Nashville Unprepared for DTV Transition

The Federal Communications Commission says Nashville is not ready for the digital television transition set to occur June 12th.

As many as 20,000 Nashville homes are in danger of losing their TV signals starting Friday. Commissioner Michael Copps of the FCC says Nashville is one of 49 so-called “hotspots” — areas behind in gearing up for the national switch to DTV.

“The awareness is high and a lot of people have prepared themselves, but we’re worried when you have 20,000 households that may be unprepared. It’s not just that you can’t watch your favorite reality show or soap-opera or whatever, we’re talking about news or information or if there’s a weather problem, we’re talking public safety too.”

Homes subscribing to cable are not in danger of losing signal, as the providers will make the necessary changes.

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In order to properly prepare for the DTV transition, analogue viewers will need to obtain a converter box and antenna suitable to receive a digital signal. These boxes can be bought using a federally administered $40 coupon, available through mid-July.

Commissioner Copps estimates that 30-40 millions of these coupons have been redeemed nationally, but warns that they will take 10-12 days to arrive.

Information on finding these coupons as well as information about the switch can be found here (http://www.dtvtransition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=27) or at www.dtv.gov.