Friday is D-day for TV viewers across America because Friday is the last day when you can watch TV on your analog tv sets, unless you’re a cable or satellite subscriber or you have a new tv set.
So what exactly will be happening on June 12? On June 12 ALL tv stations will be switching completely to digital over the air broadcast television. No analog signal will be transmitted for your rabbit ear antennas to catch. The good news is that you won’t have to put up with grainy tv anymore but the bad news is that if you’re still relying on the rabbit ears you won’t be putting up with any tv at all.
So what can you do to make sure you will still be able to watch tv after Friday even if your TV isn’t equipped for getting digital signals? Here are some things you can do.
Subscribe to cable or satellite TV – The cable and satellite providers will be the one to do the analog to digital conversion for you. The problem with this is of course is more bills to pay and in this economy this is not the solution for everyone.
Buy a “digital to analog converter box” – I checked it out at Walmart.com and you can get these for $49.87. Again the problem is the cost but the good news is that the government has helped defray the cost by issuing $40 coupons at 2 coupons per household. You can get your coupon at the “TV Converter Box Coupon Program” website. Note though that as of the moment coupon issuance is on hold but you can still sign up and be waitlisted.