Audio Video News

On Monday night, 36 percent of the nation's TV stations ceased analog broadcasting, leaving only digital signals on those channels. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (1-888-CALLFCC) received 28,000 phone calls.

During the days leading up to the partial DTV transition, the FCC call center received 8178 calls on Saturday, 7324 on Sunday, and 20,673 on Monday, according to a News Release (PDF). Clearly some folks need help. However, the situation is not as dire as all that. The FCC call centers were actually designed to handle up to 100,000 calls.

According to the National Association of Broadcasters, "local broadcasters in many television markets have experienced relatively low call volume in the 12 hours" following the transition, said a press release, calling it "an incredibly low percentage." Stations that made the transition to all-digital broadcasting received an average of 50 to 200 calls each.

The number of viewers unprepared for the DTV transition has dropped significantly in the last month, says Nielsen. They now number 5 million, or 4.4 percent of TV households, down from 5.8 million and 5.1 percent a few weeks ago, and 6.5 million and 5.7 percent in mid-January.