A story from the AP says that cable and satellite companies may benefit when the digital transition happens next February. That’s because one of the easiest ways to get a digital TV signal is to get digital TV service.

Also benefiting will be retailers and TV manufacturers since consumers will likely buy DTV and HDTV sets as the February 17, 2009 date approaches.

A post from a few days estimates that there are still 13 million Americans that have analog sets and are not ready for the digital transition.

From the AP story:

All new TVs made or shipped after March 1, 2007, contain digital tuners, which are sometimes called ATSC tuners, after the technical standard used to make them (the analog standard was known as NTSC.) U.S. retailers, however, can still sell analog TVs from existing inventory if they are labeled as analog-only.

A report by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said that about 1.4 million U.S. households will probably switch to pay TV service as a result of the digital TV transition. This can be enough to boost the cable industry growth rate. However, it could also help out IPTV providers, like AT&T and Verizon.

The market for the converter boxes is likely to be about $1.4 billion (?0.95 billion), and for new TVs about $1.7 billion (?1.16 billion), for a total of $3.1 billion (?2.11 billion) ? still a relatively tiny part of the $150 billion (?102.22 billion) U.S. consumer electronics market.

Technorati Tags: Digital TV, DTV, Digital TV Transition, analog switch off, DTV Transition

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Nielsen released some data on the readiness of U.S. consumers for the digital TV transition (happening on February 18, 2009) and found that over 13 million households are not ready. (Come on people, it’s less than a year away now!)

Last month, I wrote a post about some anxiety about the public’s readiness for the transition. This study is very interesting because it breaks down information on readiness by age, race, ethnicity and geography. For example, Nielsen found out that NY was the most prepared state: just 3.5 percent of TV sets are still not equipped for digital broadcasts. The least prepared? Portland, Oregon where 22.4% of households still are using analog TV sets.

Some other nuggets:

• Whites and Asians are more ready than Blacks and Hispanics. When multiple TV sets are factored in, 26.2 percent of Hispanics have one more unready sets.
• 16.8% of all households have at least one analog television set that would not work after the switch.
• Adults over 55 are better prepared than younger households (Say what?)
• Overall, if the digital turnoff happened today, 10.1% of households would find themselves without a TV.

So are you still confused about the switchover? Worried about losing your TV? There are really three choices:

1. Buy a brand new DTV
2. Buy a converter box for your old TV
3. Subscribe to a digital TV service through your cable, satellite or IPTV provider and keep your old TV.

Now, you don’t need to buy a big-screen LCD or Plamsa HDTV set. Just make sure it’s digital ready sets. But at this point, if you don’t have an HDTV, this year will be a great time to get one. Prices for HDTVs are down tremendously from just a few months ago (like when I bought my HDTV). In fact, prices are probably as low as they’ve ever been.

Want proof? Ok, I did a quick search on some of the big online retailers and found some excellent bargains for HDTV sets.

Target.com: 32″ Westinghouse HDTV with DVD-$749

Target.com: 19″ Magnavox LCD HDTV for $329

Target.com: 37″ Olevia LCD HDTV for $949

Walmart.com: 26″ Vizio LCD HDTV for $464.

Walmart.com: 19″ Polaroid LCD HDTV for $277.54.

Not all are big brand names, nor are they huge, but they’re enough to get you HD, digital broadcasts and a flat screen. Perhaps people will spend their tax rebates on getting new TVs this year.

Bonus: PDF of Nielsen’s Press release that has some tables.

Bonus #2: Go to TechBargains to see daily deals on everything including cheap HDTV sets.

Technorati Tags: Digital TV transition, DTV transition, DTV switch over, HDTV, TV