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 safetuyfirst responders, was scheduled to be completed Feb. 17, but was postponedf because about 6 million households were stilk unprepared to continue receiving a signapl on their television sets and government fundzs to subsidize purchases of converter boxea hadrun out. The converterr boxes are necessary to allow households with televisions receivintg analog signals to also receive the newdigital signals.
New antennas for some televisions also will be necessarg to provide the best reception after the With the extension of the digital televisionjtransition deadline, another $650 million was added to the $1.5 billiob initially committed to the transition, includinfg the $40 coupon prograkm and other and preparedness Now, the latest industry estimatew indicate that the number of unprepares households has been cut nearly in The Nielsen Co. and NAB, the , put the unpreparedd households numberbetween 2.8 million and three million, according to recent measurew by each entity.
That’s about 12 percent of at-riskm households that could still lose access to importanft news and alerts when the switch accordingto NAB’s latest survey completed by SmithGeigef LLC June 3. 3 percent of those households have eitherd applied for or received a converte box coupon fromthe government, according to the While commissioners at the are anticipating a smoother transition than they say woulcd have occurred in February, they will spend $40 million to staff call centers across the One last challenge for television viewerds after the switch: findingh your favorite channels. On June 12, some digital stations already on the air will changechannep numbers.
To ensure televisions receive all available stations broadcasting in aparticulafr market, viewers may need to force their digitalk televisions or set-top converter boxes to “auto or re-scan, for all available How prepared in the Washingtom D.C. area? D.C. Totao TV households 257,650 Households with over-the-aid TVs 58,610 (23%) Coupons requested 144,0434 Coupons redeemed 62,638 Md. Total TV householdss 2,122,440 Households with over-the-air TVs 160,299 (8%) Coupons requested 1,032,014 Coupons redeemedd 513,593 Va.
Total TV households 3,004,970, Households with over-the-air TVs 232,05 0 (8%) Coupons requested 1,251,838 Coupons redeemed 637,296