The "Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005" creates a hard date of February 17, 2009, for the cessation of analog television broadcasts, ushering in the era when all television stations will broadcast entirely in digital. APTS believes that there needs to be a well-planned, adequately funded, closely coordinated campaign to reach the tens of millions of households who depend upon over-the-air reception.

APTS and local public television stations are in a unique position to play a central role in this campaign for a number of reasons. First, research indicates that the over-the-air households correlate strongly with public television’s viewer base. Second, many over-the-air viewers are disproportionately low-income, rural, Spanish-speaking and/or elderly viewers, all of whom are reached with public television programming, in some cases more than any other medium. Finally, there is the trust factor. Americans trust public television, as confirmed in poll after poll.

• APTS Endorses Engel Digital TV Consumer Education Bill (July 2007)
• APTS Study Shows Difficulty in Convincing Over-The-Air Households to Adopt Digital Television (June 2007)
• Over 100 Diverse Groups Join DTV Transition Coalition (May 2007)
• APTS Statement on NTIA Coupon Program (March 2007)
• Digital Television Transition Coalition Spearheading Consumer Outreach Campaign (February 2007)
• APTS Survey Finds Majority of Americans Remain Unaware of DTV Transition (January 2007)

APTS is working with our member stations to complete the transition, and to find ways to make sure Public Television viewers and members will come with local stations into the digital age. To help stations complete the transition, APTS is working with PBS, CPB, and the Affinity Group Coalition to develop opportunities for station engineering, public relations, development and regulatory professionals to share vital information as you prepare for the transition.

APTS consumer awareness studies

• Analysis of Over the Air Households Using CENTRIS Q3 2006 Data (January 2007) (.ppt)
• The Challenge of Influencing Over-the-Air Households at the End of the DTV Transition (May 2007) (.ppt)

Resources for stations

• National Association of Broadcasters: National OTA Benchmark Survey  (March 2007) (.ppt)
• January 17, 2007 Focus Group Transcripts:
• • General Consumers (4.5 MB .pdf)
  • African-American viewers (6.3 MB .pdf)
  • Retired Caucasians (5.1MB .pdf)

Letters to Capitol Hill

• NCTA Letter

Local public television stations are serious about completing the transition. Through APTS, local stations are working with Congress, the Administration ad other stakeholders to provide solutions to make the February 17, 2009 hard date a reality. The single greatest barrier to success is the public’s lack of understanding about the digital conversion and what it really means for them.