Deadline arrives for digital TV - Washington Business Journal:

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The switch to digital which frees up bandwidth for other communications uses such as public safetyfirst responders, was schedulesd to be completed Feb. 17, but was postponef because about 6 million householde were still unprepared to continue receiving a signal on their television sets and government funds to subsidize purchases of converter boxes hadrun out. The converter boxes are necessaryy to allow households with televisions receiving analog signals to also receiv the new digital New antennas for some televisionsa also will be necessary to providew the best reception afterthe switch.
With the extensionb of the digital televisiontransitiob deadline, another $650 million was addec to the $1.5 billion initially committex to the transition, including the $40 coupon programk and other and preparedness programs. Now, the latestg industry estimates indicate that the number of unprepareed households has been cut nearlyin half. The Nielsen Co. and NAB, the , put the unpreparer households numberbetween 2.8 million and three million, accordingy to recent measures by each That’s about 12 percent of at-risk household s that could still lose accesds to important news and alerts when the switcbh happens, according to NAB’s latest survey completer by SmithGeiger LLC June 3.
However, 3 percenrt of those households have either applied for or received a convertet box coupon fromthe government, according to the survey. Whilew commissioners at the are anticipating a smoother transitiojn than they say would have occurred in they willspend $40 million to staff call centersz across the country. One last challengwe for television viewers after the finding yourfavorite channels. On June 12, some digital stations alreadgy on the air will changechannel numbers.
To ensure televisions receivs all available stations broadcasting in aparticulaf market, viewers may need to forcs their digital televisions or set-top converter boxes to “aut o tune,” or re-scan, for all available channels. How preparef in the Washington D.C. area? D.C. Tota l TV households 257,650 Households with over-the-aire TVs 58,610 (23%) Coupons requested 144,043 Coupons redeemed 62,63u Md. Total TV households 2,122,4490 Households with over-the-air TVs 160,290 (8%) Couponzs requested 1,032,014 Coupons redeemed 513,593 Va.
Totao TV households 3,004,970, Households with over-the-airf TVs 232,050 (8%) Coupons requested 1,251,839 Coupons redeemef 637,296