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

APTS Study Shows Older Americans Less Prepared for the Digital TV Transition

WASHINGTON--July 24, 2007--A news APTS study finds that older Americans are significantly more likely to receive their television signals over-the-air, and are therefore less prepared than the rest of the U.S. population to transition from analog to digital-only television in 20 months.

The study revealed that Americans aged 65 and older are consistently more likely to receive television signals via an over-the-air antenna than are Americans under 65. These findings cover the period between the first quarter of 2002 and the first quarter of 2007.

In the most recent quarter, 24 percent of households with Americans 65 and older received their TV programming over-the-air, while only 19 percent of younger households were over-the-air.

Moreover, the study found that of Americans aged 65 and older who rely solely on over-the-air connections to television programming, only 17 percent own a digital TV. In addition, 41 percent of Americans 65 and older and 55 percent of those younger than 65 have purchased a new television set in the past 3 years. That suggests that the older viewing population may not be as attuned to recent changes in TV appliance offerings and may not be spending as much time in retail outlets that sell TV sets, the study concluded.

Since this older population may not be exposed to DTV transition messaging from electronics retailers, they will need special focus in efforts to educate the public about the February 2009 end of analog TV transmissions.

The study results are based on nearly 12,000 telephone interviews concluded in the first quarter of 2007 conducted by research firm CENTRIS in Fort Washington, Pa. It also marks the first time that APTS data studied the impact of the digital transition on a specific segment of the population.