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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
12/17: Digital conversion won’t affect many Atlantans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Civil rights groups in town are worried that “at risk” groups will be affected by the digital conversion. And they very well may be. But in terms of total numbers, Atlanta is not as bad off as the rest of the nation.
Among the top 56 markets, Atlanta is No. 2 in terms of preparation behind only Hartford/New Haven.
Nielsen, which measures TV viewership, says only 2.66 percent of metro Atlantans did not have a TV that could handle the digital conversion in February as of November. That’s fewer than 120,000 people out of 4.5 million. WIth all the publicity in the next few weeks, a good number of those will get things fixed before the deadline. And naturally, given people’s affinity to TV, for those who only see fuzz come mid-February, they’ll find a solution pronto.
The least prepared? Houston. Nearly 15 percent of its households are not ready. That’s a huge difference compared to Atlanta. (Hispanics are less prepared than any other racial breakdown, according to Nielsen.) “The biggest indicator is markets which have traditionally strong cable/satellite penetration,” said Nielsen spokeswoman Anne Elliot.
Atlanta is also much more a satellite town than the typical city.
About 58 percent of Atlantans subscribe to some level of cable (compared to 60.9% nationally). Another 36 percent get satellite TV (vs. 28.4 percent nationally). This leaves just 6 percent of Atlantans using over-the-air broadcast signals. But more than half of those have TVs that automatically handle digital or have already gotten conversion boxes. Thus, the 2.6 percent figure.
As of November, 7.4 percent of the U.S. population is not ready for the conversion. “It’s been a pretty steady move” downward from 10 percent in February, Elliot said.
And nationally, slightly more than 10 percent of households lack any subscription-based service vs. 6 percent in Atlanta.
What’s interesting is 10 years ago, only 77 percent of metro Atlantans had cable or satellite. The penetration of cable has dropped from 69 to 58 percent while satellite has leapt from 8 percent to 36 percent. Back in November 1998, satellite companies were able to air local broadcast networks, which made it a much easier sell and helped them steal away customers from the likes of Comcast.
Top 10 most prepared out of the top 58 markets: Hartford/New Haven, Atlanta, West Palm Beaach, New York, Ft. Myers/Naples, Providence, Boston, Philadelphia, Orlando, Pittsburgh. The 10 least prepared: Houston, Tulsa, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Memphis, Portland, Or., Austin, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Phoenix.
This civil rights coalition group. notes that even if you have a digital conversion box and rely on rabbit ears, some stations that were fuzzy before may not come through at all.
