NEW YORK: More than 99 percent of U.S. homes are now able to receive digital television signals, Nielsen said today. As of Aug. 30, a total of 710,000 homes still had no TV reception, though 59 percent of those were said to have access to a low-power station or one across the Canadian or Mexican border. Those households relying on LPTV had, on average, 3.2 stations available. The propensity of the households with little or no TV were younger, Hispanic or African American.
Among metered designated market areas, four reached 100 percent adoption--Providence, R.I.; New York; Nashville, Tenn.; and Louisville, Ky. Los Angeles had more than 77,000 households with no TV reception--the most of any DMA. Dallas was next with nearly 37,000, followed by Phoenix, Ariz., with 24,000 and Portland, Ore., with 23,500.
Between the analog shutdown of June 12 and Aug. 30, 1.8 million homes made the transition.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
More on the DTV transition:
July 28, 2009: “Friday is the Final Day to Get a DTV Converter Coupon”
The federal government’s digital-to-analog converter subsidy program is reaching its sunset. Friday is the last day to apply for the $40 coupons good for certified DTV converter set-top boxes.
July 21, 2009: “LG’s DTV Hotline Gets 20,000 Calls in June”
LG’s operators took more than 88,000 calls during the first six months of the year.
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… leaving 1.5 million American households unable to receive DTV 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.
June 24, 2009: “U.S. Households With No TV Now Number 2.1 Million”
Around 400,000 U.S. households have made the transition to digital television since analog signals were shut down June 12. The number comes down from Nielsen, which said as of June 21 around 2.1 million homes in the nation--1.8 percent of all TV households--still had no TV reception.
June 16, 2009: “Retailers Inundated by DTV Callers”
“I’m up to my neck and totally frustrated,” Raymond Haley, owner of Haley’s Television Sales and Service, told the Danville News. “It’s been a hectic thing the last two or three days since they shut it off. Most of it is they don’t get certain channels they’ve been used to getting, and that gets them totally confused.”
