Contact:
Tania Panczyk-Collins
202 654-4222
tpanczyk@apts.org

APTS and PBS Announce Major Public Television Initiative to Educate Viewers about the DTV Transition
WASHINGTON—October 15, 2007—The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS announced the next phase of Public Television’s aggressive campaign to educate viewers about the fast-approaching mandatory DTV Transition. Public Television’s efforts will focus on the hard-to-reach households that receive television only through over-the-air signals.

A major component of the campaign includes the commitment by local Public Television stations to air multiple DTV Action Spots throughout the DTV transition. “Our stations have committed to air DTV Action Spots across daytime, primetime and weekend time periods,” said APTS President and CEO John Lawson. “Over a sixteen-month campaign, this equals more than 3 billion broadcast impressions educating viewers about the transition. Given Public Television’s limited number of non-programming minutes, this represents a significant percentage of our available time,” Lawson said.

Public Television’s consumer education campaign will incorporate numerous tools developed by APTS, PBS and individual stations in addition to broadcast. Lawson said: “Our stations have committed to using their printed program guides, their Web sites and special mailings to extend the reach of their consumer education.” Information will be available through pbs.org, one of the most highly traffic dot-orgs on the Web. The value of Public Television’s airtime and other resources that will be used for the consumer outreach campaign exceeds $50 million.

Public Television’s consumer education campaign will touch the most difficult-to-reach over-the-air households. For example, over-the-air viewers are greatly over-represented in Public Television’s viewer and membership base. “It’s an important part of our public service mission that Public Television remains accessible to all Americans through free, over-the-air broadcasting,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “Working together, Public Television stations and national organizations are planning a comprehensive, multi-phase campaign to help everyone make the transition, especially those millions of people who rely on over-the-air exclusively.”

A recent APTS survey found that broadcasters’ consumer awareness campaigns are having a positive effect of getting consumers to take action. The percentage of respondents who said that they “don’t know” what they will do between now and the transition fell from 31.6 percent for those who are unaware to 15.2 percent of those who are aware. Lawson said: “Those who are aware of the transition are more than twice as likely to buy a set-top box to continue to receive free, over-the-air television, versus subscribing to satellite television, the next highest response. They are three times as likely to choose free television over subscribing to cable.”
The APTS survey, however, suggests that while increasing consumer awareness of the transition is essential, awareness alone is not enough. Lawson said: “Forty percent of Americans who are aware of the transition still do not have enough information to enable them to take meaningful action. We need a sustained, targeted grassroots consumer education initiative to reach this population. And, the government needs to invest heavily in it.” Lawson said: “When Congress created Medicare Part D, the Department of Health and Human Services obligated almost $109 million to advertise, educate and inform beneficiaries. In comparison, Congress only set aside $5 million to educate the American public about the transition to digital.”