Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) is asking Southeast Michigan residents to watch television tomorrow and see if their signal could be interrupted by the switch to digital television (DTV).
Major network affiliates in Detroit will conduct the test at 7:25 a.m., 12:25 p.m., and 6:25 p.m. tomorrow. A “soft test” simulates to some extent what unprepared viewers will experience when the DTV transition occurs. During the soft test, instead of completely cutting off the analog signal, broadcasters will interrupt the regular programming of viewers receiving analog signals to warn them the interruption indicates they are not prepared for the transition. Such viewers – other than those connected to a subscription TV service such as cable or satellite (which in some cases still utilize a broadcaster’s analog signal) – must take immediate action to avoid a complete loss of service on June 12 when the DTV conversation takes place.
“We know that some people are not ready for the DTV switch. There are a variety of reasons for this, but in some cases, people just don’t know that their analog signal could be lost,” Dingell said. “The local affiliates will be conducting a ‘soft test’ tomorrow that will let viewers know that they could lose their signal on June 12, the actual day of the transition. I’m asking all local media outlets to please inform their audiences of this test. This is a valuable service, and I strongly encourage people to watch and learn.”
Consumers still have until July 31 to get coupons for a digital convertor box by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC. In the Detroit area, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports that 1,183,842 people have ordered coupons for their converter boxes, and only 586,278 have been redeemed as of May 6. Nationwide, Nielsen estimates that about 3.3 million households – 2.9 percent of U.S. households with TVs – remained unready for the transition as of May 10.
For the latest information on station participation, visit http://www.dtv.gov/media_toolkit.html. More information about the DTV transition can be found at www.dtv.gov.
