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According to the Federal Communications Commission, full-power television stations will stop broadcasting over analog airwaves on February 17, 2009. What does this mean to the average TV viewer and will you be affected? The answers to these questions are, of course, it depends.

There are two components to how you watch TV; the television itself, and how it receives a signal. First, the television must have a digital tuner. All TVs shipped after March 1, 2007 came with digital tuners. In addition, if your signal is coming from cable or satellite TV, your set top box is most likely a digital tuner. You will need to check with your cable or satellite provider to make sure of this, but with the push to DTV over the past several years, it is doubtful that many analog tuners are still out there.

The most effected group of TV viewers are those that are getting there broadcast signal over the air using an antenna, and/or those people with older analog televisions. If you have an analog TV and get your signal from an antenna, you will need to purchase a digital-to-analog set-top box converter. Up until March 31, you can request up to two coupons per household worth $40 each off the price of a converter.

If you have a digital TV, but get your signal from an antenna, you can still receive digital signals as long as your antenna is able to receive UHF signals. If you can get channels 14 and above now, your antenna is able to receive UHF.

The main thing to remember is that this change only affects how TV stations broadcast their signal. There has been a lot of hype about this change and many retailers are using it as grounds to sell you high end equipment or convince you that you now need HDTV televisions. This is a switch from analog to digital, not a switch to High Definition. This switch will allow HDTV, but HDTV is not required to view digital signals.

In short, the majority of TV viewers in the United States will not be affected by this change. If after reading this, you are still unsure, contact your cable or satellite provider if you have one. If not, and your TV is not labeled as Digital or DTV, you will need to contact your television manufacturer with the model number to make sure. If you fall in this category, you probably don't watch a lot of TV, so don't get fooled into buying a lot of high-end equipment that you have no need for. If you aren't getting an HDTV input, you don't need and HDTV.

Learn more about this author, Darryl Brooks.
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