Thousands unprepared for digital

In 13 days, more than 67,000 greater Atlanta-area households will have TV sets that no longer pick up programs, according to a consumer advocacy group.

Feb. 17 is the date television stations across the U.S. are scheduled to switch to exclusively digital broadcasts. Viewers who rely on antennas without digital converter boxes will lose their signals.

The Nielsen Co. estimates that 6.5 million households without cable or satellite service do not have digital converters for their analog TV sets.

“There are about 67,300 households in the Atlanta media market that are completely unprepared for the transition,” said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst with the Yonkers, N.Y.-based advocacy group Consumers Union, during a telephone press conference Tuesday.

Kelsey said the affected Atlanta viewers account for about 3 percent of the media market —- roughly half the 5.7 percent of viewers nationwide Nielsen says don’t have digital TV. The Atlanta market covers much of north Georgia, including metro Atlanta.

Consumers Union and other groups are urging Congress to delay the nationwide conversion, in part because there are millions of viewers still waiting for government-funded $40 coupons to buy converter boxes.

Consumer advocates argue that the conversion could put lower-income, disabled and elderly people without digital TV at risk because they would no longer be able to receive emergency broadcasts.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week voted down legislation that would postpone the conversion. The House is scheduled to vote today on a compromise version passed by the Senate that would delay the transition until June 12.

NEED HELP?

Atlanta has 3 DTV Assistance Centers:

> Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda; 100 Auburn Ave., Atlanta; 404-635-1199

> Center for Pan American Community Services, 3760 Park Ave. Doraville; 770-936-0969

> National Black Churches Institute, New Life AME Zion Church, College Park; 404-669-8643