The latest dispatch from The Great Shift To Digital 2009: While many TV stations will take advantage of a grace period passed by Congress to wait until as late as June 12, a patchwork of 641 stations across the country — mainly in thinly populated areas — are turning off their analog broadcasts this week or have already done so. According to the Nielsen Company, 5.1 percent of all homes were not ready for the analog shutdown by today, Feb. 17. Robert Prather, president of an Atlanta-based company that owns 36 stations, believes waiting any longer to make the switch is useless. "The ones who aren’t going to be ready aren’t going to be ready in June anymore than they are now," he said.
Feb 17
2009
02:32 PM ET
600-plus TV stations will go digital this week
- Comments 1
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'American Idol' Top 24: 14 names revealed
- Gail Simmons' 'Top Chef' blog: Top Two!
- 'John Carter': Fan-made trailer wins fans
- 'Glee': About THAT ending... (Spoiler Alert)
- Jamie Lee Curtis arrives on 'NCIS'
- Adele tops chart for amazing 21st week
- 'Days of Our Lives' photo: First gay kiss
- 'Idol' alum Haley Reinhart debuts single
Most Commented
- Chris Harrison blogs 'The Bachelor' episode 8 655
- Miranda Lambert tells Chris Brown to 'take notes' during 'Gunpowder and Lead' performance 611
- Father Knows Best? 591
- Amanda Knox signs a massive book deal with HarperCollins 594
- Rihanna and Chris Brown release simultaneous remixes, guest on each others' new tracks 452
Top 5 Most Read
- ‘American Idol’: 14 of Top 24 singers announced
- Most Overrated Best Picture Winners
- ‘Glee’ winter cliffhanger: Where does it stack up against other [SPOILERS!]?
- Jamie Lee Curtis makes her ‘NCIS’ debut: Where do you want to see her pop up next?
- Album Sales: Adele tops the chart for a 21st week; Bruno Mars, The Civil Wars get big Grammy bumps
“The ones who aren’t going to be ready aren’t going to be ready in June anymore than they are now”
Amen, brother.
All the stations in the western Iowa/eastern Nebraska area where I live are already going digital. If you can’t afford to keep broadcasting both analog and digital signals, there’s no sense in bending over backwards for four more months to accommodate the few people who haven’t prepared themselves for the switch (those who probably either don’t watch much TV to begin with, or who may — or should — have more important things to be concerned about than their TV reception).