Early Damage Control for Upcoming DTV Switch

Even though the deadline for television stations to switch from analog to digital broadcasting in the US has been pushed back to June, hundreds of TV stations (421) has already made the transition Tuesday. The DTV switch was previously scheduled at this date but was pushed to a much later date, June. However, several TV stations already dropped their analog signals and switched over to digital signals.

This changeover prompted 28,315 people to call the Federal Communications Commission’s DTV transition help line. The number of calls Tuesday was 37 percent higher than on Monday, when 20,673 people called for help. However, most of the 421 stations that transitioned to digital broadcasting Tuesday did not do so until midnight, so the calls did not represent the full impact of the switchover. From midnight through 11 a.m. Wednesday, the FCC received 6,750 calls for help.

Between the 421 stations that made the switch Tuesday and the approximately 220 stations that transitioned earlier, about one-third of the country’s television stations have now dropped their analog signals.

Meanwhile, the European Union on Monday released a statement saying “Europe is leading the world in switching from analogue to digital television.”

Five EU states have transitioned to digital signals (Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and the Netherlands), and the entire EU is aiming to complete the transition by 2012.

Story link: Early Damage Control for Upcoming DTV Switch