NEW YORK: U.S. households continue to make the transition to digital television. Nielsen reported today that 98.9 percent of U.S. homes are able to receive digital television signals over the air, a gain of 229,000 homes in the last two weeks. Since the June 12 DTV transition, when TV stations shut down analog transmitters, a total of 1.3 million homes have either hooked up converter boxes or obtained a digital TV set.
The figure comes in just two days before the federal government stops handing out $40 coupons for digital-to-analog converters. The deadline for applications is midnight Friday. The coupons were good toward the devices that allowed legacy analog TV sets to tune in digital broadcast signals over the air. Around 4.4 million of the coupons remain unredeemed an active, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which managed the program. More than $1.5 billion was spent on the program.
More TVB DTV transition coverage:
July 16, 2009: “TV-less Households Now Total 1.5 Million”
Nielsen said today that 200,000 homes have upgraded to digital television in the last two weeks. In the month following the June 12 government-mandated digital TV transition, more than 1 million households have made the switch. This most recent improvement leaves 1.5 million American households, or 1.3 percent, unable to receive digital television signals through the week ending July 12.
July 1, 2009: “More Stragglers Make the Transition”
Another 400,000 homes made the digital transition over the last week, according to the latest Nielsen numbers. Since the June 12 switch to digital television, Nielsen more than 800,000 homes have tuned into DTV. The total number of TV-less homes now stands at 1.7 million, or 1.5 percent of U.S. homes.
June 24, 2009: “U.S. Households With No TV Now Number 2.1 Million”
Over the weekend following the June 12 transition to all-digital broadcasting, Nielsen estimated that around 2.5 million households went without TV. The firm said the total, representing around 2.2 percent of the nation’s TV households, had been completely unprepared for the final switch too all-digital broadcasting. Around 970 of the nation’s 1,800 or so TV stations ceased broadcasting in analog Friday, June 12.
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