Nielsen: Fewer Households Unprepared for DTV Transition

NEW YORK, November 26: With the February 2009
digital transition in the U.S. rapidly approaching, The Nielsen Company reports
that 7.4 percent of household are "completely unready" for the
switch.

Though the number of
households that are unprepared has lowered, the pace at which homes are getting
ready has slowed down during the past month. Between October and November, the
penetration of completely unready households dropped just three-tenths of a
percentage point, from 7.7 percent to 7.4 percent.

Non-Hispanic households
continue to be more prepared than their Hispanic counterparts. The readiness
status of Hispanic households remained flat between October and November, with
12.4 percent "completely unread," compared to 6.7 percent for
non-Hispanic homes.

Other findings include
that the age-of-head-of-household (AHOH) affects the readiness of homes as
well. With those AHOH 55-plus, the number unprepared went from 6.4 percent to
5.9 percent from October to November. In AHOH 35-to-54 homes, the number went
from 7.3 percent to 7 percent. The status for younger households remained flat between
October and November, with 10.6 percent being completely unready.

All
TV stations in the U.S. are required to switch to digital programming by
February 17, 2009.

—By
Kristin Brzoznowski