not take off like a rocket. THAT is why HD penetration will NOT be showing very well. THAT is the reason $500 video cards, $600 console systems, and $2000 tvs are just plain ludicrous.
October 27th, 2006 at 3:13 am
John Corliss says:
The United States government will NEVER give up such an effective propaganda tool as television. Something will happen that will either make that date get moved ahead or else will make HDTV more accessible to the masses.
October 27th, 2006 at 5:19 am
ben says:
Mike, I think you’re exaggerating on both sides of the scale. People in the “high-middle class” make at least double what we’re talking about in this article. If two people are married and they both work, especially if either one of them went to college, then they’re probably making enough money to spend 1000 dollars on a non-essential item like an HDTV, or a couple iPods for the gym, or 3-4 months of cell phone service for the two of them. The sad truth is, the least-wealthy people I know have the biggest TVs. No, they’re not plasma or LCDs hanging on the wall, they’re 55-65 inch rear projection “HD-ready” TVs that have never seen anything more impressive than the S-video input from a cheap progressive scan DVD player. This article IS misleading because it doesn’t effectively distinguish between HD and digital. Lots and lots of poor people have digital cable right now. They won’t notice when the OTA analog signal expires because it’s not a big deal. Even after 2009, the cable companies will be pumping out analog TV signals for “legacy” users and using it as an excuse for not having more HD channels, because one analog SD channel takes up more room than a digital HD channel over coax. The 2009 cut-off doesn’t apply to anything other than OTA signals. Just watch, the cable companies are planning to advertise the fact that they still have 100 non-digital channels available for people with older, non-digital-ready TVs.
500 dollars for a 50″ screen will happen with rear projection at the very low end, but plasma/LCD will never get there because it costs too much to make them…just in physical materials and production/testing. the $100 TV of the next decade will be a 10-20 inch LCD-or-similar ED digital TV.
October 27th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Leo says:
Ben, thanks for stating the position of my original post a little clearer and more complete.
I think some of these articles are scaring people for absolutely no reason. I’d be willing to bet at the time of the switchover to all digital there will be a box at about $20-50 that will be able to take an over-the-air digital broadcast and output it to a 10-20 year old tv with no problems.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Kevin K. says:
How many of us have driven down the streets of “poor” or “lower class” neighborhoods to find new BMWs or Corvettes in the garages? Some houses with 3 or 4 cars in front? How much did those people pay for their houses compared to someone in the “upper classes”?
All I can say is that I make pretty good money and can afford some things but it’s all about priorities. I wanted a nice house so I bought one that was on the limits of my wealth but I can’t afford much more than that so I have a crappy car out front. Diving down the street of a subdivision where houses are 1/3 the value of mine, I regularly see Corvettes and high value cars. Why? They wanted the hot car more than the high priced house! They can afford the toys because they are paying a lot less on their house than I am!
Besides, what drives the economy are people with money and prices eventually fall to levels that “poor” people can afford. Back when I was living in a $500/month apartment, I could easily afford a $3000 comptuer every year or TWO top video cards in that same year. Now that I pay $3000/month on my house, I have to be content with my 3 year old $1500 computer. At least until prices fall enough so that I can afford an upgrade!
So it’s all about priorities as far as I am concerned and “poor” people will eventually be able to afford HD so what difference does it make?
October 27th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Hdtv » AT&T Set to Expand its U-verse says:
[…] HDTV - Only for the Wealthy?RealTechNews, CA - Oct 26, 2006By Chief Gizmateer. Leichtman Research Group released a survey showing that over 80% of the consumers with HDTV make over $50,000 a year. … Permalink TrackBack […]
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