I sat in on a discussion for the upcoming Digital TV transition when Connect for Kids was still a project of the Benton Foundation. The discussion was way over my low-tech head.

But Digital TV is coming (President Bush signed legislation setting a hard date to complete the transition on February 17, 2009) and Charles Benton, head of the Benton Foundation, says we need to pay attention not just to the technology, which is going to cost consumers a lot more, but also to what it means for families and public interest programming.

Every school day, all around the country, nearly 8 million students are watching Channel One's daily public affairs program, a 12-minute mix of news, features and advertisements.

Did I say watching? It might be more accurate to say, "existing in the same general vicinity as," or "dimly aware of." It turns out many of these students are paying even less attention to Channel One than they are to their parents' suggestions about what to wear to the next mixer.

"Most of you probably have seen the print ads or commercials for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. I think what they are trying to do is great,
and, unfortunately, necessary. "

This is from my daughter-in-law, who treats people with eating disorders in a center outside Chicago.

Every day, it seems, technology opens up a fertile new market that never existed before. Take online gamers. Certainly a diverse crew, weighted a bit towards the male, but representing a wide range of ages and interests. But three-year-olds? Just never occured to me. That's one of the many ways that I am not like Disney, which is launching a new $50-a-year subscription service for preschoolers.