Some Texas County households will lose television reception Friday when broadcasters shut off their analog signals and complete their conversion to digital programming, federal officials said.
The latest survey by Nielsen Co. indicates that as of the end of May, more than 10 percent of the households have television sets are either completely or partly unprepared.
The Federal Communications Commission, which has held workshops in Texas County, said the people most likely to lose reception are society’s most vulnerable – lower-income families, the elderly, the handicapped and homes where little or no English is spoken.
The conversion does not affect those who receive signals through cable or satellite. Those impacted: Households where signals are received by antennae and have older TV sets unequipped to receive a digital signal and need a converter box to pick up the new signal.
Early this year, the Obama administration persuaded Congress to postpone completion of the transition to June, from February, and to provide another $650 million – mostly for coupons for converter boxes – on top of the $1.5 billion that had already been spent by the Bush administration.
Bracing for a wave of complaints, the FCC is preparing to fully staff a $40 million call center on Friday and through the weekend. The government will also continue to supply $40 coupons to households toward the purchase of converter boxes.
Officials advised consumers to rescan the channels of their television sets after the conversion was completed Friday to make sure they were pulling in all the correct signals.
The conversion is the final step in a long-running plan for more efficient use of the broadcast spectrum. The plan took spectrum licenses from broadcasters, replacing them with other frequencies. It will reallocate some of the broadcasters’ former spectrum to public safety providers. Other frequencies were sold for billions of dollars, primarily to the large wireless telephone companies, whose demand for spectrum has risen with the proliferation of hand-held devices that can surf the Internet and send and receive e-mail.
Consumers seeking assistance on how to upgrade their television sets or on the availability of digital stations in their communities can go to www.dtv.gov or call the government hot line on the transition at 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322).