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The great US digital television migration starts on February 17, 2009

Do you have a TV antenna connection that plugs directly in to your TV or Media Center PC? If so, think about how you will prepare for a transition that is finally coming in the industry: on February 17, 2009, the US will make the transition to digital television, as analog TV channels will be cut off. See the article Will Box Shortage Mar DTV Transition?



“Digital-to-analog convertors that would keep old sets going are supposed to be available by January 1, 2008. But David Rehr, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, says the supply of set-top boxes may not meet the need.”


So if you are what is framed as an “over-the-air” television viewer (aka OTA), then you should be aware of the change. But if you’re one of the majority of US households that receives television programming from cable or satellite, then your analogue TV receiver won’t be impacted. Cable and satellite provide set top box convertors. And OTA HD programming is not impacted, so if you’ve hooked up a new HD TV receiver to an antenna, you won’t be impacted.


Other interesting TV facts from Nielsen Media



  • There are an average of 111.4 million TV homes in the United States for the 2006-07 TV season.

  • 98% of American households own a TV, and over 76% of American households own 2 or more TV’s (82% of U.S homes have more than one television set at home)

  • The average U.S. TV home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets

  • 28% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable

  • 64% of homes have wired cable hook-ups (down from 68% in 2000) and 23% have satellite or specialized antenna systems to receive television signals

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