Many unprepared for DTV switch

Stragglers remain in the switch from analog to digital broadcast television despite public service announcements and a four-month delay in the change date.

Nielsen’s latest survey on the matter, conducted at the end of May, found that more than 10 percent of America’s 114 million households with televisions are either partly or completely unprepared for the switch on June 12. The government has spent $2 billion alerting people, and the number of DTV-ready unprepared households has decreased by half over the last few months.

But acting FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps said low-income families, the elderly, the handicapped and people who speak little or no English may have missed the message. Inner city and rural neighborhoods will be hit the hardest, the New York Times reports.

And so, the FCC is readying itself for complaints, spending $40 million to set up a call center on Friday that will run through the weekend. The government will also continue to distribute $40 coupons, to be used towards the cost of a digital converter box. President Barack Obama has made it clear that there won’t be another delay.

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of gripes on how the situation went awry. Commerce secretary Gary Locke said the public service announcements could have been more informative, but he also blamed Americans for their tendancy to procrastinate. Consumer experts noted that some Americans are spending more on equipment than necessary. This is hardly surprising when cable companies and retail stores are taking part in advising the public.

To cap off the madness, Copps essentially admitted to the Times that the government itself didn’t do its job until the last minute. “In the past five months we’ve tried to accomplish what should have been done over the last four years," he said.

No kidding.