On June 12, the nationwide transition to Digital TeleVision (DTV) will finally and fully have arrived. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is going all out to assure that consumers are prepared.

Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant

So, what is the situation at this point? Well, the sort of good news is that more than a third of the country’s full-power broadcast stations have already made the transition. The less good news according to a recent Nielsen survey, is that about 3.5 million or 3.1% of households were "completely unready" for the transition.

The coupon program is back in gear and continues on. Coupons worth $40 toward purchase of a converter box can be obtained from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at www.dtv2009.gov or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009. Each household is entitled to two coupons. Consumers can continue to request coupons until July 31.

The interesting part of the news is, however, is that there is a lot more news. According to an FCC release, the agency outlined their plans between now and transition day.

The first part of the plan is that the FCC will continue to provide special attention to six groups in need of special help. These are low-income individuals, minority communities, non-English speaking consumers, senior citizens, consumers with disabilities and individuals living in rural areas or tribal lands. Other aspects of the FCC’s final push include the following activities:

· About 180 FCC employees have been sent to communities in the 49 markets that contain the greatest concentrations of unready households. The FCC employees are working with local governments and community organizations to preach DTV preparedness.

· The DTV website, www.dtv.gov has been improved. The updated site provides consumers help and information specific to their communities on a variety of DTV related topics. By supplying their zip code number, consumers can locate nearby support centers, get local TV station contact information and find DTV events near their location. The information presented on the web site is updated every day. An online map shows the consumer which digital stations can be received at their home address. Information is also available to assist consumers in selecting and deploying a new digital antenna.

· Twelve grass roots contracts have been provided to assist in the establishment of up to 400 walk-in centers and 12,000 DTV help clinics across the country.

· Thirty-four contracts have been awarded to companies to provide free, in-home technical assistance for consumers experiencing technical difficulties. The Commission expects to issue several more contracts in the immediate future resulting in a group of contractors capable of providing up to 218,700 installations across the country. Additional support has been arranged from two volunteer groups: members of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps and fire fighters in cooperation with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Consumers can request assistance by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC.

· Operators at the national DTV help line, 1-888-CALL-FCC, can answer common technical questions and refer consumers to groups providing in-home installation if further assistance is needed. There are already hundred of operators working around the clock. Their number will increase to as many as 4,000 as the deadline approaches.

· The FCC collaborated with Consumer Reports to prepare and distribute a guide to help consumers with the transition. The guide is entitled "DTV Made Easy" and can be obtained at www.dtv.gov or by calling the DTV help line. The guide is also available at DTV walk-in help centers and mobile clinics, in-home installation helpers and from major retailers around all located the country.

· Television broadcasters nationwide have been called upon to conduct a "soft test" at three different times on May 21. During the test, analog programming will be interrupted by a special message that informs viewers that if they are can see the message, this TV is not ready to receive digital signals and that reception will be lost on June 12 if action is not taken.

· The FCC plans to launch a "home stretch" communications campaign timed to coincide with the soft test. It will include Public Service Announcements, localized media announcements and interviews and grassroots educational literature distribution.

So, by transition day, it will be hard for any consumer to honestly say that they were uninformed of the transition. But…that observation may actually be somewhat off point. Based on human nature, it seems likely that there will still be a significant number of consumers that are informed but that did not take any action to prepare. Stay (digitally) tuned to see how the transition transitions.