The end of over-the-air broadcasting

In one year, 22 million Americans who rely on free overtheair broadcasting will be at risk of losing access to television.

On Feb. 17, 2009, all TV stations will begin broadcasting exclusively in digital signals. Analog televisions that receive overtheair television will go dark unless they are retrofit with a digital converter box.

Consumers with cable or satellite service will not be affected.

Many consumers are just now hearing about the governmentordered digital transition and are going to retail stores to ask questions about what is necessary to maintain their TV reception.

CALPRIG, a statewide, citizenbased, public-interest advocacy group, conducted "secret shopper" surveys at 132 electronics stores in 10 states, including California, to determine if America's big electronics retailers are properly preparing their customers for the digital transition.

The results were released in CALPRIG's report "Mixed Signals: How Retailers Mislead Consumers on the Digital Television (DTV) Transition."

"Retail clerks are providing inaccurate or misleading information about the upcoming digital transition," said Emily Rusch, advocate with CALPRIG. "These mixed signals will cost consumers time and money."

The transition to a digital system was first mandated by Congress in 1996. Broadcasters, manufacturers and retailers were informed.

Twelve years later, and one year away from the date of transition, CALPRIG's report finds that accurate information about the transition is hard to come by in most retail stores.

The change does not require any household to purchase a new television set. Households with older sets still receiving analog signals via antenna need only purchase a basic converter box that costs approximately $40.

The government is offering up to two $40 coupons per home to offset the cost of the most basic converters.

However, some sales clerks tried to persuade the "secret shoppers" to buy new, expensive digital televisions or premium converters, which will not be covered in the government's coupon program.

"To consumers, it does not matter whether sales clerks were intentionally misleading our secret shoppers to sell more expensive items or if they were simply misinformed," said Rusch. "The result is the same: consumers will pay too much for unneeded equipment or services."

Nationally, almost half of sales staff surveyed did not provide accurate information on the date the transition would take place. Answers ranged from "sometime soon" to "probably not until 2010."

"To protect customers against misinformation or fraud," Rusch said, "retailers must provide proper information about the converter boxes they sell and about the government-sponsored coupon program that is designed to offset the cost of the converter boxes. They must also properly label analog TV sets that are still on the shelves with warnings informing buyers about the need for a converter box after next February."

For more information, visit www.calprig.org. To find out more about the governmentsponsored coupon program, call (888) 388-2009.