HDTV Reception May Affect 9 million US Households during DTV Switch

Filed in archive DTV Transition Act on April 15, 2008

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About 9 million of the roughly, 17 million US households currently receiving analog television broadcast signals may experience reception issues once the DTV Transition Act goes into effect. This is based on an independent study by market-research firm Centris. The report indicates terrain, distance from towers and the existing antennas as factors. Centris also mentions that many viewers may need to upgrade along with their new digital TVs or converter boxes.

The upcoming DTV Transition Act will basically take us back 15-20 years to the times when cable television first became available to households. Why battle with ugly roof antennas and poor programing when you can get a direct cable line to MTV connected to the back of your television? Some of us were trying to hang-on to our free over-the-air broadcast but the lure of clear reception, HBO and pay-per-view got us to ditch our free broadcast television signal for the good-life of cable.

The Centris report mentions ten high-risk Digital Television Reception markets: New York; Boston (Manchester, N.H.); Philadelphia; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown. Md.); Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.; San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; Atlanta; and Cleveland-Akron (Canton), Ohio.

Are you in one of these high-risk digital television reception markets? will you stick it out with your antenna our just sign-up for cable? I'm curious to hear your comments.