• by Frank Maggio , May 2, 2008

When Charlton Heston passed away several weeks ago, my nine-year-old daughter asked me why newspapers were saying that Moses had died -- again. I took the opportunity to cue up "The Ten Commandments" on DVD, and we began watching together.

About an hour into the epic, I ran a quick errand to the nearby Circuit City, to pick up two new Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes. My sojourn was triggered by an article in that Sunday's  St. Petersburg Times , citing potential shortages at retail outlets, exacerbated by the fact that the $40 government-issued coupon cards have a 90-day expiration requirement. Sure enough, after only 72 minutes of commerce, Circuit City had sold out of their entire remaining inventory of boxes. Thankfully, the Best Buy across the street had plenty, so I picked up my ration of two boxes (only $39.98 plus tax after rebates -- such a deal!) and headed home to begin the install -- hopefully before the parting of the Red Sea...

The old 13" color TV, sitting forlorn with rabbit ears nearly drooping in the deepest recesses of the garage, seemed to spring to life as I dusted off the matte finish plastic exterior, and made room for the miniscule converter box. In less than two minutes, the install was done.

My jaw dropped.

When I walked back into the house minutes later, apparently my entrance was timed with Moses' trek down Mount Horab, stone tablets in hand, hair newly whitened after his historic face to face with the Almighty. My clan looked up at me in startled amazement, pointing to a shock of white hair that had mysteriously appeared above my forehead.

I had seen the future -- and it is free.

In the event you are among the 10.5 million who have requested converter coupons, and have still not installed your box, let me be the first to tell you to brace yourselves. I was absolutely stunned at the quality of picture, the sheer number of channels available, and the ease with which an old throwaway set can be reinvigorated for less than $20.

The Insignia converter box, like most other current models, also includes a programmable remote control and onscreen program guide, which was an unexpected bonus to a device that I thought would merely serve to allow users to avoid throwing their old sets away. Au contraire. This little gadget is NOT going to provide the windfall that many cable companies are counting on. The converter box will likely convert as many AWAY from cable, and back to good ole' free TV, once word gets out.

My mind started racing after I saw that I had over 16 channels now available to me, ALL in crystal clear color and sound. The local ABC affiliate was broadcasting weather on 28.2, but why could it not be... ESPN2? And the Fox affiliate - why not carry Fox News on a side frequency? NBC could simulcast CNBC on channel 8.2, PBS could partner with the Discovery Network, and CBS could rekindle its ties to Viacom and air VH1 in the mornings, and MTV in the evenings. Finally, the handful of independents could cut their own deals with traditional cable nets (heck maybe even the NFL Network!), and all of a sudden, America's 11th largest TV market would have an over-air cornucopia of free TV!

Of course, these converter boxes could easily be converted to offering a few more bells and whistles -- built-in HD signal amps (for use with newer TVs), DVR functionality, back channel interactivity, and of course, my favorite, state change software that could allow users to share their viewership data (without personally identifiable information) with companies like Nielsen, TNS, or, heck, I don't know... erinMedia perhaps?

Sure, there are hurdles. The cable nets would have an issue with the loss of subscription fees -- but the less expensive ones could probably warrant this deviation from their business plan, in exchange for the gain of incremental viewers (and higher ratings and resulting ad revenues, when broadcast in a less cluttered arena of 20 channels). And each local market would need an organizer who could align the interests of cable nets and local affiliate groups alike - but certainly this is a minor task for companies like Google, Microsoft, or perhaps even the incumbent MSO. There's even a subscription model available here, with the supplemental networks being scrambled, and inexpensive descramblers being made available for a small monthly service charge. The variations are numerous -- and provocative.

What do YOU think?

IF local TV broadcasters were to work with their cable network brethren, could "virtual cable" provide a viable competitive threat to traditional cable and satellite TV providers? How many (and which) cable nets do you think would need to be included in a local array of over-air offerings, for a major metropolitan market to provide its citizens with a meaningful -- and FREE -- alternative to digital cable or satellite services? And lastly, if such a free "virtual cable" alternative were to be available, what percentage of TV households do you think would convert at least some of their existing cable or satellite sets to over-air "virtual-cable" sets?