Cable, satellite operators stand to gain as analog TV disappears

NEW YORK — TV's big switch from analog to digital broadcasts will be complete in just short of one year, on Feb. 17, 2009, and many consumers are puzzling over how the shift will affect them: Do they need a new converter box, a new TV, a better antenna?

But it's pretty clear which business interests stand to gain: Cable and satellite TV companies could see a wave of new subscribers as people with older TVs pass on hooking up converter boxes to older televisions or buying new sets.

Local stations are already using some of the extra capacity that digital broadcasting frees up by launching auxiliary TV channels with weather and traffic reports, and they're looking for ways to bring programming to portable devices.

The Federal Communications Commission began the switch many years ago to free up a large chunk of U.S. airwaves, which the government is in the process of auctioning off, a process that will net billions of dollars for public coffers. Making all UHF broadcast spectrum above channel 52 available will allow for powerful new wireless services, and possibly for a new network for public safety officials to use during disasters.

Most U.S. TV stations already broadcast digital signals as well as analog. What's happening next year is they'll switch off the analog signals. No one with cable or satellite service will be affected, nor will anyone who gets stations over the air with a newer TV with a digital tuner.

Those who will be affected are the 13 million or so households that get TV broadcasts exclusively over the air and have a TV more than a few years old — or even a newer TV that's relatively small. Also affected are TVs not connected to cable, even if a home has cable.

A Nielsen Co. study released this past week found that 16.8 percent of all U.S. households have at least one analog television set that would not work following the switch. And Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to be without TV reception.

Salt Lake City is more unprepared for the change than most metropolitan markets, according to the Nielsen study. Salt Lake ranked 54th out of the 56 metro areas surveyed, with 21.1 percent of Salt Lake television sets unequipped for digital broadcasts.

Affected households can get a digital converter box, buy a new television or sign up for cable or satellite service or one of the newer cable-like services being offered by phone companies.