According to Nielsen, more than 6.5 million U.S. households – or 5.7 percent of all homes — are not ready for the upcoming transition to all-digital broadcasting and would be unable to receive any television programming at all if the transition occurred today. This is an improvement of 1.3M homes since Nielsen reported readiness status at the end of December.
“Nielsen has been preparing for the transition to digital television for more than two years,” said Nielsen Vice Chair Susan Whiting. “Because we recognize that accurate and reliable information on consumer behavior is essential to this transition, we’ve been sharing our data with clients, government leaders and the public so they could track progress to digital readiness.”
Click here to see the full press release.
For more information on how to prepare for the DTV transition, visit https://www.dtv.gov/
Percentage of Households that Are Completely Unready For the Digital Transition
| Date | Overall % Unready |
White | African American |
Hispanic | Asian | Under 35 | Over 55 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/18/2009 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 9.9 | 9.7 | 6.9 | 8.8 | 4.0 |
| 12/21/2008 | 6.8 | 5.6 | 10.8 | 11.5 | 8.1 | 9.9 | 5.2 |
| Source: © 2009 The Nielsen Company |
Watch Susan Whiting’s Message About The Digital Transition
Local Market Rankings
Among the 56 local markets that Nielsen measures with electronic meters, the one that is least ready is Albuquerque-Santa Fe, with 12.4% of the households completely unready. The most prepared market is Hartford & New Haven, with only 1.8% of homes unready.
Least Prepared Local Metered Markets Based on Percentage of Households Currently Unprepared for Digital Conversion
| Rank | Market | %TOTAL | %AA | %HISP | % Under 35 | % 35-54 | %55 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALBUQUERQUE-SANTA FE | 12.24 | n/a | 13.25 | 15.50 | 13.87 | 8.88 |
| 2 | DALLAS-FT. WORTH | 10.21 | 15.70 | 13.86 | 14.68 | 10.04 | 6.82 |
| 3 | HOUSTON | 9.95 | 14.12 | 17.01 | 17.07 | 8.08 | 7.79 |
| 4 | TULSA | 9.53 | n/a | n/a | 16.19 | 12.61 | 3.04 |
| 5 | PORTLAND, OR | 9.08 | n/a | n/a | 13.71 | 6.29 | 9.35 |
| 6 | SALT LAKE CITY | 8.58 | n/a | 5.47 | 8.14 | 11.23 | 5.83 |
| 7 | MEMPHIS | 8.53 | 12.62 | n/a | 7.69 | 8.27 | 9.24 |
| 8 | AUSTIN | 8.45 | n/a | 13.56 | 14.34 | 6.31 | 5.48 |
| 9 | LOS ANGELES | 7.66 | 11.21 | 11.20 | 9.49 | 8.79 | 4.81 |
| 10 | SACRAMNTO-STKTON-MODESTO | 7.33 | 5.04 | 7.12 | 7.39 | 7.36 | 7.26 |
| 11 | PHOENIX (PRESCOTT) | 7.31 | n/a | 18.16 | 16.43 | 6.56 | 3.10 |
| 12 | JACKSONVILLE | 7.02 | 14.67 | n/a | 8.65 | 8.21 | 4.95 |
| 13 | DAYTON | 6.88 | 8.56 | n/a | 16.83 | 3.19 | 4.88 |
| 14 | GREENVLL-SPART-ASHEVLL-AND | 6.69 | 15.30 | n/a | 19.34 | 5.08 | 2.66 |
| 15 | INDIANAPOLIS | 6.53 | 7.69 | n/a | 12.18 | 7.22 | 2.55 |
| 16 | MILWAUKEE | 6.43 | 13.65 | n/a | 2.52 | 8.95 | 5.25 |
| 17 | SAN ANTONIO | 6.20 | n/a | 9.72 | 5.41 | 7.31 | 5.36 |
| 18 | RICHMOND-PETERSBURG | 6.13 | 10.48 | n/a | 10.51 | 3.34 | 7.28 |
| 19 | SAN DIEGO | 5.94 | n/a | n/a | 8.29 | 7.04 | 2.91 |
| 20 | CLEVELAND-AKRON (CANTON) | 5.91 | 15.78 | n/a | 10.51 | 7.01 | 2.62 |
| 21 | MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL | 5.85 | n/a | n/a | 9.72 | 5.11 | 4.38 |
| 22 | KANSAS CITY | 5.75 | 12.84 | n/a | 8.46 | 7.92 | 1.36 |
| 23 | SEATTLE-TACOMA | 5.67 | n/a | n/a | 7.70 | 5.68 | 4.50 |
| 24 | MIAMI-FT. LAUDERDALE | 5.47 | 12.50 | 4.37 | 7.67 | 5.76 | 4.19 |
| 25 | ST. LOUIS | 5.26 | 9.95 | n/a | 7.32 | 5.33 | 3.96 |
| 26 | CINCINNATI | 5.21 | 12.50 | n/a | 7.98 | 2.92 | 6.28 |
| 27 | SAN FRANCISCO-OAK-SAN JOSE | 5.20 | 5.71 | 3.97 | 12.67 | 3.96 | 3.08 |
| 28 | CHICAGO | 5.18 | 8.67 | 8.75 | 6.46 | 4.84 | 4.75 |
| 29 | LAS VEGAS | 5.17 | 7.77 | 15.16 | 8.68 | 5.14 | 3.05 |
| 30 | BIRMINGHAM (ANN AND TUSC) | 4.86 | 6.67 | n/a | 3.31 | 5.45 | 5.12 |
| 31 | CHARLOTTE | 4.79 | 6.41 | n/a | 4.38 | 5.91 | 3.85 |
| 32 | DENVER | 4.75 | n/a | 7.88 | 7.61 | 4.71 | 2.90 |
| 33 | LOUISVILLE | 4.59 | 9.79 | n/a | 9.68 | 4.09 | 1.99 |
| 34 | NASHVILLE | 4.41 | 3.39 | n/a | 5.76 | 2.98 | 5.21 |
| 35 | DETROIT | 4.40 | 9.78 | n/a | 4.00 | 4.42 | 4.58 |
| 36 | RALEIGH-DURHAM (FAYETVLLE) | 4.38 | 9.49 | n/a | 5.30 | 3.63 | 4.62 |
| 37 | NEW ORLEANS | 4.35 | 8.33 | n/a | 8.62 | 4.58 | 1.72 |
| 38 | COLUMBUS, OH | 4.29 | 4.73 | n/a | 9.54 | 2.82 | 2.25 |
| 39 | BUFFALO | 4.27 | 7.92 | n/a | 4.32 | 3.78 | 4.72 |
| 40 | TAMPA-ST. PETE (SARASOTA) | 4.14 | 7.45 | 8.62 | 6.50 | 6.16 | 1.76 |
| 41 | WASHINGTON, DC (HAGRSTWN) | 4.08 | 3.23 | 2.38 | 4.84 | 4.45 | 3.20 |
| 42 | ORLANDO-DAYTONA BCH-MELBRN | 3.91 | 9.40 | 4.40 | 6.96 | 3.93 | 2.57 |
| 43 | NORFOLK-PORTSMTH-NEWPT NWS | 3.78 | 3.92 | n/a | 1.91 | 4.66 | 3.89 |
| 44 | BALTIMORE | 3.75 | 4.98 | n/a | 2.41 | 4.18 | 3.97 |
| 45 | GREENSBORO-H.POINT-W.SALEM | 3.42 | 3.24 | n/a | 6.14 | 3.76 | 1.61 |
| 46 | KNOXVILLE | 3.20 | n/a | n/a | 1.71 | 5.73 | 1.71 |
| 47 | PROVIDENCE-NEW BEDFORD | 3.20 | n/a | n/a | 2.59 | 2.37 | 4.33 |
| 48 | OKLAHOMA CITY | 3.07 | 4.85 | n/a | 2.97 | 4.86 | 1.28 |
| 49 | PITTSBURGH | 3.05 | 3.37 | n/a | 6.77 | 3.09 | 1.68 |
| 50 | FT. MYERS-NAPLES | 2.98 | n/a | 5.65 | 4.83 | 6.20 | 0.47 |
| 51 | WEST PALM BEACH-FT. PIERCE | 2.67 | 7.69 | 6.52 | 9.44 | 2.14 | 0.96 |
| 52 | NEW YORK | 2.57 | 4.58 | 3.73 | 3.39 | 2.03 | 2.82 |
| 53 | BOSTON (MANCHESTER) | 2.25 | 9.09 | n/a | 0.92 | 2.64 | 2.40 |
| 54 | PHILADELPHIA | 2.10 | 5.08 | 5.30 | 4.00 | 1.40 | 1.94 |
| 55 | ATLANTA | 2.02 | 1.74 | 10.58 | 2.90 | 0.81 | 2.99 |
| 56 | HARTFORD & NEW HAVEN | 1.76 | 0.32 | 2.44 | 3.26 | 1.04 | 1.81 |
| Source: The Nielsen Company n/a indicates sample size not large enough to project |
