Digital TV transition: More are ready now

Suzanne Choney • E-mail

Here's the number to remember June 12 if your television doesn't get your regular channels, if you waited until the last minute to make the transition to digital TV, or if you have any questions about it: 1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALL FCC).

It's a key resource for help, which may be needed by some. In the months since the Feb. 17 transition was delayed by Congress, more Americans are ready for the digital switch, but there are still 3.3 million of them, or 2.9 percent of households, that remain "completely unready," according to the Nielsen Co.

That's a big improvement from three months ago, when nearly 6 percent of households were not prepared for the switch from analog to digital signals, said Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.

"There's going to be pockets of people that are going to be unprepared by June 12," he said. "The goal is to get that down to the least number of people in that bucket as possible. The Federal Communications Commission has been working with and funding community groups to get the word out, to kind of do search-and-rescue on those folks that are still unprepared. Those were all things that were missing in a big way over the last year and a half, and that were finally delivered after Congress made the decision to delay the transition."

Congress also approved $650 million as part of the economic stimulus recovery package to be used for a range of transition help, from additional $40 coupons for digital TV converter boxes to a much improved education and assistance campaign.

That campaign includes actual in-home, come-to-your door help — at no charge. For those who are struggling to set up a converter box the FCC will, on a case-by-case basis, send a technician to your home if the problem can't be solved with a phone call through the commission's toll-free line.

"Our in-home converter box installation services are available all across the country," said Rick Kaplan, FCC spokesman. Just in the last few weeks, contractors "have performed in the neighborhood of 2,500 free in-home installations."

And, the FCC's toll-free phone number will be in place "far past the transition," Kaplan said, as will the DTV.gov Web site and the National Association of Broadcasters site, DTVanswers.com.

On May 21, a nationwide "soft test" was done, with TV stations interrupting their broadcaast three times during the day with an informational message to remind households about the June 12 switch.

Of 1,787 stations, 750 have already made a complete switch to digital broadcasts, according to the FCC.

The "soft" test resulted in a "single-day record of 55,000 calls" to the help line, the FCC said. About half the callers wanted information about converter box coupons, another 15 percent expressed concern about reception issues in their areas, and another 10 percent said they needed instructions on how to install the converter box, the agency said.

"This soft test did exactly what it was supposed to do," said Michael Coops, acting FCC chairman, in a press release. "It was a wake-up call for consumers who are unprepared."

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