At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-powered TV broadcast stations in the U.S. will turn off their analog signal and begin broadcasting exclusively in digital format (DTV).  Congress, in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, mandated the conversion to DTV in order to use the TV analog frequencies for public safety communications and advanced wireless services, while promoting improved TV picture and sound quality to viewers.  DTV technology will also allow stations to “multicast” by adding four or more additional channels.

How Does This Affect Consumers?
Consumers who watch free analog TV using antennas and those who do not have cable, satellite or other pay TV service will be affected.  They will need to either:

• Buy a converter box
• Get cable or satellite service
• Buy a new digital TV set

There is a government TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households who want to keep their analog TV sets.  The program allows U.S. households to obtain up to two $40 coupons that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes.  Converter boxes are available at retail stores and range between $40 and $70. Applications for the $40 coupons can be requested from www.dtv2009.gov and are available until March 31, 2009.

Consumers who view cable, dish or digital/HDTV will not be affected because their providers will convert the signal for them.  Preparedness for this transition varies, ranging from households who are not ready to those who are partially ready (i.e., not all TV sets in the household have cable) and homes that have been ready for years.

What Is The Preparation?
Stations have been airing public service announcements which announce the pending change on February 17, 2009.

The FCC will test this conversion in Wilmington, NC, where stations will convert to the digital signal at noon on September 8, 2008.  This market will be the first to test the transition to digital TV in advance of the nationwide transition. Nielsen and the FCC will monitor this closely and the local PBS station will continue broadcasting in both digital and analog.  With this preemptive transition, the FCC and Nielsen have put forth extra efforts to get the message into the community.

In other markets, stations can start shutting off their analog signal up to 3 months prior to the February 17, 2009 date if they choose.

How Is Nielsen Responding?
The typical February ’09 rating sweeps measurement has been moved to March ’09.  Nielsen is tracking the readiness of the U.S. and local markets and here are their findings, based on 56 metered markets (as of July 29, 2008):

• U.S. Households that are Completely Ready: 78.1%
• U.S. Households that are Partially Ready: 12.6%
• U.S. Households that are Completely Unready: 9.3%
• Older age Households are getting ready earlier than younger households.
• Non-Hispanic Households are getting prepared earlier than Hispanic Households.  14.5% of Hispanic Homes are Completely Unready. 

What Is Empower Mediamarketing Doing?
Empower MediaMarketing has been in constant communication with local stations to gather information about each individual market and whether or not they are ready for the transition. We are gathering conversion dates, number of digital stations being added and how they are projecting their future ratings delivery.

In an effort to provide our clients with accurate planning costs, Empower MediaMarketing has formed a committee to investigate and plan for changes that could occur in the local TV ratings.

By: Sue Inkrot, Senior Local Buying Strategist