Nearly 3 million homes face blank screen on digital D-day
After years of build-up and a four-month delay, today is the day that the U.S. switches off its analog TV signals. But one survey suggests nearly 3 million householders are not yet ready and may lose access until they fix the problem.
Nielsen reports that 2.8 million people did not have any means of picking up a digital signal as of last Sunday. A separate report carried out for the National Association of Broadcasters puts the figure at 2.2 million.
Of course, it’s only fair to point out that just under 3 million is a pretty small proportion of the entire U.S. population. It’s also possible that some among that number are intentionally not bothering with the switchover, either because they get their TV fix through online services (legal and otherwise), or are even happy to live without TV altogether in the era of DVDs and video games.
It’s also worth noting that in both surveys, the ‘unprepared’ figure includes people who are currently awaiting a government coupon towards the cost of a digital box.
According to the Nielsen survey, the least prepared market is Albuquerque and Santa Fe, with 7.6 percent of homes not being digital-ready. However, local officials point out that this is a misleading stat as the region – which is pretty sparsely populated given the landscape – uses dozens of relay stations which pass on broadcast signals to remote areas. Such systems are currently exempt from the analog switchoff.
The switchoff seems to have been pretty good news for cable and satellite firms. Nielsen also reports that of people who weren’t digital-ready last November, 19.7 percent have now switched to cable, while 9.6 percent have switched to satellite.
The most surprising stat to many will be that households with people over 55 years old are the most likely to be prepared. While that might contradict stereotypes of retirees being confused by technology, it may well be down to strong marketing of the switchover to this supposedly ‘vulnerable’ group, or even that television is more of a priority to elderly people.
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June 12th, 2009
The switch over was handled horribly. They issued $40 coupons to be used to purchase analog to digital conversion boxes that expired after 90 days. You weren’t able to get them extended or replaced after that.
Problem is the people who ordered them when first announced found there was no supply.
June 13th, 2009
it’s nice to be using cable in the first place – if this is an option – definitely simplifies things