Ready, set, off! TV stations shut down analog signals today

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Regulators are hoping a four-month extension of the nation’s digital TV transition will avert chaos. Credit: greenkozi via Flickr.

Television stations that haven’t yet switched off their analog, over-the-air signals will begin doing so today.

And federal regulators are keeping their fingers crossed that the transition will go according to script, thanks to an extension awarded in January by the Obama administration to give broadcasters and community groups four extra months to prepare viewers.

According to a story in today’s Times,

Fearful of a backlash from nearly 6 million unprepared Americans who stood to lose their broadcast TV signals, President Obama and Congress put off the long-planned digital transition scheduled for Feb. 17 until today for most of the country.

They also poured an additional $650 million into the switch, including reducing a backlog of 4 million requests for $40 government coupons to subsidize the purchase of special digital converter boxes so that older televisions could receive the new signals.

Will the extra effort help avoid chaos as Americans wake up to find their TV signals scrambled? Stay tuned. We’ll keep you posted.

-- Alex Pham

Let us know if you’re having any trouble shifting from analog to digital TV. You can also click here for more details on making the DTV transition.