In addition, depending on area, the rabbit ears intended to receive only VHF broadcast channels may need to be replaced with new digital units.
Under the deal, Google agreed to set up a fund, worth 60 million euroes, or $80 million, over three years, to help publishers develop their digital units.
Some digital units also analyze voice-print spectrographs from telephoned or tape-recorded threats or messages, which turn voices into graphic outputs that are unique to each person.
The operations of the latter on the former do not take place in discrete digital units, and future populations may discover in actuality what IA Richards once described as the "sinister potentialities" of recording devices.
Video in display ads may provide new revenue to the digital units of media companies, said Randall Rothenberg, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau, an association for interactive publishers.
He declined to specify which digital units might not be profitable, but said the company was confident that each would become so, as investments in them generate more sales and efficiencies.
