Cablevision Stands By DTV Spot Critics Call ‘Doomsday Message’

In the spot, an actor, whom the New York Daily News identified as former WNBC-TV reporter Joe Avellar, points to a CRT with a rabbit-ears antenna and says: “On June 12, 2009, broadcast TV signals go digital, and older TVs like this one won’t work anymore. Don’t let that happen to you.” Later in the spot, he says “time is running out. If you rely on a TV antenna or an apartment building antenna to get your channels, Cablevision has a special offer for you. … Even if you've resisted the move to cable in the past, please call. And make sure that nothing interrupts your favorite TV shows.”

Cablevision is unfazed by criticism that the spot sends a misleading message, spokesman Jim Maiella told us. “The commercial is designed to raise awareness of the coming digital transition of broadcast stations and to promote a special low-cost offer for non-customers who currently receive these stations over an antenna,” he said. “Clearly there is significant confusion related to the digital transition, so much so that its implementation was delayed by four full months to give consumers additional time to understand the issue and to take appropriate steps to ensure no disruption of television service. For many consumers, the simplest approach to maintaining uninterrupted access to broadcast television stations is purchasing service from a cable or satellite provider.”

But one elderly Little Neck, Queens, resident said she was so spooked by the commercials, she phoned Cablevision at the toll-free number that flashed on the screen. Cablevision referred her to Time Warner Cable, which operates the cable franchise in her neighborhood.

NCTA Senior Vice President Rob Stoddard sidestepped comment on the Cablevision commercial because the NCTA “had no involvement in, or knowledge of, this particular spot as it was being produced,” he said. But he defended cable’s record on DTV consumer outreach. “From September 2007 through early this year, cable companies and programmers have aired consumer education spots in commercial time worth more than $250 million, and those spots focused heavily on all of the options available to consumers in the transition,” Stoddard said. “The spots that aired in those times, produced in both English and in Spanish, also heavily advertised the government’s converter coupon program, drove people to the site of the DTV Transition Coalition and posted the toll-free phone number that consumers could use to order coupons from NTIA.”

“In effect, we strongly encouraged consumers to consider options that do not involve a cable subscription, so I would hope there’s no doubt that cable has done its part to educate consumers about all of their options,” Stoddard said. “It only makes sense, I think, as the transition reaches its culmination, for cable companies to remind consumers that cable service is one of their options, and one of the better ones at that.” Similarly, Stoddard said, “broadcast advertisements are reminding consumers that they can gain new multicast signals without a subscription to a pay service, just as consumer electronics retailers are reminding consumers that the purchase of a new digital TV with the right antenna also could enable them to navigate the transition successfully.”

Cable has “worked hard at the industry level to generate impartial and informative messages about the transition for the past two years,” Stoddard said. “I'm gratified to know that our efforts, in combination with those of our broadcasting and CE counterparts, have resulted in awareness levels approaching 100 percent. It’s true that this last leg of the transition may be the toughest, as those households that have not yet completed their preparations start to make decisions about how to proceed. We're supportive of the FCC, NTIA, and all the groups that are trying to bring this one to a successful conclusion.”