Ninety-three percent of Minnesotans know about the 2009 nationwide switch to digital television, according to a new poll by the National Association of Broadcasters. The remaining 7 percent call me regularly to ask questions about it.

I’m kidding! But I do receive many phone calls from readers about the federally mandated transition from analog to digital-only TV broadcasts, which happens Feb. 17. Even a passing mention in my story on high-def resources has spawned daily calls in the week since it ran. But that helps prove the survey’s point that people are learning about the switch and asking questions.

Minnesota leads the national average of DTV awareness, which is 90 percent, according to the poll. That’s good, because the Twin Cities viewing area, which covers 59 Minnesota counties and nine Wisconsin counties, has more TVs affected by the transition than all U.S. metro areas but Portland, Ore.

According to the NAB: “An estimated 457,140 homes in Minnesota rely exclusively on over-the-air television, meaning they watch free TV broadcasts using rabbit ear or rooftop antennas. These households will need to take steps to receive a digital television signal by February 17, 2009, when all full-power stations must begin broadcasting only in digital.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under DTV switchover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.