TV transition

NEW YORK — TV shows were replaced by the hiss of static in perhaps 1 million U.S. homes Friday as stations ended their analog broadcasts and abandoned the transmission technology in use since the days of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar and Howdy Doody.

The vast majority of households that rely on antennas for their TV signals were prepared for the shutdown, but many people remained vexed by the challenge of setting up digital reception.

Hundreds of people began lining up about 3 a.m. Friday outside the Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati, five hours before the agency began giving out 250 free digital converter boxes. The center had given away all the converters by 10:30 a.m., and many people were still in line.

Harvey Durrett, 48, said he got in line about 6 a.m. but was unable to get a converter, which costs about $40 to $60 in electronics stores unless the consumer has a $40 coupon from the government.

"I’m on disability, and I can’t really afford to buy one,” Durrett said. "I can’t get anything on my TV now, so I guess I’ll have to go to friends’ houses if I want to watch anything.”

Any set hooked up to cable or a satellite dish is unaffected by the end of analog broadcasts, but about 17 million U.S. households rely on antennas. Nielsen Co. said poor and minority households were less likely to be prepared for Friday’s analog shutdown, as were households consisting of people younger than 35.

TV stations were free to choose when in the day to cut their signals, and many were holding off until late at night. That means the full effect of the shutdown will not be apparent until this weekend.

TV stations, electronics stores and the government said most of the calls they received Friday were from people who had converter boxes but needed help setting them up.

The Commerce Department reported a last-minute rush for the $40 converter box coupons: It received 319,990 requests Thursday, nearly four times the daily average for the past month. In all, the government has mailed coupons for almost 60 million converter boxes. The limit is two coupons per household.

It takes nine business days for a coupon to reach the mailbox.



by the associated press