DTV Transition
Congress mandated that as of February 17, 2009 all TV broadcast stations (such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS) must begin broadcasting exclusively in digital format. If your analog television set is not connected to cable or another video service, but instead receives "over-the-air" TV signals with the help of "rabbit ears" or an antenna, it will stop receiving local broadcast TV signals as of February 17, 2009.
In order to keep receiving over-the-air broadcast signals for your analog TV you will need to do one of the following:
• Purchase a "digital-to-analog converter box" to use with each of your current TVs (Federal
government coupons to subsidize the purchase of converters are available at www.dtv2009.org);
• Purchase a new digital TV (if you will still rely on rabbit ears or an outdoor antenna); or,
• Connect your analog TV to the service provided by your local cable company or another video
service provider.
If you are unsure whether your TV is "analog" or "digital," look for a label that says "Integrated Digital Tuner," "Digital Tuner Built-In," "Digital Receiver," "Digital Tuner," "DTV," "ATSC," or "HDTV" (High Definition television). If your TV has any of those labels, you should be okay and do not need to take any other action.
If you do not subscribe to cable and would like to continue to use your analog TV, you will need to purchase a digitalto-analog converter. The federal government is helping to offset the cost of these converters by providing discount coupons. The coupon program launched on January 1, 2008. Each household may apply for up to two coupons, each of which provides a $40 discount off the price of a digital-to-analog converter. These converters are expected to retail for $40 to $70. These coupons will be good for 90 days from the time of receipt and can be used at popular retail electronics stores. There are two ways you can request vouchers: (1) Call the Coupon Program 24-hour hotline at 1888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009), or (2) Visit this website: www.dtv2009.gov.
If you are a cable customer, the broadcast DTV transition does not impact you as long as your TVs are all connected to the cable system. However if you have any TVs that are not connected to cable, you should contact your cable provider and arrange for an additional outlet.
You can find additional information about the broadcast DTV transition at the following websites:
• www.dtv.gov
• www.dtvanswers.com
• www.dtvtransition.org
• www.getreadvfordigitaltv.com
