Senior Citizens Are Primary Target of U.S. Information Blitz About Digital TV

TV broadcasters alert Americans all broadcast to be digital in 2009

Feb. 12, 2008 – An extraordinary effort kicked off yesterday to alert all Americans – but senior citizens in particular – that this country will transition all television broadcasting to digital on February 17, 2009. Those who rely on a broadcast signal will no longer be able to receive programming with a digital television set.

The nation’s largest speakers bureau of television station representatives, coordinated by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), is conducting this nationwide speaking blitz to mark the one-year countdown to the digital television (DTV) transition.

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Broadcasters will speak to local communities at planned engagements in all 50 states over a five-day period and will answer questions from consumers about the DTV transition.

In Texas, for example, where 1 in 5 households is at risk of losing reception, 83 speakers representing 42 stations are participating in the NAB’s DTV Speakers Bureau. The community-focused awareness effort boasts nearly 1,000 speakers nationwide, from nearly 600 television stations across the country.

The DTV Speakers Bureau is the largest grassroots initiative ever orchestrated by the broadcasting industry. To date, the DTV Speakers Bureau has scheduled more than 1,200 speaking engagements and is on target to reach 8,000 audiences before the transition occurs in February 2009.

Speaking engagements take place at nursing homes, Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, Chamber of Commerce assemblies, elementary schools and many other local community venues.

To learn more about the NAB’s DTV consumer education efforts, including the DTV Speakers Bureau, visit www.DTVAnswers.com. Anyone interested in having a member of NAB’s DTV Speakers Bureau address their organization should contact Leslie Capstick at 202-232-6881 or lcapstick@crosbyvolmer.com

About DTVAnswers.com

DTVAnswers.com is the official Web site of the National Association of Broadcasters' digital television (DTV) transition campaign. Launched in January 2007, the DTV campaign’s mission is to ensure that no consumer is left unprepared, due to lack of information, for the February 17, 2009, federally-mandated transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

About NAB

The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.

Links:

>> Main FCC site for information - http://www.dtv.gov/index.html

>> More about the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program:
    http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/index.html

>> National Telecommunications & Information Administration http://www.ntia.doc.gov/