Digital TV conversion isn’t creating a lot of waves

So far, so good.

Though some people woke up Friday morning to find their television programs missing from the airwaves, the nation’s transition to an all-digital TV broadcast has thus far not resulted in pandemonium.

At least five stations in Los Angeles killed their analog broadcasts by early Friday afternoon. The rest turned off their analog signals at midnight. Although the full extent of the confusion is not yet known, the changeover is starting to play out in much the same way as the Y2K glitch that threatened to wipe out computers across the globe but ended up causing only minor headaches.

TV stations on the East Coast and elsewhere reported that the volume of calls from confused viewers was “low to moderate.” Retail stores, girded for an onslaught of customers seeking digital converter boxes for their analog sets, found they had plenty in stock to satisfy Friday’s spike in demand. And many viewers, though unhappy about the expense and inconvenience, appeared resigned to making the change.

Stations across the nation that made the switch earlier in the day reported receiving an average of 130 calls each by midafternoon Friday, according to the National Assn. of Broadcasters.

“Television stations are largely prepared for these calls and are doing everything possible to ensure a successful transition,” said Jonathan Collegio, the NAB’s vice president for digital television.

In Los Angeles, some stations reported even fewer calls. Asian-language station KSCI-TV Channel 18 turned off its analog signals at 11 a.m. Friday and fielded about 100 calls by midafternoon. Most of the callers asked for information on how to get a converter box and how to apply for the $40 government coupon for it, said Bill Welty, KSCI’s vice president of engineering.

Public-television station KCET-TV Channel 28, which had turned off its analog signal Thursday night, had just 16 calls by late Friday afternoon.

“There was that moment when we turned off the signal and held our breaths,” said Bohdan Zachary, KCET’s vice president of broadcasting. “But it’s been surprisingly quiet.”

Things were also calm at the Cypress Senior Center, which got just four inquiries on the topic Friday, said the center’s administrative assistant, Natalie Clark.

Earlier this year, just before President Obama approved a four-month postponement of the conversion from Feb. 17 to June 12, the center was deluged with questions, Clark said. There’s a chance that people will call back when their screens go blank over the weekend. But Clark said it was more likely that patrons had their act together, thanks to constant reminders in the center’s newsletters and brochures.

“I’m surprised that we didn’t get more questions,” she said.

Jana O’Leary, a spokeswoman for Target Corp., said that though sales of converters exceeded the company’s expectations, stores still had many on hand Friday afternoon.

At a Best Buy store in Glendale, customers showed up early. Edna Chan swung by to pick up a converter box for her mother, 81-year-old Chiyeko Naito.

“My mom called me and asked me to pick up a box for her and set it up,” said Chan, 51. “She knew the deadline was today. I think the majority of people who aren’t prepared today are the elderly. And not everyone has someone to help them.”

By midday, however, demand tapered off, and the store relocated a pallet of converter boxes from its morning spot by the front door to a walkway display inside.

“I didn’t expect this many customers to show up this early,” said Art Taylor, a store manager, who said the majority of the buyers were elderly. “We haven’t had anybody come in with their arms up saying, ‘My TV doesn’t work, my TV doesn’t work,’ ” he said.

But Geek Squad, Best Buy’s home set-up service, has been busier than usual, Taylor said.

Geek Squad is offering to hook up the converter boxes free, even if the customer didn’t buy the box at Best Buy, he said.

“In the last week or two it might have taken us two days to get out to someone once they call us,” Taylor said. “We’re still busy, but it’s slowing down a little bit, and we’re getting to people within a day.”

The conversion may prove a boon for TV sales, as consumers like Richard Rivera opt to skip the converter box and upgrade their home entertainment systems. The 79-year-old retired trucker was at a RadioShack store in Santa Ana on Friday shopping for a digital television, a combination VCR and DVD player and a universal remote control.

“It’d be easier to just buy a new TV and rig it up rather than trying to get the old one to work,” he said. “I don’t want to deal with the converter box.”

Rivera figured the equipment would cost nearly $500, a sum he planned to finance through a $20-a-month store payment plan. But he wasn’t pleased by the prospect of shelling out that kind of money.

“Having to buy extra stuff so I can watch TV doesn’t sit with me right,” he said. “I know there’s people who can’t afford it.”

Costa Mesa resident Mickey McGrath, 74, was miffed as well. She was getting a free converter box Friday from a friend to hook up a 7-inch portable black-and-white set in her kitchen.

“This is just extra work and expenses for people who can’t afford it,” she said. “I am totally confused on how this all works and why they’re doing it. I’m an older American citizen, and I like things as they were. I don’t like change.”

But change is inevitable for the estimated 3 million American households that, according to Nielsen Co., relied solely on analog signals for TV reception as of Monday.

“The whole world is going digital,” said Michael J. Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which is overseeing the transition. “It’s something we have to do.”

In the Southland, the FCC has responded to complaints from people who did not yet receive their $40 coupons or who had to be reminded to direct their converter boxes to rescan for stations that had turned off their analog signals.

“The vast, vast majority of people we talked to have waited until the last minute,” said Jennifer Flynn, the FCC’s digital TV coordinator for Los Angeles.

“There are people who say they’ve been meaning to do it and were just putting it off another day. But this is the day when they can’t really put it off anymore.”

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nathan.olivarezgiles @latimes.com

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com

alex.pham@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

DTV resources

On the Web: www.dtv.gov

By phone: (888) CALL-FCC or (888) 225-5322

To get a $40 coupon toward the purchase of a converter box: www.dtv2009.gov or call (888) 388-2009

To troubleshoot issues with antennas and signal strength: www.dtvanswers.com /dtv_antenna.html

Source: Times research