The Nielsen Company measurements have revealed a steady chipping away at the number of households completely unready for the DTV transition, and as of March 1 only 3.9% of US households are at risk for complete loss of service. The unprepared comprised 6.8% of total TV households back in December 2008. The ethnic breakdown is as follows: White 3.2%, Asian 4.5%, Hispanic 6.5%; African-American 6.7%. The 55-and-older demo, often considered especially at risk, is pretty much ready to go, except for a relatively scant 2.2%; it’s the 35-and-unders who are procrastinating, with a 7.2% level of unpreparedness.
RBR/TVBR observation: The key will be to continue chipping away at these numbers between now and June. Regulators and other stakeholders demonstrated they are well aware of this at yesterday’s FCC panel. We expect to see a strong effort to make 6/12/09 as stress-free as possible.
