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T-Minus-Zero: Digital TV Transition Hits Today (Finally)

by Lee Bains on June 12, 2009 at 03:20 PM


You can't say nobody warned you. After months and months of ubiquitous announcements (many from the President, himself), and a four-month postponement just to be sure, TV broadcasts will, finally, go exclusively digital today.

Fortunately, most U.S. households are prepared. Still, though, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Nielsen estimates that 2.8 million are not. Slightly (but only slightly) more optimistic is the National Association of Broadcasters, which puts the number of analog-only households at 2.1 million. By the end of the day today, that two-odd million will be without television. We doubt that too many of Switched's readers are in that number, but -- just in case any of you are or are unsure -- indulge us with a quick run-down of the situation.

First off, if you're a cable or satellite TV subscriber, you're set. If you don't subscribe to such a service, but do have a digital TV, you're fine, too. If, however, your TV requires a pair of rabbit ears to get a signal, you'll need to take one of the two following steps, or else go without television (which might not be all bad, really).
  • Buy a new TV. This is our suggested route. After all, digital television sets can be had for pretty dang cheap these days. Best Buy offers this one, for instance, for just over $150.
  • Get a converter box. If, for whatever reason, you don't want to buy a new TV, get yourself a digital-to-analog converter. Before you do, get up to two of the $40 coupons that the FCC is currently offering. You could put those coupons, for instance, towards Best Buy's cheapest offering: Apex's DT250 converter. With a price of $49.99, you should be able to get that sucker for free.
[From: Wall Street Journal]

Tags: digital tv, digital tv transition, DigitalTv, DigitalTvTransition, dtv

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