US Households Not Prepared for Digital Switch

Around 6.5 million US homes (5.7% of households) are not ready for the transition to digital TV (DTV) which is now scheduled to take place on June 12 this year, according to Nielsen estimates.

The switch was originally due to happen next month, but yesterday President Obama stepped in to call for the delay, saying that the public is not ready.

One reason for the delay is that the federal government has run short of funding for a coupon program which would help the public cover the cost of purchasing digital converters for analog-only TVs.

'Now that the government has run out of money for converter box coupons, there are going to be a lot of sets that are not ready,' stated Debbie Solomon of Mindshare Online Research. 'However, they still have to do something about those analog sets or they will become useless once the transition takes place.'

Nielsen found that among the 56 local markets it measures, Albuquerque, New Mexico has the highest number (12.4%) of households that are completely unready. The most-prepared areas were Hartford & New Haven Connecticut, where just 1.8% of homes are not ready for the transition.

The estimates also found that higher percentages of African-American, Hispanic and Asian households are not prepared for the transmission (9.9%, 9.7% and 6.9% respectively), compared with white households where overall just 4.4% are not ready.

'It is imperative that we operate at an accelerated pace to educate those who are at the greatest risk of losing their television service,' said Cynthia Perkins-Roberts of the Nielsen African American Advisory Council. 'We have a responsibility to make sure that these groups are equipped and ready for this transition.'

In a study conducted by Mindshare Online Research, it was revealed that most adults believe the government has done an adequate job of communicating the transition to consumers. Only a minority of consumers believe that the government and FCC could have done more to warn consumers.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.mindshareworld.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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