22% of analog owners have no plans for digital switchover
The February 2009 analog shutoff is going to affect everyone with a TV, so the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) polled owners of analog TVs to get a big picture view of the situation. The results broke down pretty evenly: 22% said they would subscribe to cable or satellite; 33% plan on using the government-issued check to buy a converter box; and 23% plan to purchase a new digital set. That leaves the 22% of Americans who plan on doing nothing, thus resigning themselves to quitting broadcast programming cold turkey. By CEA estimates, that works out to 4.5 - 6 million TVs that will go all dark; and they're concerned that "...a big segment of the population will not be ready." Watch out for the coming blitz of those PSAs and repetition of the message across other media to the tune of 300 "impressions" per person.
