What Everyone Needs to Know About the Digital TV Transition in 2009

On February 17, 2009 all analog TV Sets will stop working unless you buy an analog-to-digital TV convert box or a Digital TV.

Anyone who uses a TV set that is either connected to a roof antenna or indoor TV antenna will no longer be able to view TV programs after February 17, 2009 transition. The reason for this is that the FCC will be allocating these TV frequencies for local government and emergency use.

Consumers will need to either purchase an analog-to-digital TV convert box to connect to their existing television set or go out or purchase a Digital TV.

Anyone who has connected a VCR or DVD player to their television set will have no problem connecting a converter box to their TV. All you are doing is connecting your existing TV antenna between the converter box and your TV. Some converter boxes have other outputs such as video/audio outputs to connect to a television set that may be equipped with a video/audio inputs. This will give you a better picture quality than connecting it directly to the antenna input.

Anyone who continues to use a roof or indoor TV antenna, after purchasing a converter box or Digital TV, will need to make sure that their current reception for VHF and UHF channels is good. Some of the HD TV channels will be moved to UHF. If your current antenna system does not give you good UHF reception you will need to change your TV antenna to a roof antenna that will pull in your local VHF and UHF stations.

To ensure that you choose the proper antenna for your local stations please visit: www.antennaweb.org.

You DO NOT need to buy a special Digital TV Antenna. Don't be fooled with all the advertisement going around that you need a special digital TV antenna. You just need to make sure that you currently receive a good signal on your local VHF and UHF channels.

For additional information on where to purchase converter boxes and how to obtain your $40.00 discount coupon towards the purchase of your converter boxes please visit http://www.ntia.doc.gov. On this site you will be able to apply for you $40.00 coupon (2 per household) and find a list of stores where you can purchase the converter boxes.

Anyone who currently subscribes to satellite service or digital cable service will not be affected by this transition. Please note that some cable subscriptions may still be analog and your cable company will need to upgrade their service and cable box to digital. You will need to check with your local cable company to see if your current service is analog or digital.

This is basically all you need to know about the Big Digital TV Transition of the Century.