CRM - March 2009 - (Page 14)

CRM TRENDS AND NEWS ANALYSIS Stay Tuned The switch to digital TV broadcasts is upon us—or is it? y now you’ve heard and seen plenty about the switch to digital television (DTV), and in fact it may have already happened— for years, the cutoff date of February 17, 2009—changed from an original 2006 deadline—carried a distant feeling of finality. But as the date approached, “finality” seemed less final. The DTV switch has been fraught with controversy and complexity, and the issue became one of the first trouble spots for President Barack Obama, bound up with the recession, technology, and the government’s economic stimulus package. (See “Stimulating Citizen Experience,” page 15.) Despite efforts to push the deadline to at least June, Congress was unable to reach a consensus, reflecting inertia or good judgment, depending on whom you ask. At press time the matter was still not completely settled—the February deadline loomed, but possibly millions of Americans remained at risk of not having the proper equipment to receive the new 14 B digital signals—and the story behind the dilemma speaks to the nature of government-level customer service. (See our cover story,“We the People,” page 20, for more on CRM in government.) As part of a 2005 law regarding the DTV switch, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a Department of Commerce agency, created a coupon program to help subsidize the acquisition of digital converter boxes for analog-TV owners. Each household was eligible for up to two $40 coupons to offset the cost of each box. (Retail prices for the boxes ranged from $40 to $70.) These converters are necessary for any analog TV that isn’t otherwise hooked up to a digital receiver (such as a cable TV box). Once the switch is complete, viewers who depended on antennas to receive TV broadcasts will be watching only static. High demand for the coupons near switching time, however, sent the program to its $1.3 billion funding limit, and people were placed on a waiting list. Then- President-elect Obama and others called for a delay so that everyone who wanted a digital converter could have one before the change takes place. In January, the Senate passed a bill that would delay the transition until June 12. The House, on the other hand, defeated a similar measure, leaving the cutoff date as February 17. And that’s where the matter stood, at press time. Fingers are being pointed in all directions. Some blame the NTIA and the federal government as a whole for mismanaging the program, while others blame consumers who waited for the last minute, or who requested coupons they didn’t need or forgot to use. And there are those who blame the news media for inflating a minor problem into a national issue. “I do not think the situation is one in which blame is really to be given; rather, the limited number of consumers with issues are being politicized,” says Robert Heiblim, consumer electronics consultant and owner of RH Associates, via email. “The HDTV transition is not new—indeed, this started almost 20 years ago. There have been years of alerts for consumers to get ready, but the fact is that no matter what is done at least some will— for inertia, lack of funds, or ignorance— get caught short. What could anyone do?” Why put expiration dates on the coupons in the first place? “Because Congress said so, is the easy answer,” says Bart Forbes, an NTIA spokesperson. The intent of the program, he says, was to get converter boxes into homes, and the expiration date was added in part “to create demand that would get manufacturers to want to build them.” The waiting list was a result of the way coupon programs work—it’s illegal to distribute more coupons than you have funds set aside— or “obligated”—for redemption.“We have enough cash to redeem more than 33 million coupons, but we only have funds obligated for 20 million,”Forbes says. Until the www.destinationCRM.com CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MARCH 2009 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - March 2009

CRM - March 2009 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Stay Tuned Stimulating Citizen Experience CRM on Twitter Retailers Face Reality Making Relationships Matter Required Reading We the People Innovation Nation CRM and the iPhone Looking to Score The Virtual Welcome Mat A Tough Transition Made Easier A Training Regimen Gets Rigorous A Battle Fought from Afar Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - March 2009

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