Washington, D.C. (March 2, 2008) -- Continued from Part One of this article.


Q. Do you think Digital TV transition is in trouble? -- Edward S.
Oh, do I ever. At this point, there are probably at least 15 million homes that would lose their TV signals if the transition happened today. (The switch takes place on February 17, 2009.) That's a lot of people who need to get those digital converter boxes or new Digital TVs between now and then. And that's a lot of people who still are not aware that the transition will even happen next year.

To make matters worse, the federal government, which is supervising the switch, is completely disorganized and seemingly clueless about how to educate Americans about the transition. Just a few days ago, yet another person in charge of the federal agency overseeing the transition quit her post; that's two people who have left that position in a matter of weeks.

Folks, people don't leave government positions when things are going well; they leave when the place is in chaos. When it comes to the Digital TV switch, nobody wants to be the next Mike "Brownie" Brown.

Q. Will MOJO show Major League Baseball this year? -- Sammy S.
MOJO, which airs NBA TV simulcast broadcasts in high-def, has not said whether it will do the same this year for MLB games distributed by its parent company InDemand. (InDemand offers MLB Extra Innings games in SD and HD to cable operators as a pay package.) Stay tuned for updates here at TVPredictions.com.

Q. Will DIRECTV offer the Voom HD channels? -- Dottie D.
DIRECTV officials have been publicly dismissive of the 15-channel Voom high-def lineup, which offers niche channels on subjects as diverse as world sports to horror films. The satcaster apparently does not believe that it would be worthwhile to pay Voom what it wants for the entire 15-channel suite; Voom says it will only sell the 15 channels in a block, not separately. But as the year progresses, maybe the two companies will find common ground. Not likely, but who knows?

Q. What do you think will happen with the prices of Blu-Ray DVD players? There is now no incentive to lower the prices because HD DVD players are going away. I assume the prices will go down at some point, but when? -- Marcie R.
Contrary to popular opinion, Blu-ray makers have a tremendous incentive now to lower prices this year, culminating in a $199 player this holiday season. Because of the format war, standalone high-def disc players are in less than 2 million homes. Blu-ray has to make up for lost ground -- and fast. Lower prices is the way to do it.

Q. When will Blu-ray makers offer recorders? -- Aaron E..
Although they have been available in Japan for a few years. CE companies question whether there's a market in the U.S. for high-def DVD recorders. They point to disappointing sales for standard-def DVD recorders here. That said, it's possible one might be introduced this holiday season, but don't bet the ranch on it.

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Swanni (Phillip Swann) is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

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